Local citations are key to your SEO because they show your business’s reliability and trustworthiness visibility. However, when these are poorly managed, they can turn into a real burden.
In this article, we will explain what a local citation is and how to use them to move up in search results, including Google’s local pack.
what is a local SEO citation?
Regarding Local SEO citation is when an online directory lists a local business. It is a film presenting a company’s key information, such as its commercial Name, Address and telephone number.
You’ve probably seen hundreds of them online when looking for information or reviews on an establishment.
How a local citation works
The NAP: the basis of a local citation
A local quote systematically contains three key pieces of information: the Name, the Address and using the Phone. In the language of local SEO, this is known as the NAP (Name, Address, Phone). It could also have the following elements:
- Category related to the field of activity of the company
- Geographical coordinates
- Itinerary
- Notice
- Hours of operation
- Company Description
- Types of payment accepted
- Picture
- Video
- Owner responses to reviews
- Slogan
- Link to social networks or other company-owned media
- E-mail address
- Fax number
- Other phone numbers
- Attributes
Whether it is in terms of Google takes note of whether or not your NAP is on your website or in online directories. It carefully considers this local data to make your business appear in the results of localized searches.
The Importance Of Accurate Information
Google somehow. The local reference is “proof” that a local business exists. The more times the same information is given in different places, the “evidence” is confirmed. This will send positive signals to Google to show your business in the search results. Because of this, it is important to ensure your local citations are error-free. Otherwise, the opposite effect could occur.
The Presence Of Errors In Local SEO Citations
The majority of local citations are generated automatically. Automatically, citations are made. Because of this, they are likely to have errors. In particular, at the commercial Name or telephone number level. Errors can also appear later when an establishment has moved, etc.
Google checks your information often to make sure it is correct. So, Google looks at everything you say on your website and all of your local quotes on the web. If any of these have mistakes (like a Google My Business listing and a Yelp listing), presenting a different telephone number), you expose yourself to the risk of losing positions in the local results (more precisely, on the Google local pack).
In summary, for your citations to help you improve your local visibility, carefully ensure each file contains the same information. In particular, the commercial Name, the telephone and the Address.
- Best practices for building good citations in your area When making a local citation, you should only use the Name of your business.
- Adding keywords related to your activity or geographical location, such as “Commercial name + Landscaper + Paris 16”, is useless. This practice, called “Keyword Stuffing,” violates Google’s rules.
- You risk having your listing on Google My Business taken down. As was said earlier in the article, ensure each quote has the same phone number, Name, and Address.
- Make sure to add as many categories as possible in the different directories. These categories must be associated with your field of activity. The first should be the most relevant one possible.
Citation “Cleaning” is a task that requires considerable effort and work. You will need to manually access several scores of websites to edit the incorrect information. Not to mention change tracking. In a few cases, it will be necessary to remind the webmasters several times so that they put the corrections online.
If you don’t have time to take care of it, know that our local SEO agency specializes in quote cleaning. We can correct errors, add missing information and improve your files’ quality. How many different kinds of citations are there? There are two types of “local references.”
Organize A Quote
This is the most common way to cite a piece of writing. It presents on a dedicated page all the key information of an establishment, such as Name, Address, telephone and website. Filling out a form like this is how it can be made or claimed.
Unstructured Quote
Unlike structured citations, unstructured ones appear not in directories but in blog articles, news releases or public meetings. As a result, their looks are very different.
