So what are SEO citations? A local citation is a reference to an individual’s location.
NAP data, or the name, address, and phone number (NAP) of a local company, refers to any online reference of the NAP information. It’s possible to find citations in online directories, on company websites and applications, and on social media. Citations are a useful tool for both customers and search engine rankings. If you have high-quality basic citations, Google’s local search results will be more accurate. To verify the accuracy of their data, local firms may actively monitor a large number of citations.
If your company’s name, address, and phone number (also known as NAP) appear on another website, this is known as a “citation” in local search engine optimization (SEO). The NAP information is used as a signal of relevance and verification that you are a real local company and are situated at the location stated in your Google My Business page by the local algorithm.
The importance of citations
Local SEO relies heavily on citations (see our Link Building for Local SEO article to understand more about the subject). Building citations and monitoring citations are important local SEO actions to include when you’re just getting started since they help you show up in local search results.
Each local search results in the top local companies being returned by Google’s local algorithm. According to relevance and prominence, citations play a major role in the return of relevant sites.
In order for Google to authenticate your location, you need to provide citations. The more respectable sites that display your NAP (name, address, and phone number) in their search results, the more likely Google is to consider you a real local company. If you have a greater level of trust, Google is more likely to display your company in its local search results.
It’s no coincidence that, when your NAP information is included on more local sites, the algorithm begins to associate the number of listings you have with your company’s significance and popularity. This may also contribute to an improvement in local organic rankings.
What are SEO citations?
You can’t only rely on one list of reference sources since each vertical and each city has its own significant citation websites, such as your local chamber of commerce or respected internet directories, Yellow Pages websites, or an industry-specific company directory. Even though well-known citation sites like Facebook, Google, and Yelp are great places to start your search when looking for citations for your company, you’ll need to do some digging to find the ones that will be most apparent to your target audience.
Have you no idea where to begin? Use a citation finder in your area. If you’re in need of help with local SEO and citation building, check out Whitespark. There are lists of the best citation sites for each nation and for each sector on their website. Make a list of the top three results from a Google search for your area and industry. You should focus on getting citations from such sources.
Performing a Local Citation Check
This may either be done by hand or by the use of
Local citation sources may be found in abundance. In fact, you could theoretically examine all of the main citation sites by hand when doing a full audit of your citations.
In reality, you’d only want to look at a few of the most well-known data aggregators. Big names like Facebook and Apple Maps are among them. We’ve compiled a list of places where you may find citations.
- Google My Business
- Bing Maps
- Yelp
Local SEO Business Listing Citation Checks That Are Automated
Moz provides a local listings tool for your company to make things simpler. Using Moz Local’s Check Listing tool, you can verify the presence and integrity of your local company listings throughout the web. Listed below are the most influential data aggregators on the web.
Citation Types in Local Media
Without any direct involvement from the business itself, mentions of your company surface on the internet on a regular basis. Citations from local company data systems may be generated automatically via data aggregation and flow. Data from a site like Data Axle may be exported to a site like YP.com, for example. As a result of the way the web works, local companies must take control of their data to ensure that erroneous information is identified so that customers, revenue, and local search results are not negatively impacted.
Examples of common local citations include the following:
Google, Bing, and Apple are the three most well-known search engines.
Foursquare, Data Axle, and Neustar/Localeze are the primary data aggregators.
It’s also possible to build key local company listings on prominent social and review-oriented sites such as Facebook, Yelp, and more.
Local Business Data Platforms that Serve All Industries- In addition to creating local business listings on the main local business data platforms, your firm may also create local business listings on websites that are tailored to your industry and geographic location. Examples of these platforms include websites for chambers of commerce, professional organisations and guilds.
Extra citations may be created or gained on a broad range of media, such as blog posts and news sites, as well as applications and maps, as well as databases maintained by governments. Even though they aren’t expressly designed for the publication of local business listings, they nonetheless serve as a point of contact for your company. These citations might be developed for your company on purpose or earned via merit and public interest/information sharing.
