A local?citation?is any reference to your business online. It can contain any combination of the following elements:
- Company Name
- Phone Number
- Address
- Link to Website
A complete Citation needs to contain your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP). Including a link to your website, if possible, is recommended?but it’s not required.
For local businesses, Citation Building is an important piece of a solid?Search Engine Optimization strategy, as both?Google and Bing use?Citations?as part of their ranking algorithms.
Structured vs Unstructured Citations
A structured citation is typically found on websites like Yelp, YellowPages.com, Google+, Angie’s List, and other online business directories.
An example of a Structured Citation
An unstructured citation is a more casual mention of your business online. For example, if someone were to mention the name and address of your restaurant in a blog post about their favorite local restaurants, that’d be considered an unstructured citation.
An example of an Unstructured Citation
Consistency Matters
When it comes to building citations, you want to make sure that your NAP is as consistent as possible. The more consistent that you are, the easier it will be for the search engines to understand that your citations represent your businesses. There’s a big different between
Speedy Plumbing Services, Inc
123 Main Street
Suite 200
Boston, MA 02108
617-555-1234
and
Speedy Plumbing Svc
#200
123 Main St.
Boston, MA 02108
888-222-1234
Make sure that your NAP matches what is listed on your website’s contact page as closely as possible.
Wondering how to start building local citations for your business? We’ll cover that in another post.
Until next time!
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