What are local citations?
Local citations are critical for any local SEO campaign for local businesses. A local citation is an online reference of your business name, address and phone number. They can be on directories, websites, apps or social platforms. You want to make sure you actively manage your citations to keep the data accurate.
Types of Local Citations
There are a few different types of local citations that you should think about for your business. Some of these are free, some of them may charge a fee. It can be tricky to know when it’s worth paying. We can help you navigate those waters as it’s part of our SEO services.
Core Local Citation Platforms
There’s some very obvious platforms every local business should be on to take advantage of:
- Google My Business
- Yelp
- Acxiom
- Localeze
Industry Specific Local Citations
Every industry is likely to have their own built in network of sites and directories. In addition, local sites such as chamber of commerce sites are a great resource to add your site to.
Over time you’ll find yourself earning citations on various websites without even trying just by continuing to do business ever day. Often times the data from other sites will slowly trickle down to other sites and increase over time. The most important thing is to keep a thumb on the pulse of all these citations and keep the data accurate. Keep reading to see what type of information is usually included so you know what to keep an eye out for.
What information does a local citation include?
At a bare minimum you’ll see the company name, address and phone number included in a local citation. You’ll also see a variety of other information depending on the site:
- Category
- Hours of Operation
- Business Description
- Images
- Videos
- Reviews
- Links to Social Profiles
- Email Addresses
- and more!
Why do local citations matter?
The amount of citations a business has, the accuracy of the information and the quality of the sites and platforms they exist on all influence your local SEO efforts for your business.
Google is indexing hundreds of millions of sites, if what they index about your business is consistent and accurate on high authoritative sites, there’s a good signal that leads back to your business. If the information Google finds is inconsistent and from non trusted sources, the reverse can happen and your site will be negatively impacted.
Citations Summary
Local citations are signals to search engines about your core business information. As we mentioned with our on-page SEO blog, where we said content is king, local citations are king for your business in terms of local SEO.