What is a Local Citation?

Citations are considered a ranking factor for local seo. Having your business listed in trusted online directories sends signals to google to improves their degree of certainty that your business exists. The quantity of listings, the accuracy of your listings, and the quality of the online directories can affect how google perceives your online presence.

A local citation is any online mention of the name, address, and phone number for a local business. Citations can occur on local business directories, on websites and apps, and on social platforms. Citations help internet users to discover local businesses and can also impact local search engine rankings. Local businesses can actively manage many citations to ensure data accuracy.

Another underreported benefit of building citations is that some online business directories dominate page one of local search. Sites like yelp and yellowpages tend to consistently rank high for most local searches. So if you can’t beat them, join them! these online directories provide other opportunities to earn real estate on page one.

Major local business data platforms- local business owners and marketers can create citations on a variety of important local business data platforms which exist to publish this type of data. Core platforms include google my business, acxiom, localeze/neustar, and infogroup. Key local business listings can also be built on popular social and review-oriented sites like facebook and yelp.

Any local business developing its marketing strategy must understand the risk/benefit scenario of a passive vs. An active approach to citation management.

Neglecting citation development and management risks the following damage to rankings, reputation, and revenue: a small/weak set of local citations inaccurate citations no awareness of user or competitor edits to local business listings no strategy for discovering inaccurate data no strategy for managing citations in the event of mergers/acquisitions, rebranding, business moves, changes of phone numbers, hours of operation, or other data.

How to Build Local Citations (Complete Guide)

Having a strong citation profile is one of the simplest ways you can optimize for local seo. Citations are considered part of the foundational basics when it comes to local search. Once you have completed your citations you can move on to other areas like link building, engagement, content creation, and reputation management. You shouldn’t have to worry about your citation profile again, unless your business information changes – such as when you move locations, get a new phone number, change your name, and so on.

How citations help with local SEO

Citations are important for local seo, but they’re far from the be-all and end-all of it. You also need to optimize your google my business profile, do proper keyword research , crack your on-page seo , and more. Our comprehensive guide to local seo can help with that. Got questions about citations? ping me on twitter.

Why Citations Are Important for Local Search Rankings

Citations are publications of your core business data on the internet. They influence consumer discovery and local search engine rankings. Accurate citations positively impact rankings, reputation, and revenue, whereas inaccurate citations detract from these assets. Due to the high stakes of these assets, active location data management is a necessity for all local businesses, and you can choose from manual, semi-automated, and automated solutions for your business. You must fully research each potential option or service you consider to discover whether your investment of resources will result in meaningful value.

Citations help search engines verify the existence, legitimacy, and trustworthiness of your business. If the same details appear across many trusted websites, then google has increased confidence that your business exists, is operational, and that what you say about it is true. According to moz, citations are the fifth most important ranking signal for local queries.

Local ranking algorithms used by both google and bing factor in citations when it comes to local search rankings. In the latest local search ranking factors survey , local search experts rated citation related factors as making up approximately 13. 31% of the top 50 factors. Local search ranking factors, 2017 the more places your business information appears online, the more prominent your business appears to google. It makes sense. If the search engine algorithms see that your business is mentioned on hundreds of websites, compared to competition that is only listed on a few dozen, this can make you seem like a more popular business, and give you a boost in the rankings.

How to Build Citations for Local Businesses

So what makes a citation great for a local business? there is huge variation in the value of different citations. A mention of your business’ name, address, and phone number on whitehouse. Gov is worth far more than a mention of your business on some spammy web directory that was created solely for low quality link building.

Now that you know what citations are and why they are important for local businesses, how do you go about finding local citations for your business?

Original Source: http://video-proff.com/what-is-a-local-citation/