Local businesses looking to enhance their online presence must understand the importance of local citations. A local citation is not just a mention of your business name, website, address, and phone number (NAP) online; it’s a cornerstone of your local SEO strategy.
Local citation building is the practice of distributing and maintaining a business’s information across the internet, also known as listings management.
This process includes several key steps:
Here’s why local citations are so important, with five key reasons to pay attention to them.
They include key information like your name, address, and phone number (NAP), and search engines use this data to cross-check your business across various platforms and directories. The more consistent and accurate your information is, the higher your business will rank in local searches.
Most of your potential customers turn to Google, Facebook, or Instagram to check your website or your business to see if it’s legitimate or if you have good reviews. Having consistent business information, such as the business name, contact person, etc., helps customers view you as trustworthy, while any conflicting information creates confusion and undermines trust.
Local citations can appear in various places such as directories, social networking sites, apps, and more. The information might include only the location’s name, address, and phone number, or additional details like a website link, description, photos, depending on the platform. This enriched information can spark user engagement, local reviews, providing insights into what you offer, and attracting potential customers.
Building and maintaining local citations can be a time-consuming task. In fact, some of you might not know or even understand what it entails, preferring instead to focus on your business. There are tools available that can automate and help make sure that your business information is always accurate and current, aiding your local SEO efforts. However, even with these tools, you still need people to check, monitor, and update the information, as tools can be prone to errors.
Local citations aren’t just limited to directories or data aggregators. A citation refers to any mention of your business on the web, including your contact info. By actively managing these mentions, your online presence on various platforms such as social media, blogs, and third-party websites become more visible. This approach can greatly improve your local SEO by broadening your online footprint.
Local citations are key tools in building a robust local SEO strategy. By focusing on consistency, accuracy, user engagement, streamlined management, and diverse online presence, local citations can significantly improve your business’s visibility and credibility in the local market.
At BHirst Media, we build local citations and monitor them to ensure they are correct and updated. Let us handle your SEO, so you can concentrate more on your business. Contact us today!
