For any business looking to improve local search visibility and stand out online to nearby customers, an effective strategy to accumulate local citations is essential.
Local citations refer to the online business directories that display basic information about your company across the web. Each instance of your business name, address, and phone number on a website, online directory, or review platform counts as a citation.
The more local citations your business has from authoritative, relevant business directories, the stronger its local search rankings become. Citations help reinforce your business information in search engines’ eyes, which is why citations are a key ranking factor. Plus, they enable new customers to easily find accurate location and contact details for your business.
So how exactly can you build an SEO-friendly local citation strategy? Follow this 10-step guide to crafting a multi-layered approach that lifts your local search visibility.
Step 1: Create Accurate Google Business Profile Listings
The foundation of any local SEO strategy is complete and verified Google Business Profile (GBP) listings. All local businesses should at the bare minimum claim a free Google Business Profile listing.
- Ensure your business has a claimed and verified GBP profile for each location.
- Check all details like business name, full address, phone number and website URL are correct and consistent.
- Include good quality photos, accurate hours, services and other important info on your GBP page.
- Ask satisfied customers to leave 5-star Google Reviews to boost your local reputation.
Keeping this baseline GBP data accurate and consistent across the web is crucial for strong local SEO performance.
Step 2: Standardize Your NAP Details
Decide on the correct name, address and phone number format for your business, then stick to it like it is written in stone. This standardized NAP data should be used uniformly everywhere online.
For example, choose whether to include company suffixes like Inc, LLC or Ltd. Decide on abbreviations for Road or Street in your address, whether you want parentheses in your area code, etc. Consistency in every detail is paramount to ensuring your NAP citations are effective.
This consistency prevents citation errors that could negatively impact local SEO. Tools like Moz Local or Yext help you monitor NAP citations across the web.
Step 3: Update Listings on Relevant Online Business Directories
Expand your digital footprint by claiming and verifying profiles on key online directories. Focus on authoritative, reputable, industry-relevant platforms highly ranked in local search.
Examples include Yelp, Yellow Pages, Better Business Bureau, industry specific directories, local directories, chamber of commerce sites, and niche review platforms related to your business category.
Check that NAP details perfectly match on all added directories. If local directories allow for reviews, encourage customer reviews to boost credibility.
Step 4: Implement Local Schema Markup
Enhance how your business information appears in local search results by implementing schema markup on your website.
Local business schema code tells Google about your locations, opening hours, contacts, services and more. It can enable rich result previews in the search engine results page (SERP).
For multi-location businesses, ensure you have marked up and linked to all site location pages as well.
Step 5: Build Locally-Relevant Backlinks
Earn backlinks from trusted community websites to signal your location-based authority to search engines.
Local citations not only build your website credibility, but signal to Google that your local business is known in the area. Good local link building options include your local chamber of commerce, tourism association, city website, sponsorships of local events/teams or partnerships with complementary neighborhood businesses. Search the web for local citation building opportunities in your area.
Also seek to get added to “best of”-style local business lists relevant to your industry. Links help search bots better crawl and index your site too.
Step 6: Encourage Customer Reviews
Customer endorsements via online reviews provide incredible local SEO benefits. 91% of consumers read them before visiting businesses nowadays!
Reply promptly to Google Reviews, Facebook Recommendations and other third-party review platforms. Thank happy customers and address constructive feedback.
The more 5-star ratings and positive mentions, the more convinced searchers will be to visit your business in person.
Step 7: Audit Local Citations Quarterly
Run regular local citation audits every 3 months to catch and fix inconsistencies quickly. Tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal automatically crawl the web to identify citation issues.
Watch for everything from minor spelling errors to incorrectly listed addresses and phone numbers on key sites. Resolve problems rapidly to limit local SEO damage.
Make this part of your quarterly practices to search for any errors, and identify new types of local citations you can build.
Step 8: Update Listings Whenever Business Details Change
Don’t let changes to your business details negatively affect SEO visibility. Update all citations and listings promptly if you:
- Renovate premises or relocate
- Release new products/services
- Change contact phone numbers or open hours
- Hire additional staff and expand facilities
- Purchase a competitor business in the neighborhood
This process, once structured citations have been built, can be very tedious. We recommend partnering with a local SEO agency, or utilizing a tool such as BrightLocal to manage these changes to your business as smoothly as possible.
Step 9: Respond to Reviews & Interact with Followers
Being responsive online helps build a great local reputation. Address customer feedback in reviews or social media mentions swiftly.
Thank happy customers publicly for taking time to leave 5-star endorsements. Politely clear up any factual inaccuracies in negative complaints.
Regularly share local offers, events and community updates on social channels to nurture follower relationships too. This is a great opportunity to post to your Google Business profile as well. Boosted community engagement and sentiment further fuels positive local rankings.
Step 10: Monitor and Continuously Improve
Ongoing monitoring ensures your citations remain in good health long-term. Review monthly local analytics reports to spot new issues cropping up.
Watch local rankings in Google Maps, plus metrics like website clicks/calls from GBP local listings. Implement additional optimization tactics if you lose visibility ground.
With a rigorous name, address and phone number (NAP) strategy powering your overall local SEO efforts, your single or multi-location enterprise can thrive and climb the local pack rankings over time.
Dominate the search results and maps for location-based queries in your industry niche. Ultimately, an optimized digital footprint drives more nearby customers to easily locate and transact at your physical premises.
