Citations for local SEO- why you need them
What are the citations in SEO and why you need them to rank in Google
In SEO, citations are the references online to a business’s name, address, and phone number, also known as NAP. They are important because Google uses them to evaluate the authority of your website online. However, they are different from links because they do not need to be linked back to your website for your business to be accredited for them.
Local citations=Local SEO
Because they are related to addresses, they are very important to local businesses; it is known as “local citations”. Your business should care about them because Google uses them to rank your website and rank local Google searches. Google will take into consideration the number of citations your business has and how accurate they are. The more correct of them you have the better you will rank, but if they are bad and/or inconsistent, they will hurt your ranking.
Your citations may also include:
- Business categories
- Hours of operation
- Driving directions
- Business description
- Images
- Videos
- Payment forms accepted
- Geo-coordinates
- Reviews
- Links to social and other forms of media
- Email addresses
- Fax numbers
- Alternate phone numbers
Where can I add my citations?
The 3 most popular online citations website are Yelp, Foursquare, and Yellow Pages online. However, these websites are far from being the only ones. There are hundreds of citations sites where you can have them and they are not limited to these popular websites.
Other places online to find them:
- Press releases
- Online directories
- Chamber of Commerce’s
- Social media platforms
- Article and guest post by lines
- Question and answer sites
- Image and video descriptions
- Profile pages
- Forum signatures
When creating citations, it is important that all information matches on all website posted and down to the period.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Google relies on online #citations accuracy to judge and rank your website.” user=”webdesignplusseo” hashtags=”Googleranking”]
Google relies on online citations accuracy to judge and rank your website. If you don’t have any and even worst inaccurate, you are telling Google that your website and business are not trustworthy and will not rank you. What does it mean for your business? Well, when your clients and prospects are searching for your business or your industry your nice website will not show up in their search.
If you want to know how your business website citations are looking, contact us and we can help you. If you are interested in help to fix and complete them, feel free to contact us as well.
