Google Local Pack Defaults To Showing 4 Stars For Some Queries

Jan 24, 2019 - 8:02 am 1 — by
Filed Under Google Maps

Gray Google Star

If you do a search for [top soil] where I am and in some other locations, Google will show you a local pack but the local pack will be filtered to only show results with 4.0+ ratings or higher. If I do another search, like [barber shops] I do not get the 4+ rating filter in my location.

Here is a screen shot:

click for full size

Lewis Peters posted about this on Twitter asking if this is a new test. I am not sure - I know Google filtered local packs like this in the past. So I am not sure if that was a test or if this has been query dependent for some time now. Do you know?

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Update: This is not new, it has been around for several months where some queries trigger the star filter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Legal Search Issues

Google Loses Another Round in Legal Battle Against SerpApi Over Scraping

Nov 10, 2026 - 7:09 pm
ChatGPT

Businesses in ChatGPT Business Hub Live With Click Data

Nov 10, 2026 - 1:45 pm
Google Updates

Google November 2026 Core Update Is Rolling Out

Nov 10, 2026 - 1:25 pm
Google

Gemini 4 Carbon Available In Google Search AI Mode

Nov 10, 2026 - 11:50 am
Yahoo Search Engine

Yahoo Search Launches Pivot Search, Yahoo Scout App & More

Nov 10, 2026 - 10:50 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 10, 2026

Nov 10, 2026 - 10:00 am
Previous Story: Is Google Penguin Dead Or Alive