If you’ve already gone through some of our other posts and found that your keywords indeed return a list of “3 pack” results in Google, it’s now time to determine what exactly your competition is, and more importantly, how to outrank them.

First what you’ll do is search for your local keywords in Google — For our example, I’ll use “Atlanta Georgia Trucking”.  As you can see below, there are three featured results.

We’re going to take the top result in the “3 pack”, click on it and copy the name, address and phone number exactly as it appears.  Next, we will paste the name, address and phone number into Google.  For our example, we have “Holmesy Express 541 10th St NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 (404) 216-6384”.  See below:

What we are interested in is the total number of results that are returned which is displayed below your search query, see portion circled above.  In our example, we have 63 results.  What this tells us is the approximate number of directories and citations that we’d need to exceed to outrank the result in the top position.  This also tells us that our example, Holmesy Express, is a very trustworthy and recommended source for Trucking services in the Atlanta area, likely having very positive customer dialogue online.  This is what  you need to try to emulate. 

The next step is to repeat the process above for the lowest ranked business in the “3 pack” and make note of the number of results that Google returns.

Done with that?  Ok, now enter your own business’s name, address and phone number into Google in the same manner and see how many results are returned.  Now you know where you stand with regards to the lowest entry in the pack.  Subtract the number of results for the lowest entry by the number of results in your entry to tell you approximately how many more results you’ll need to outrank the lowest ranking business.  If you’re already in the “3 pack”, great, just perform the same steps for the business that appears above yours to know how many results you’ll need to move up in the pack.

To outrank, it’s important to note that you will need quality backlinks and customer reviews among other additional SEO factors.  What we are interested in at this point is gauging exactly how you can accomplish your goals.  With real statistics in hand, you’ll be better prepared to confront your local market.