A local citation is any online mention of the name, address, and phone number for a local business. Citations occur on local business directories, on websites, van be Apps, and on social platforms.

For a citation to help with your local SEO strategy, it’s important that it exactly matches the NAP on your website and on your Google My Business page.

What format you use for your citations isn’t important, but using one format ONLY is key to success. You need to be 100% consistent in the name (abbreviations), address (unit or suite or floor number), and phone number (+61? spaces or no spaces?) used when building citations.

Why Are Citations Important?

Citations, along with links and reviews, are a primary factor that Google uses when deciding on which order to rank businesses in their local search results.

It’s logical that a business that’s mentioned a lot online deserves a higher ranking than one that’s hardly mentioned at all, especially if those mentions are on websites that are relevant in terms of location and/or topic.

Play the game with Google, and Google will play the game with you.

Google uses citations to verify the accuracy of the contact details in their local business listings too, as listing addresses or phone numbers which are out of date or incorrect, looks bad on them and causes people to question the reliability of their search results.

If exactly the same NAP is listed on 50+ different websites then it’s highly likely to be correct information, and Google can be more confident in showing that NAP to searchers.

Another reason citations are important is that, as well as helping to improve your business’s rankings in local search results, they increase general branding awareness of your business and provide more ways for people to find you online.

The more places that your business’s NAP is listed, the higher the likelihood of people seeing it, and the more people who see it, the greater the number of people who will contact you.

All a bit intense, but makes sense right?

Smart Actions:

1) Check your Google My Business listing

2) Are you happy with that registration, and how that is displayed?

3) If yes, make sure it is displayed EXACTLY in the same format on your website, in the footer, and the contact page

4) If NO, edit it and save, then do step 3

5) Using that NAP Format list your business on local business directories

Here’s our top 5 to get you started:

https://www.bingplaces.com/
https://www.yellowpages.com.au/
https://www.truelocal.com.au/find/local-search
https://www.startlocal.com.au/get-listed.html
https://www.facebook.com/

https://www.smarterwebsites.com.au/services/local-search-results/