Around the evening of August 6th, Google had update the local results that we would see in a normal query that has local intent. Instead of showing us seven local businesses, Google is now showing us just three three local businesses instead. What used to be called a 7-pack in SEO lingo is now called a 3-pack.
Aside from the fact that they are showing fewer business listings, it has also been redesigned to fit more with the mobile user interface.
This is what the local results looked like last year:
With this new format, this should lead to less phone calls and sales for those businesses that appeared in the fourth position or lower. For those that appear in the first three results, it could lead to more business.