Local Citations

Local Citations

What are local citations?

Local citations are mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites, usually within the same region. These citations provide legitimacy to a business and are one of the many factors that search engines use when ranking a business for local search results. They can include links back to your business website and offer additional exposure, helping to increase brand awareness and recognition.

These citations are particularly important for real estate agents, doctors and lawyers. For example, lawyers.com, Yelp and a local Chamber of Commerce play a significant role in optimizing your business to appear in local search results. If the information is different across several websites, it indicates to Google that this is potentially an illegitimate business.

Likewise, local citations can also be mentions of your business on listings that you have no control over, including on a blog site or another company directory. It is important to stay up-to-date on where your business is appearing in search results and correct it, as this is a part of running a successful and reputable business. Citations are critical to local SEO, your Google My Business page and Google Maps.

Related: NAP
Related: Google 3-Pack