TL;DR
- The three Map Pack listings capture roughly 39% of local search clicks in 2026: 14.8%, 12.6%, and 11.9% by position.
- The "44% of clicks" number still quoted everywhere comes from a 2015 study.
- The Map Pack is Google's most resilient surface: position 1 lost 16% of clicks year over year; organic position 1 lost 82%.
- For dental and healthcare practices, Map Pack visibility now drives calls more than website visits, so measure actions, not traffic.
The three listings in the Google Map Pack earn roughly 39% of all clicks on a local search results page in 2026. According to First Page Sage's September 2026 click-through study, position 1 gets 14.8%, position 2 gets 12.6%, and position 3 gets 11.9%, far more than any organic listing earns on the same page.
Most numbers circulating online are outdated or unsourced. Here is what current primary data says and what it means for a dental or medical practice.
Where does the "44% of clicks" figure come from?
The 44% figure traces back to a 2015 Moz "snack pack" click study, repeated in agency blogs for a decade without re-verification. AI Overviews, Local Services Ads, sponsored pack listings, and AI Mode did not exist when it was measured.
The First Page Sage dataset is the most defensible current benchmark: 1,184 domains, 3.67 billion impressions, and 41.2 million clicks recorded March to August 2026, with Map Pack clicks separated from organic clicks.
How does the Map Pack compare with organic results in 2026?
The Map Pack is now the most click-resilient element on Google. First Page Sage reports that Map Pack position 1 fell from 17.6% to 14.8% CTR year over year, a 16% decline, while blended CTR for organic position 1 collapsed from 39.8% to 7.1%, an 82% decline. The gap between pack positions 1, 2, and 3 has narrowed, so being in the pack matters far more than which slot you hold.
The reason is structural: an AI answer cannot drive someone to a dental chair, so Google still shows three businesses when the intent is "dentist near me."
Here is how the main surfaces on a local results page compare in 2026, using First Page Sage's published CTR figures:
- Map Pack position 1 — 14.8% CTR.
- Map Pack position 2 — 12.6% CTR.
- Map Pack position 3 — 11.9% CTR.
- Organic position 1, AI answer present — 3.6% CTR. Now the norm, since AI answers appear on 81.6% of US queries.
- Business recommended inside the AI answer — 7.3% CTR. A new listing type, largely independent of pack rankings.
- Local Services Ad box — 2.0% to 2.6% CTR per slot.
Note that 74.2% of US Google searches now end without a click, up from 64.8% a year earlier. The Map Pack is taking a larger share of a shrinking pool.
Does the Map Pack appear on every local search?
No. It appears on the vast majority of searches with explicit local intent and on very few informational ones. Whitespark's study of 540 local queries across dentists, medical clinics, optometrists, and three other industries found that local packs appear for 93% of local-intent queries such as "optometrist Houston," but for only 6% of informational queries and 17% of hybrid queries like "average cost of dental implants in Phoenix."
AI Overviews show the inverse: 15% on local-intent, 92% on informational, 97% on hybrid. The pack owns "dentist near me"; the AI answer owns "does a root canal hurt."
Does a higher Map Pack click-through rate improve rankings?
Yes, according to the practitioners who optimize for it. In Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey, 47 local SEO experts scored 187 factors, and "Click-Through Rate from Local Pack/Maps Search Results" ranked 13th for local pack impact, above GBP completeness. Primary GBP category, proximity to the searcher, and keywords in the business title took the top three spots.
Click share is therefore partly a feedback loop: a well-matched, well-reviewed profile gets clicked more, and that engagement reinforces its position. Whitespark notes increased weight on review and behavioural signals in 2026.
What happens after the click for a dental practice?
Fewer people see your profile than a year ago, but almost the same number take action. Birdeye's State of Google Business Profile 2026 report, built on data from the largest multi-location brands across 30+ industries, found that search impressions per location dropped 53.8% while customer actions declined only about 5%. Actions split into website visits (47%), direction requests (38%), and phone calls (15%).
Healthcare breaks from that average: Birdeye reports healthcare profiles see 36% of actions as phone calls, more than double the all-industry share. Judge Map Pack performance by calls and appointment requests, with call tracking in place before investing in rankings.
What does it take to earn one of the three spots?
Reviews are now a hard threshold. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a representative panel of 1,002 US adults, found that 31% of consumers will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% the year before, and 47% won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews. The same survey shows Google's share as a review source slipped from 83% to 71%, while use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local recommendations jumped from 6% to 45%.
Practical priorities for a practice:
- Primary category — the exact specialty (Dentist, Pediatric Dentist, Orthodontist), not a generic health category.
- Review velocity — a steady flow of recent reviews beats a one-time burst.
- Hours — being open at the time of search ranked #5 in Whitespark's 2026 survey, so keep hours accurate.
- Address and pin — a verified, visible address in the city of search, with the pin placed correctly.
- Landing page — keywords in the title tag and headings of the page your profile links to.
How Optiwebopz handles Map Pack visibility for dental and healthcare clients
Optiwebopz treats the Map Pack as a conversion channel, not a vanity ranking. Across the Dental Marketing network of roughly 124 dental clinic websites we manage, every profile is audited against the factors above, categories and services are standardised per specialty, review requests are automated, and call tracking is wired in so the practice sees calls and bookings by source. Agencies get the same workflow white-label under their own branding. We also track whether each location is recommended inside Google's AI answer, a separate listing type that pack rankings alone do not win.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of clicks does the Google Map Pack get? Roughly 39% of clicks on a local search results page in 2026, split across the three listings: 14.8% for position 1, 12.6% for position 2, and 11.9% for position 3. These figures come from First Page Sage's September 2026 study of 3.67 billion Google impressions and replace the outdated 44% number from 2015.
Does the Map Pack get more clicks than the first organic result? Yes, by a wide margin. In 2026, organic position 1 earns 3.6% CTR when an AI answer is present, which now happens on 81.6% of US queries. Even Map Pack position 3 at 11.9% earns more than three times that, which is why the pack is the most valuable surface for local practices.
How often does the Map Pack appear for dental searches? Whitespark's 540-query study, which included dentists, found local packs on 93% of local-intent searches such as "dentist [city]" but on only 6% of informational and 17% of hybrid searches like "cost of dental implants in Phoenix." Informational and hybrid queries are dominated by AI Overviews instead.
How many reviews does a dental practice need to compete in the Map Pack? BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 47% of consumers won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 31% require a 4.5-star rating or better. Treat 20 reviews and 4.5 stars as the entry floor, then focus on recency, since 74% of consumers only trust reviews from the last three months.
Should a dental practice measure Map Pack success by website traffic? No. Birdeye's 2026 data shows healthcare profiles convert 36% of actions into phone calls, more than double the cross-industry average. Track calls, direction requests, and booking clicks from the profile, and put call tracking in place before judging whether Map Pack rankings are paying off.
I shared a shorter take on this on LinkedIn. Join the discussion there.
https://lnkd.in/p/dyqRmVHn