What Are Citations and Why They Are Important?

 

Finding success online can be very difficult. It requires a lot of effort to get your business and brand name out there to draw in the customers. However, one way to engage with people is through the use of citations, but what are citations and how can they help improve your visibility online?

What is a citation?

A citation is simply any mention of your business online. It is the combination of your company name, address, phone number (NAP) and your website address, however the web address isn’t always necessary.

Citations on websites like Facebook, Google My Business and Yelp will help boost your web presence enabling more people to find you online.

Essential tips for citations

Consistency is key when it comes to citations. The business name, address and phone number need to be exactly the same across all citations around the web. This can be problematic if you have ever moved office or changed your phone number because if you haven’t manually changed all citations it will have a negative impact on your web presence.

Why are citations important for local SEO?

Having your business listed on quality citation websites will help to build trust within Google.

Google trusts these quality citation websites, so as long as all your NAP citations are the same it will help you to boost your positioning in Google’s local search results.

However, if your citations aren’t consistent across the web you will be penalised and ranked lower.

If you want to appear within the top 3 local search results on Google, ensure you are listed on all the most trusted citation websites and that your NAP’s are consistent on all of them.