With the new 3-packs that are showing up in the search results, Google has also added a new ratings feature into the 3-pack that allows searchers to only see results above a certain star rating.

Here is how it appears when there is a rating option in the 3-pack.

They seem to appear for all restaurant related queries that show a 3-pack local result, as long as there are enough results to sort.

When you select the drop down for “Rating”, this is what appears.

We have also seen some additional ones for selecting based on price, hours and Zagat rating.

However, when you adjust the ratings, it does not automatically update the 3-pack with those results.  It takes you to a secondary page with listings and the map.

If there are not enough reviews for a local restaurant related query, Google will not show the rating selection option in the local 3-pack result.

Google also has selections for both Price and Hours for some search queries as well.

It isn’t clear if Google plans to expand them into other areas, but if people do use them, we could see it moving into other business areas or locations, especially for those local results that have a lot of competing businesses for those three spots.

Right now the “Ratings” feature isn’t that noticeable.  But if it becomes a much-used feature, or Google makes it more visible to searchers, there will again be a greater importance for businesses to ensure their ratings are 4 or higher so they can take advantage of this feature.  I doubt anyone would use the option to select the 2 or 3 star options unless it happens to be an area that doesn’t have any 4 star ratings available.

This will definitely be something local SEOs in non-restaurant related fields should keep an eye on in case it does expand to non-restaurant areas.

H/T to Glenn Gabe who noticed the “price” and “hours” selections.