Owned Properties: Your company’s website is the Internet’s most trusted source of information.
To build all of the above-mentioned sorts of citations, you can either utilize automated tools (like Moz Local) or manually fill out forms on local business sites. Now you fully understand what are SEO citations?
Your SEO citations may be found here.
Even if you don’t add citations by yourself, they may nonetheless appear on websites. Many local directories and websites accept data feeds from other sources for obtaining entries, so your data will automatically go farther down the chain. If you’ve just started a new business, there are three ways to get your company included on citation sites:
Do-it-yourself submission: You or a member of your team manually insert the data into the listed sites. To guarantee that your information is right on every site, you must go through this tedious procedure again.
NAP data may also be sent manually, but you’ll have to pay someone else to do it for you. For those who don’t have the time or resources to finish the citation procedure themselves, you may hire a service to do it for you.
Submitting your NAP data to the main data aggregators, such as Whitespark or BrightLocal, will result in your information being shared with hundreds of other websites.
As much information as possible should be provided.
Citations might offer additional information about your company in addition to the essential NAP data. A business email address is a great way for people to get in touch with you. If you have operating hours or a detailed description of your company, be sure to include these details.
In order to succeed in SEO, you must be consistent.
It’s critical that your citations be accurate since they form the basis of your SEO. Check to make sure your company name doesn’t include any more keywords. Your business’s name, address, and phone number should be consistent across all of your online presences. Erroneous, or duplicate NAP data might be flagged by Google’s algorithm as a red flag.
Changing your location or switching to a new call tracking service might cause difficulties with the consistency of your NAP data; therefore, you’ll need to clean up your citations by changing the wrong information. Whitespark and BrightLocal provide citation auditing tools that may be used to perform this manually, or you can hire a service to do it for you.
Citation and Link Building go hand in hand
Inexperienced SEOs often conflate link building and citation management.
Despite the fact that this is a kind of link-building, the goal is quite different. It is claimed by Google and other search engines that they can tell the difference between the two.
Enhance Your Local SEO
For local SEO, citations are a ranking element. For Google, having your company listed in reputable web directories boosts their confidence in your existence.
Your online visibility may be affected by the number of listings, the accuracy of your listings, and the quality of the online directories.
As a result, it is critical that you choose your sources carefully.
Boost Your Page One Rankings
Some online business directories dominate the first page of local search results if you establish citations. Local search results on Yelp and YellowPages, for example, often show up at the top of the results page.
So, if you’re not going to join them, then why try? These internet directories provide you with the chance to have your name on the first page, in addition to the usual suspects.
Obtaining Traffic through Personal Recommendations
There are a lot of individuals that stick to sites like Yelp for restaurants. Many foodies are taught to use Yelp before Google while searching for new eateries.
Referral traffic may be gained by submitting your site to as many directories as feasible.
Choosing Accurate Citations
You may not be able to have your firm mentioned in all of the citations that are out there. If you’re pressed for time or money, you could have trouble whittling down your options.
Having a large number of citations is vital, but you shouldn’t become discouraged if your company isn’t included in every single one of them. That’s probably a good thing, as it turns out!
The number of folders that a utility may sync with may be limited.
Starting with the most relevant online business directories is a solid rule of thumb when determining which citations to put your firm in.
Lists of the best industry citations may be found online in many different forms. Just simply perform a Google search using your local search terms as the input to find them.
You can also take a look at what your competitors are doing. Why is a certain Google Business Listing showing at the top? Pop their website URL into Google search and find out where they are listed, do the same.
You’ll need a list of generic citations after you’ve compiled a list of industry-specific internet business directories. Some of the most well-known directories may be found in BrightLocal’s list.
Online business directories that prospective clients really utilize rank highest.
For example, many individuals actively seek out a doctor using directories like MedFind.com. Not only does this database prove its usefulness to healthcare organizations, but it may also serve as a source of new referral business.
