What are business citations?
You may have heard of business citations also being referred to as NAP information and this being useful to local seo.
NAP stands for name of a business, its address and also the businesses phone number. This information is then picked up by Google so that the search engine can gain confidence in your businesses information.
How do citations affect local seo?
Google uses citations as well as many other ranking factors to work out how authoritative your business is.
For example, a business that has consistent business citations, good back links and the site is regularly updated is much more likely to rank well within Google.
What type of business citations are good for local seo?
The types of citations a business will want to gain are citations that are consistent, that’s to say the information marries exactly with what’s on the home page of the website.
The agency or person building the citations should aim for 100% accuracy. That’s to say the address, name and phone number should all be consistent.
For example, a website that’s called ABC Limited, should not then have citations as ABC Ltd as these would be different.
Why does the NAP information need to be consistent?
NAP information needs to be consistent because Google Bots will have a hard time making sure all citations are for one business if there are discrepancies or large differences with the information shown by the citation.
What happens if my business address changes?
If your business changes address, company name or phone number you should change this information contained within your existing businesses citations. That’s to say the information about your business should be kept up to date.
These will help to avoid conflicting business citations.
Why is it so important to make sure all NAP information is consistent and accounts are verified?
Google My Business and other pages that display company information sometimes do not show citations unless the page has been verified first.
Therefore if you have to confirm your account via e-mail or via post do make sure that this is carried out.
How can your agency help with local seo?
We have experienced search engine optimisation consultants who can help you build business citations. We are experts at local seo, so do get in touch if you wish to take your business higher within Google.
We can offer affordably priced online marketing solutions, to find out more why not give us a ring?
