The Local Finder is the expanded page of local results Google shows when someone clicks the “More places” or “More businesses” link under the local pack. It lists many more businesses than the three in the pack, alongside a map, with filters for things like rating and opening hours.
How the Local Finder works
On a search such as “accountant Wimbledon”, Google usually shows a map with three businesses. Clicking through opens the Local Finder, which keeps the map but adds a scrolling list of profiles, typically around 20 to a page. Each listing shows the name, rating, category, opening status and often a short snippet, sometimes a line from a review or the website that matches the search; this is known as a local justification.
The ordering uses the same broad factors as the local pack: relevance, distance and prominence. But the results can differ. Positions four to twenty only show up here, Google sometimes reorders the list once the map view changes, and ads can appear at the top as sponsored listings. Moving or zooming the map refreshes the results for the new area, which makes proximity very visible.
The Local Finder is a Search feature. Google Maps shows a similar list, but the Maps app and the Local Finder do not always rank businesses in exactly the same order.
Why it matters
People who click into the Local Finder are often comparing carefully: they want to read reviews, check opening times and look at several options before calling. If you are in position five, you are invisible in the pack but very much in the running here.
It also shows you where you stand. Your position in the Local Finder for a search is a more precise measure than “in the pack or not”, and it shows how close you are to breaking into the top three. Many rank tracking tools record it for that reason.
For businesses in dense areas such as central London, where dozens of competitors sit within a mile, the Local Finder is often where the real competition plays out, street by street.
Common mistakes
- Checking only whether you appear in the three-pack, and missing that you sit at position four for most searches.
- Judging visibility from your own office, where proximity gives a flattering result.
- Ignoring the snippet under your listing, which may quote an unhelpful review line.
- Assuming the Maps app ranking and the Local Finder ranking are identical.
How to act on it
Search for your main services as a customer would, click through to the Local Finder and note where you appear and who sits above you. Do it from several postcodes you serve, or use a local rank grid tool that checks positions across a map of your area.
Then compare yourself with the businesses above you: their categories, review count and recency, how complete their profiles are and how well their websites cover the service. That shows which gap to close first.
Look at the snippet Google shows under your own listing too. If it quotes a line that does not help, such as a complaint about parking, you cannot edit it directly, but adding the service clearly to your profile and website gives Google better text to match. Then repeat the check every month, from the same postcodes, so you compare like with like. Closing those gaps is the day-to-day work of local SEO.