Which local pack element is hiding in plain sight, has no industry name despite being present in at least 33% of SERPs, and has curious behaviors which, up until now, have been little explored?
Itโs the thing Iโll call โlocal pack headersโ, after informally polling my peers and confirming that the local SEO industry has never really dubbed this bold, ubiquitous feature which headlines local packs:
Right now, youโre probably thinking,ย โOh, yeah, of course I know what those are, but Iโve never really paid much attention to them.โ
At least, thatโs what I thought when my honored colleague, Dr. Peter J Meyers, started looking at these with me recently. So, we decided to pull some data and see what we could learn from it about what Google is doing with these big headers, and we found some surprises and a few takeaways Iโll share with you today. After all, the better we know the local SERPs, the smarter we can be at strategizing for our clients.
Methodology
Using MozCast, we pulled in data for 3,392 queries with local packs (derived from 10,000 total queries) to discover original data on the incidence and behaviors of local pack headers, comparing query language to SERPs in a spreadsheet. We combined this with manual lookups of 50 search terms to further observe Googleโs handling of this element. Your results may differ based on location, language, and device.
What we learned about local pack headers
Hereโs a simple rundown of our three overall findings.
1. The diversity of unique local pack headers is enormous
Out of our 3,392 searches, nearly 2,000 of the headers were unique. As local SEOs, we are so attuned to thinking in terms of standard Google Business Profile categories, it feels a bit surprising that a search term like โ50th birthday party ideasโ generates a unique local header that isnโt something like โparty storeโ or โamusement centerโ. You can see familiar categories like these right there in the pack shown above, but the local pack header very often captures the search language rather than the associated category. Nearly two-thirds of the time in our data set, what Google showed as a header was totally unique and not like any other result term within our experiment.
2. The semantic relationships underpinning local pack headers are wild and wide
Only 40% of the time, Google exactly matched the local pack header to our query language. I included in this segment queries and results that were identical except for some small difference in punctuation like โArbysโ vs. โArbyโsโ. 60% of the time, they instead mapped our query to a different header they believed to be relevant. In other words, six times out of ten, our search for something like โbaby strollerโ didnโt result in a mirrored header, but rather brought up a header like โdepartment storeโ.
What was especially mysterious to me while doing this research was the seemingly random way in which these semantic relationships are operating, and Iโll share just a few illustrative examples.
Why, for instance, does my search for โadopt dogโ generate a local pack header for โanimal rescue servicesโ:
But my search for โadopt bunnyโ, which is something you can also typically do at an animal rescue, receives an exact match header:
Why does my search for โmopโ generate an exact match header:
But, as if it exists in some utterly different commercial reality than a mop, my search for โbroomโ earns the โin-store availabilityโ header:
Similarly, why does Google highlight the โin-store availabilityโ of a desk:
But for a couch, youโre on your own calling up โfurniture storesโ to see whatโs in-stock:
Why do my searches for โkarateโ, โwing chunโ, โaikidoโ, and โjiu jitsuโ all bring up the โmartial arts schoolsโ heading:
But my โtai chiโ query is met with an exact match heading, instead:
Things get really wild once we start searching for something to eat. Google believes that my search for โjasmine teaโ will be best satisfied at a grocery store:
But if I want pickles, I deserve a header of my own:
Meanwhile, if I look for โtacosโ, Google maps that to a header for โMexican restaurantsโ, and if want โphoโ Google maps that to a header for โVietnamese restaurantsโ, but Google doesnโt seem to believe my search for โspaghettiโ is closely tied to โItalian restaurantsโ and, instead, shows me an exact match header, followed by a pack full ofโฆItalian restaurants:
Why do โpantsโ exist in โclothing storesโ but โt-shirtsโ exist on their own? Why do โtomato seedsโ bring up โgarden centersโ, but โpetuniasโ have a pack of their own? Why does the search engine know the โin-store availabilityโ of โvinegarโ but not of โBBQ sauceโ, which gets its own heading?
Suffice it to say, Googleโs handling of all this is weird, and suggestive of an underlying semantic logic that often defies description. Iโd like to offer a simple explanation, like โthese headings stem from primary GBP categoriesโ, but any effort on my part to prove something like that has failed. The language is often quite distinct from category language, and for now, the best I can offer to do is break the local pack headers down into rough typesโฆ
3. There are at least five types of local pack headers
These are the five basic buckets into which most headers fit:
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Branded โ searches for something like โChuck E. Cheese near meโ receive a โChuck E. Cheeseโ heading on the packs.
