What the Map Pack is — and why it matters more than organic results
When someone in Bath searches for "plumber" or "electrician near me", Google shows a box with three businesses, each with a map pin, star rating, and phone number. That's the Map Pack — and it sits above every organic result on the page.
For local trades in Bath, the Map Pack is where most of the enquiries come from. Research consistently shows that Map Pack results get the majority of clicks on local searches — often more than all the organic results combined. If your business isn't in those three spots, you're largely invisible to customers who are ready to call.
The organic results below the Map Pack still matter — especially for longer research-stage searches — but for "plumber Bath" or "builder Bath", the Map Pack is the main game.
The three factors Google uses to decide who gets in
Google's local algorithm looks at three things: relevance, distance, and prominence.
Relevance is whether your Google Business Profile and website clearly match what the customer is searching for. If someone searches "electrician Bath" and your GBP category is "Contractor" with a vague description, you're at a disadvantage against someone whose GBP clearly says "Electrician" and lists the services they actually offer.
Distance is straightforward — Google factors in how close your business is to the searcher (or the location they specified). You can't change where you're physically based, but you can set a proper service area so Google knows the full range of where you work.
Prominence is the hardest to build quickly. It's your overall authority and reputation on Google — driven by reviews (quantity, quality, and recency), citations in local directories, website authority, and how active your GBP is. A business with 40 reviews and regular posts will generally outrank one with 3 reviews and a profile that hasn't been touched since it was claimed.
Why Bath is harder than the surrounding towns
Bath is a competitive local search market. It has a large population, high trade demand, and enough established businesses with reasonable Google presence to make the Map Pack genuinely contested for most trade categories.
This is different from Keynsham, Radstock, Midsomer Norton or the surrounding Somer Valley towns, where many trades still have unclaimed GBPs and thin websites. In those markets, getting into the Map Pack can take weeks. In central Bath, for a competitive category like plumbing or electrical work, it can take months of consistent GBP activity, review growth, and website improvement.
That's not a reason to avoid Bath — the volume of searches there is worth the effort. But it means the work has to be done properly, consistently, and for long enough to build the prominence Google needs to see.
What actually moves the needle
Start with your Google Business Profile. Claim it if you haven't, complete every section, choose the right primary and secondary categories, write a clear description that mentions your key services and the areas you cover, and set your service area to match where you actually work.
Photos matter more than most people expect. GBPs with real job photos — not stock images — consistently outperform those without. Add photos of your work, your van, your team. Post regularly: Google rewards active profiles.
Reviews are the single biggest lever for prominence. Ask every satisfied customer for a review and give them a direct link to make it easy. Respond to every review, good or bad. Fifty genuine reviews will dramatically outperform five, all else being equal.
Your website supports your GBP. Make sure your business name, address, and phone number match exactly between your site and your GBP. Service pages that clearly target Bath trade keywords signal to Google that your website is relevant, which reinforces your GBP ranking.
How long it takes
For a business starting from scratch in Bath — unclaimed GBP, few reviews, basic website — getting into the Map Pack for competitive queries takes roughly 3–6 months of consistent work. GBP improvements can show results faster than that, sometimes within weeks, for less competitive searches or service area queries.
For businesses that already have a GBP and some reviews, targeted improvements to categories, photos, description, and regular posting can move rankings noticeably within 4–8 weeks.
The key word is consistent. A GBP that gets attention for a month and then goes quiet will not hold its position. The businesses that stay in the Map Pack maintain their profiles, keep reviews coming in, and keep their websites updated.
Want help getting into the Map Pack in Bath?
We specialise in local SEO for trades and small businesses in Bath and North East Somerset — Map Pack rankings and Google Business Profile optimisation.