Tools for Citation Management
Online company directories may be managed using a variety of solutions. In terms of pricing, features, and usefulness, they all differ greatly, but they all utilize the same citations.
As a result, selecting the appropriate tools might be a challenge. However, there are a number of factors to take into account when trying to choose the ideal listing management software.
Citation Management Software: What to Look for
When selecting a tool, these are some of the features I look for.
- Varieties of citation
- Is it possible to pick directories based on a certain industry?
- Is it possible to specify which folders the program should look in, or does it make the selection for you?
- Do the citations come pre-configured in the tool?
- Is there a way to access the directories directly?
- Are aggregators employed?
- Is there a way to keep track of several instances of the same item?
- Managing the suppression of duplicates shouldn’t be hard.
- How precise is the identification of duplicates?
Tracking
- Is there any way to keep track of what the tool is doing?
- Exactly how precise is the locator?
- Is it compatible with other tools for tracking?
Price
- Is the cost per site within my means?
- How does it fare when compared to other tools that have the same capabilities?
How to Make Citations More Powerful
Managing your company’s citations entails much more than just getting your name out there. There are a few things to keep in mind if you want to maximize your internet visibility.
Consistency in the implementation of NAP
All listings should include the same combination of a person’s name, address, and phone number. Several studies have demonstrated that local SEO may benefit from maintaining a consistent NAP listing.
Descriptions
By including your most important keywords into your business’s description, you may boost your local search engine results. Search engines can better comprehend your company if you do this.
URL of the Internet page from which you obtained this information
Links to a company’s home page are all that many companies provide. As an alternative, you may simply refer them to the location page. This streamlines the process of finding the information that a user seeks while also benefiting search engines.
Category: Business
It is possible to pick additional categories in certain citations, such as Google My Business. Secondary keywords may benefit from this.
Photos
If customized correctly, using images of your company may assist in boosting your website’s visibility in image searches and increase client conversion rates.
I recommend improving the file name and alt text for photos if the directory allows you to do so. Put your NAP data in the image file name and in the image ALT TAG.
Reviews
Having a high number of positive reviews not only helps you attract new clients, but it may also help you rise in the search engine results. A business’s quality may be judged based on the quality of its reviews on other websites.
How to Keep Tabs on and Calculate Citation Value
Listing management is a long-term commitment. Your investors will want to know whether the money you’ve put in is worth it.
It is possible to monitor citation status and performance in a variety of ways using a variety of technologies. If you’re going to be reporting your earnings, there are a few things you may do to hide your ineptitude.
How to Monitor Citation Statuses
Citations may be preserved by using technologies that provide open APIs and directories. Some tools, on the other hand, do little more than create listings.
The status of your citations should be monitored on a regular basis since firms might lose citations for a number of reasons.
You may want to utilize 3rd party tools to monitor your citations in the event that your preferred tool doesn’t have this feature built in.
If you use any of these tools, please know that I’m not affiliated with them. Use them every day as a fan.
Little Warden
If you’re on a tight budget, this is a great option. You may use this application to keep track of numerous URLs’ response codes, amongst other things. In the event that any of your references disappear, you’ll get an email alert right away.
Screaming frog
It’s free, but I prefer the premium version, which is also extremely reasonable. Crawling URLs on a regular basis to determine their response codes is possible.
How to Measure Citation Success
Although a variety of technologies may measure various levels of performance, none can measure how they perform on your website.
While the acquisition report allows you to keep tabs on individual site performance, you’ll need to create a custom report to keep tabs on global effort performance.
Adding UTM tracking to URLs and using the same campaign or source name across all of your URLs is a much more straightforward solution.
Example
https://www.mywebsite.com/location/cityname?utm medium=referral & utm source=citation
If you’re using Google Analytics, you may search for “citation” in the Source/Medium report to find your citation.
Keep learning SEO:
Now that you know what are SEO citations you can learn more about the following:
Get a 100% Click Through Rate (CTR) on Google SERPs – Step by Step
Off page SEO checklist guide to the top
What is meant by backlinks in SEO?