Key Takeaways

• Many SEO specialists believe they play a big part in local SEO rankings.
• Having some structured and unstructured citations will be advantageous to the majority of organizations
• Your company’s physical location will create more options for citation

Are you looking to boost your local SEO and attract more customers to your business? Then you need to pay attention to citations!

Citations are a critical component of local SEO that can help you improve your online visibility and search engine rankings.

In this article, we’ll dive deep into the importance of citations in local SEO and how they can impact your business.

Whether you’re a small business owner or a digital marketer, understanding the role of citations in local SEO is crucial to your success.

So, let’s explore why citations are essential and how to use them to your advantage.

What are local citations?

Local citations are references to a business or organization’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites, directories, and online platforms.

Local citations are an important part of local search engine optimization (SEO) and can help businesses improve their visibility in local search results.

Examples of local citation sources include local business directories, social media platforms, review websites, and other local websites.

These citations provide vital information to search engines like Google, helping them understand a business’s relevance and legitimacy in a particular geographic location.

Consistency and accuracy of local citations are crucial for local SEO success, and businesses should ensure that their NAP information is correct and consistent across all local citation sources.

What format should citations take?

Citations are references to your company’s name, location, and contact information, also called your NAP.

These particulars are crucial since they serve as a distinctive marker that establishes your identity and aids Google in distinguishing you from all other businesses listed online.

In addition, your NAP proves that you are physically present in a specific location, which is necessary if you want to appear in local search results.

While only a name, address, and phone number are often needed for citations, most websites offer more options to include extra details. But here is a good example:

“55 Carnaby Street, Brent, London, NW (020 7871 6726)”

What is the best method for creating citations?

Having some structured and unstructured citations will be advantageous to the majority of organizations.

But you don’t have to get them from every website you find.

Here, quality prevails over quantity. To construct the citations you truly need, follow these recommendations:

Look for support with main data aggregators

Although there are dozens of business directories online, most business owners just won’t submit to all of them.

his issue is resolved by data aggregators.

These businesses gather data on businesses and share it with hundreds of other websites.

If these people know who you are, you’ll get cited all over the place.

Before submitting a new listing, make sure to conduct a thorough search for your company and claim any existing entries.

Make sure the information is accurate and that you claim any duplicates.

Consider additional important websites

Many well-known websites receive NAP data from major data aggregators, but not all of them do.

To the main sites in your nation directly is therefore frequently helpful.

It’s crucial to browse Google lists and submit to the websites that seem worthwhile.

Consider well-known industry and regional websites

Your company’s physical location will create more options for citation. There are various methods for locating these chances.

• Search online on Google
• Employ a list of industry citations
• Use the Link Intersect tool in Ahrefs

Consider using unstructured citations

You’ve probably already outperformed most of your rivals regarding structured citations. But you need to consider unstructured citations too.

Unstructured citations are an entirely separate item.

They frequently result from press mentions, testimonials, and blog entries about your company.

They are, therefore, more challenging to acquire than structured citations.

Someone to write about your company must genuinely care about it.

Go to Google

Supplier pages are one easy-to-find resource for unstructured citations. These are found in many industries.

They list and provide links to the businesses that they or others that serve them supply.

The success of your SEO strategy will depend on your ability to provide the content that converts.

Go to HARO

The success of your SEO strategy will depend on your ability to provide the content that users are looking for, which is why they use search engines in the first place.

Use the site explorer in Ahrefs

You can discover citation chances by looking at your competitors’ backlinks because the majority of unstructured citations include a link to the company’s website.

How much do local SEO citations actually help?

Citations are crucial for earning Google’s confidence, and without them, it’s unlikely that you’ll rank very well.

Additionally, they help you become more visible in local searches, and if Google determines that you are attracting more attention than one of your rivals, you will likely outrank them in SERPs.

They are also thought to increase the worth of companies that don’t yet show up in Google’s local business pack.

Citations’ overall significance has, however, considerably decreased in recent years, and they are now widely seen as a foundational strategy rather than the end-all and be-all of local SEO.

How many citations are good for SEO?

Building as many citations as you can is beneficial because they have various SEO advantages.

The number of citations you need to build up to gain an SEO advantage will depend on your industry, with some industries more likely to have a higher number of citations than others.

Businesses with first-page rankings in local searches typically have 80 or more citations to their name.

Update from Google’s Possum

Google Possum is an algorithm update that was introduced in 2016 to enhance local search results.

The main goal of the Possum algorithm was to diversify local search results and filter out any spam that may have previously been identified.

Since the Pigeon update in 2014, the Possum update has been the most significant Google algorithm change.

The Possum upgrade did indeed diversify local SERPs, but it also had the unintended consequence of removing certain local business citations from the local pack and local finder.

Google started to only display one or two results from a single location, filtering out businesses that shared an address, such as a shared office space.

Several businesses according to a survey done at the time of the update, were impacted by the Possum algorithm upgrade.

How did the Update from Google’s Possum impact companies?

Local search results were significantly impacted by Google’s Possum algorithm update, which eliminated many businesses with the same address and/or ownership structure.

Due to more excellent filtering by Possum, some businesses improved their search rankings and impressions, while others almost vanished from local search.

The two recommended approaches to addressing concerns by Possum are enhancing the site’s overall local SEO and modifying the Google My Business page.

Strengthening local SEO

Getting local citations should only make up a small portion of a larger local SEO strategy to make a significant impact.

Localized link building, obtaining online customer evaluations and ratings, and content optimization are other crucial elements.

Additionally, it seems sensible to broaden your keyword research technique to include more regional terminology and expressions.

Of course, this does not imply that citations should never be used.

They are far too significant to be disregarded given the presence and dependability they give your company.

The best approach for your website to have an impact is to develop a comprehensive strategy that increases every aspect of local SEO.

This will allow you to see a difference in your rankings.

Reputation management

Management of reputation is not a set-and-forget chore, even if you run a single-location business in a small town and have no plans to move, change phone numbers, operating hours, or other information.

Some local business listings are editable by users and competitors, which makes it possible for false information about your company to be published.

If this happens, you need to be able to notice it.

Reviews are incorporated into your local company listings on the majority of key citation sites.

To monitor, examine, and react to this user feedback, you must be made aware of any incoming reviews.

Even the most straightforward company concepts need to be conscious of and proactive with their citations.

Ongoing active location data management is essential in situations that are more complicated (many locations, multiple practitioners, and enterprises).

Why it’s crucial to maintain accuracy and consistency in your citations

You must try your best to keep your citations precise and consistent, whether structured or unstructured.

If companies don’t maintain their web presence, you can infer that they aren’t trustworthy or have shut down.

Citations are significant for local SEO but are not the only factor.

Additionally, you must perfect your on-page SEO and conduct appropriate keyword research to be successful.