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Commercial container terms โ many searches for specific products and services get headlined by phrases like โgrocery storeโ, โdepartment storeโ, โchiropractorโ, โlegal firmโ, โplumberโ, etc. Whether youโre searching for โvacuum cleanerโ or โback painโ, Google will frequently associate your search language with some overall container business type. Sometimes, these terms will exactly match regular Google Business Profile categories, but many times they donโt. For example, my search for โvacuum cleanerโ generates a pack that is labeled โvacuum cleanerโ rather than the standard category โvacuum cleaner storeโ.
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Commercial exact match terms โ as we saw above, Google will often exactly match the header to product searches like โpicklesโ or โspaghettiโ and they will do this to service inquiries, too, like โtax preparation servicesโ.
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Informational โ as in our โ50th birthday party ideasโ example, Google can take an informational query like this and map it to local results, whether they are commercial like a party store, or civic, like a local park. Informational queries can either result in exact match headings or in headings that donโt match but have some presumed implicit relationship.
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Actionable โ the โin store availabilityโ label reads like a local justification along the lines of โsold hereโ and โin stockโ, but this most actionable CTA isnโt obviously linked to the presence of justifications. For example, here is a search I do from time to time for โaccent chairs corte maderaโ to keep an eye on what Google is up to:
As you can see in the above screenshot, all three of the entries in the local pack feature the โsold hereโ justification, but the local pack header is in the โcommercial exact matchโ bucket rather than earning the โin-store availabilityโ headline. Even the presence of โin-stockโ justifications does not necessarily prompt the โin-store availabilityโ header to appear:
What can you do with what weโve learned?
Do you ever get the giggles when reading headlines raving about how smart AI and machine learning have made search because youโve seen so much proof of the opposite? Do you ever give a sigh when a developer claims a machine is now as intelligent as a human (and secretly wish these folks would set the bar higher to like โฆ a dolphin or something, given abundant evidence of the evolution we humans need to go through before we can be pronounced intelligently self-sustaining)? With that in mind, letโs take a second look at 50th birthday party ideas:
I donโt know about you, but Iโm not sure whether Dr. Pete or I would want to spend our august semi-centennial celebrations at Cucuโs PlayHouse or the other entries here which reviewers are praising as great fun for little kids. Maybe? Iโll have to ask Pete, but in the meantime, this local pack presents dubious evidence of Googleโs smartness in associating a 50th birthday parties with:
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Review justifications talking about โkiddosโ and โsonsโ
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The primary category of โlanguage schoolโ (albeit, that would make a fun party for philologists)
Google is, I suppose, trying hard with โparty storeโ and โamusement centerโ, but the overall relevance leaves something to be desired here.
The truth is, search technology is barely out of kindergarten, and the local businesses you market are going to have to help it learn its ABCs. Thatโs why studying an overlooked element like the local pack headers could be a competitive advantage for you. Try this checklist:
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Run your core searches and see which local pack headers are coming up for each term.
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Have you optimized for those header terms on relevant pages of your website? No? Do it.
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Are you writing review requests in such a way that they generate review justifications that contain those header terms?
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Are you listing products on your site and Google Business Profile and via Pointy so that Google knows that a header they are using matches something youโve got? Not yet? Better do that, too.
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Do you have any gaps in your GBP categories that could be filled with missing categories you are seeing reflected in the packs associated with certain headers? Add them!
While I canโt prove that fields and features like categories and justifications are part of the underlying semantic mapping going on that is informing how Google is filling up packs under these vastly diverse headers, what I do know is that literally anything you can utilize to signal to Google, โhey, Iโm relevantโ is worth considering. Let Google know youโve got the pickles, and the accent chairs, and the solution to back pain, every possible way you can.
Today, Iโll leave you with a sentiment I heard expressed by multiple speakers at MozCon 2022 (video bundles coming soon!) that has stuck with me. Presenters urged attendees to ask the question,
โWhat is search for me today?โ
The barrage of SERP features is so bewildering, my colleagues at Near Media are comparing Googleโs results to Las Vegas, and you have to be intentional about making time to actually sit down and study all the shiny, but sometimes not too bright, objects that are representing the businesses you market to the public. Things constantly change in this interface, and youโve got to look at what search is for you (and your customers) today, and then look again tomorrow to see if some big-pixeled promotional element like a local pack header is actually hiding right under your nose.
In todayโs case, weโve got a feature thatโs as large as the sign on a mall or the label on a package that is signaling to us how Google is struggling, succeeding, and failing to match intent to their assets. And since those assets also happen to be yours, your awareness and experimentation belong here. If you decide to do your own study of the local pack headers and end up detecting new patterns that we havenโt covered here today, @ me on Twitter and weโll keep learning local together!