Google Search local pack

`localResults` returns the map-pack businesses in order, with name, rating, review count, category and address: the unit of local rank tracking.

Returned in result

Request

curl -X POST "https://api.answerline.dev/v1/monitor/google" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"project management software","country":"US","include":{"aioverview":{"markdown":true}}}'

What the local pack is

The local pack is the map-backed block of businesses Google shows for queries with local intent, such as “plumber near me” or “best pizza in new york city”. It lists a few places with name, rating, review count, category, address and, for service businesses, buttons for the website and directions.

result.localResults returns the places in that pack, in order. It is the unit of local rank tracking: pack position across a grid of cities or neighborhoods, the share of keyword and location combinations where a business appears at all, the ratings and review counts of the businesses that outrank you, and the same keywords reported for every branch of a multi-location business.

Field reference

result.localResults[]

result.localResultsMoreLink

Both fields are omitted when no local pack appears. The pack comes from the first results page of a desktop request.

Annotated excerpt

Values are illustrative; names and types follow the POST /v1/monitor/google result schema. The request used query: "plumber austin".

{
  "result": {
    // Omitted entirely when the page has no local pack.
    "localResults": [
      {
        "position": 1,
        "title": "Example Plumbing Co.",
        "placeId": "ChIJexample123",
        "rating": 4.8,
        "reviews": "1.2K",                    // display string, not a number
        "type": "Plumber",
        "yearsInBusiness": "10+ years in business",
        "address": "Austin, TX",
        "phone": "(512) 555-0142",
        "hours": "Open 24 hours",
        "description": "\"Arrived within the hour and fixed the leak\"",
        "links": {                              // service-style packs only
          "website": "https://www.exampleplumbing.example/",
          "directions": "https://www.google.com/maps/dir//..."
        }
      }
    ],
    "localResultsMoreLink": "https://www.google.com/search?..."
  }
}

Cost and targeting

No include flag is needed. The local pack comes with every Google Search request at the base price: $0.00103 for one page. Keep pages at 1; the pack comes from the first page.

Set country (or gl) for the result geography, and put the city in the query or send location (e.g. Austin,Texas,United States) or uule to search from that city.

A grid of 5 keywords across 20 cities is 100 tasks, $0.103 per run.

Example: presence rate and average position across a city grid

import os
import re
import time
from collections import defaultdict
from datetime import date

import requests

API = "https://api.answerline.dev"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['API_KEY']}"}
BUSINESS = "example plumbing"          # match on a normalized name fragment
KEYWORDS = ["plumber", "emergency plumber", "water heater repair"]
CITIES = ["austin", "round rock", "cedar park"]
DAY = date.today().isoformat()


def run_tasks(tasks):
    resp = requests.post(f"{API}/v1/async/task/batch", headers=HEADERS, json=tasks, timeout=60)
    resp.raise_for_status()
    pending = {item["task"]["id"]: tasks[item["index"]] for item in resp.json()["results"] if item["success"]}
    done = []
    while pending:
        time.sleep(10)
        for task_id in list(pending):
            body = requests.get(f"{API}/v1/async/task/{task_id}", headers=HEADERS, timeout=30).json()
            if body["task"]["status"] in ("COMPLETED", "FAILED"):
                task = pending.pop(task_id)
                if body["task"]["status"] == "COMPLETED":
                    done.append((task["payload"], body["response"]["result"]))
    return done


def review_count(text):
    match = re.search(r"([\d.,]+)\s*([KkMm]?)", text or "")
    if not match:
        return None
    value = float(match.group(1).replace(",", ""))
    return int(value * {"k": 1_000, "m": 1_000_000}.get(match.group(2).lower(), 1))


tasks = [
    {
        "taskType": "GOOGLE",
        "payload": {"query": f"{kw} {city}", "country": "US"},
        "idempotencyKey": f"lp-{k}-{c}-{DAY}",
    }
    for k, kw in enumerate(KEYWORDS)
    for c, city in enumerate(CITIES)
]

by_city = defaultdict(lambda: {"checks": 0, "packs": 0, "positions": []})
leaders = defaultdict(int)
for payload, result in run_tasks(tasks):
    stats = by_city[next(c for c in CITIES if payload["query"].endswith(c))]
    stats["checks"] += 1
    pack = result.get("localResults", [])
    stats["packs"] += bool(pack)
    for place in pack:
        if BUSINESS in place["title"].lower():
            stats["positions"].append(place["position"])
        if place["position"] == 1:
            leaders[(place["title"], place.get("rating"), review_count(place.get("reviews")))] += 1

for city, s in by_city.items():
    found = len(s["positions"])
    avg = sum(s["positions"]) / found if found else None
    avg_text = f"{avg:.1f}" if avg else "-"
    print(f"{city:34} pack shown {s['packs']}/{s['checks']}  present {found}/{s['checks']}  avg position {avg_text}")
print("Most frequent #1 places (title, rating, reviews):")
for key, count in sorted(leaders.items(), key=lambda kv: -kv[1])[:5]:
    print("  ", count, key)

Presence is counted against all checks, not only checks that showed a pack, so a keyword with no pack in a city counts as “not present”. Report both numbers: a low pack rate points to keyword intent, a low presence rate with packs shown points to the business.

Pitfalls

localResults comes from desktop requests, so it shows the desktop pack.

localResults and localResultsMoreLink are omitted when there is no pack. Record the absence per keyword and location instead of skipping the row.

Names in title can include suffixes or location labels. Match on placeId once you know it, and fall back to a normalized name fragment.

reviews such as 1.2K must be converted before comparing; keep the raw text too.

A city name in the query approximates searchers spread across the city, and “near me” results can differ within it. Keep the city list fixed across runs.

links, yearsInBusiness and phone are typical on service packs and absent on restaurant packs.

Related

• Local rank tracking and rank tracking.
• Local AI answers at state level for the same questions in AI assistants.
• AI Mode places: local results inside Google’s conversational search.
• Organic results and knowledge graph for the rest of a local SERP.
• Google Search engine guide for targeting, batches and billing.

More Google Search data

All Google Search fields · API reference