Birmingham Map Pack Teardown: How to Audit the Local Pack
A Map Pack teardown is a dated notesheet: who showed for one query, from one place, on one device. It is not a ranking report and it is not a claim that anyone is “#1 in Birmingham”. Positions move. This playbook is the checklist so the notes stay honest.
The UK-wide read is local SEO for UK businesses. The city website page is web design Birmingham. If you want the written pass done for you, book a Free Growth Audit.
What you'll get
- What a teardown looks at — and what it must not claim
- A six-signal checklist you can run in Birmingham this week
- One fictionalised, anonymised illustration, labelled as such
- Links into GBP, reviews, NAP, and directories
What a teardown is
Search a real job + Birmingham (or a named suburb you staff) in a private window. Write down the date, the device, and whether you were in the city or spoofing it. Note the three pack listings if a pack appeared. Then score each listing on signals you can see in public — not on a secret ranking formula.
Do not publish “we are #1” from a screenshot taken at your kitchen table. Google personalises. Distance is a factor you cannot ethically fake.
The ranking-factor list sits in how to rank in the Google Map Pack. This page is the audit method.
The six signals
1. GBP completeness
Hours, description, website, phone, service area versus storefront. Work the GBP optimisation checklist.
2. Categories
Primary category must match the query. Secondaries only if true. See GBP categories.
3. Reviews velocity
Count, rating, last 90 days, owner replies. A pile of old fives with silence this year is weaker than a slower, recent stream. How to get Google reviews.
4. Photos
Real jobs or premises. Recency. Stock and AI-as-real are a risk.
5. Website on a phone
First screen: offer, area, tap-to-call or a form that works. A pack click that lands on a desktop theatre is wasted. That is the web design Birmingham problem.
6. NAP consistency
Name, address, phone identical on the site, the profile, and the directories you actually use. Format rules: NAP checklist.
Illustration only — not a live ranking
The table below is a fictionalised, anonymised example. It is not a Birmingham Map Pack result, not a competitor score, and not a claim about any real firm.
| Signal | What you write down | Illustration (made up) |
|---|---|---|
| GBP completeness | Hours, services, website, phone | “Firm A”: hours set; three services with no descriptions |
| Primary category | Matches the query you typed | Query “boiler repair Birmingham”; listing set to Plumber |
| Reviews velocity | Last 90 days vs older pile | 40 reviews; two in six months; no owner replies |
| Photos | Real vs stock; last upload | Six stock bathrooms; last upload 2024 |
| Website mobile | First screen, tap-to-call, form | Desktop hero; number in an image |
| NAP | Site vs GBP vs one directory | “St.” on the site; “Street” on Yell |
If you want a real pass on your own listing, that is the Free Growth Audit — we will not invent a pack position there either.
A dated public snapshot is not “current #1”
Third-party posts sometimes publish a named three-pack for one query on one day. Treat those as a source with a date, not as your ranking. We already cite one such plumber snapshot on local SEO for plumbers (GeoRankLocal, 8 August 2026). It will have moved. Do not copy names from it into a “we beat them” story.
After the teardown
- Fix your own profile first — category, services, hours, photos.
- Ask for reviews the right way. Reply to everything.
- Make the site take the enquiry on a phone.
- Align NAP. Do not buy a 50-directory blast.
Same sequence as the 14-day Map Pack plan.
FAQ
Can you tell us who is #1 in the Birmingham Map Pack?
No. A pack is query-, location- and device-specific. Anyone selling a fixed city league table is guessing.
Will this teardown get us into the Map Pack?
No. It tells you what to fix. Distance, competition and eligibility still apply. Nobody honest can guarantee a pack place.
Do we need a Birmingham office?
No. Eligibility and service area still have to be honest. We deliver remotely — see web design Birmingham. We will not invent a Digbeth studio.
What to do next
Run the six signals on your own listing this week. Then book a Free Growth Audit if you want the written pass. Keep the UK-wide method in local SEO for UK businesses and the citation list in UK business directories.