Finding Business Growth With a Smarter Local Citation Builder Strategy

With Google Maps searches for local discovery terms like "shopping near me" doubling each year, it is getting more important to be a part of online localized directories. A huge part of ensuring you are visible is to have an excellent local citation strategy to ensure that you are both on directories and that your details are up-to-date. However, how do you ensure you do this efficiently, especially as directories are not only a place to list a business but can be a significant aspect of SEO in their own right?

Reading on, learn how a local citation builder can be a part of your methods to help you ensure accurate details about you are available on as many directories as possible. Discover the best ways to claim key listings and what it takes to improve the consistency of these entries. Also, find out how automation tools can help you manage this essential aspect of your online presence.

Why Create a Clear Local Citation Strategy?

Online visibility is always helpful for ensuring that those looking for you in the space can do so easily. You want to be more visible and accessible than your competitors, meaning those who want to know something about your business niche will consider you a more valid solution to their problems.

Citations are online mentions of your business name, address, and phone number. This combination of data points is often known as your "NAP."

If Google discovers more online citations of you, it will consider these mentions to validate your business' existence. Once it has confirmed this, your chances of ranking higher in online search results will increase.

Online citations can benefit you further when considering local searches. After all, people are more likely to look up local data when they want to visit or contact you.

A well-maintained citation strategy bolsters your online ranking, leading to the potential for increased traffic. As such, this can lead to matching increases in consumer trust and the possibility of sales as people learn you offer a viable product or service.

Having a good strategy also means you can work more efficiently, driving your online ranking up without taking as much direct work. You will need to create less content or work with third parties less to get the same impact from your online presence.

Using a local citation builder application alongside this means that you can save even more time by allowing it to clear up invalid data for you. An efficient online system that can give you more time to deal with the actual day-to-day of your business is thus a game-changer.

Boosting Your Online Presence With Business Listings

As users continue searching for you online, having only a single listing increases the trust that users have in your business. If you instead have contradicting information listed across the Internet, you risk users dismissing you as too difficult to contact.

Similarly, Google uses your listings' citation frequency and consistency as signal ranks, meaning a single truth can make you more visible. One of the main ways it tracks this is the use of Google My Business (GMB). If the NAP listed there differs from what it sees in other locations, it may start to distrust one or the other.

However, GMB is not the only high-quality citation source. Other high-quality directories can also be a source of substantial SEO ranking weight, including:

• Yelp
• Yellow Pages
• Bing Places for Business
• Facebook Business Pages
• Apple Maps
• Foursquare
• LinkedIn

Low-quality citation sources may sometimes be a waste of time to list yourself on. However, on occasion, they are even detrimental to your online visibility due to the distinct lack of trust the public may have in them. As such, be wary of listings on these locations and ensure they are as accurate as possible not to cause you harm.

While they may once been more trustworthy, people rarely consider them a good source of SEO benefits these days. Also, the lists in this article are not exhaustive. So, do your due diligence to ensure you don't miss out on other sources, such as potential local listing sites.

Understanding The Relationship Between Citations and Business Directories

One of the main reasons that search engines like Google consider citations from business directories important is that they often come with a verification process. The security this step takes can ensure that the data available on the site is much more trustworthy, which is a core pillar of Google's EEAT guidelines for SEO. However, needing to take such a step can have a detrimental effect on how often you can update these areas of the Internet due to the time investment they demand.

It is also notable that different industries use these directories differently. As such, search engines will look for NAP citations on them differently. For example:

• Restaurants will list themselves on Yelp or TripAdvisor
• Hotels will primarily appear on Expedia
• Law firms tend to have listings on Avvo or FindLaw
• Healthcare providers tend to appear on Healthgrades
• Real estate agencies flock to Zillow and Realtor.com

With this in mind, Google will often use these sites in a manner that best suits its industry. You should thus focus a lot of your local citation strategy on the sites related to your field.

Even with an automated citation builder, you should check these locations before others because they will often draw users in as sources of truth. These audits can then keep your SEO strong and your brand credible.

Building Citations for Brick-and-Mortar vs. Online Businesses

With the possibility of an online business serving a much broader physical location, citation-building strategies are typically very different for these companies. First, physical businesses must prioritize local relevance over almost everything else to ensure they receive local customers. When combined with SEO, location-based keywords will be more valuable to a brick-and-mortar store to attract local customers searching for nearby services.

Online businesses must instead focus on niche directories that bring in interested individuals from a much more diverse target location. Similarly, industry-specific citations on field-relevant sites can make an online business more discoverable.

Not everything is so distinct between online and physical sites. For example, both groups gather significant value when their citations come alongside positive, trustworthy reviews. These can offer a sense of authority in your industry that can be hard to get elsewhere and go a long way to convince readers and search engines that they want to make note of your NAP.

Regarding the locations where you should post your NAP, these two business directions mean you also want to consider what you can get from each online space.

While, as mentioned before, online sites will want to use industry-specific platforms, brick-and-mortar sites will want to look for local directories. These include:

• Local legal directories
• HOA business directories
• Local community pages
• Google My Business pages or other search engine-specific locations

Of course, this does not mean avoiding other locations entirely. These are the locations that will most likely get you a good ROI. So, if you get a good response in different places, do not ignore them.

Auditing Existing Citations

It is always an excellent idea to continually review and audit your existing online citations to check their accuracy. Inaccurate listings can cause people to have trouble getting in contact with you. They may then give up on their search or even write a bad review if their contact attempts have caused enough frustration.

There are tools you can use to streamline this auditing process. So, if you automate as much of the activity as possible, it should not be too hard to make auditing a standard part of your SEO strategy.

Find Current Listings and Check for Inaccuracies

Your first step must be using a simple search tool like Google to discover existing business listings. There are several ways you could do this, including doing a simple search for your:

• Business name
• Address
• Phone number
• Email address

You can use almost all NAP details to find information about yourself. However, ensure you do not only use your current details. You will also want to investigate whether older details are still online to help you remove or update older listings.

Instead of doing this manually, remember that you can always use digital tools to help you streamline the process. Although they cannot flag the most unique search results, they can clear out many common NAP issues and give you the bandwidth to deal with the others.

Identify Top-Performing Directories

If you need help finding whether updating a directory would be helpful, the best information you could have to hand is its domain authority. PR Daily describes this online statistic as now one of the most important statistics for a site.

High DA indicates a site has higher trust and SEO value, whereas backlinks are now losing importance. Ensure you define what you consider a "high DA," and use that cut-off to update only the highest DA sites first.

Use tools to analyze the traffic of each directory before you update it. After all, there is no point in updating a page if nobody uses it.

Starting every audit with these sites will save you a lot more time by dealing with the locations that could cause the most potential harm if they were incorrect.

Another robust method for handling a legacy of NAP listings is to keep a comprehensive list of all existing listings. Every new entry reduces the number of active searches you must perform, saving time on subsequent audits.

Check for Inconsistencies

Once you have access to this plethora of NAPs, you will need to search for places where they do not display inaccurate data. Some of the most common of these include:

• Varying forms of addresses
• Inaccurate street or office numbers
• Mismatched phone numbers
• Inaccurate country information
• Wrong area code
• Misspelled business names
• Missing business suffixes

The impact of such inconsistencies can be varied, though they tend to result in a lower search engine ranking and, thus, lower visibility.

Tools such as Jooice can help you automate this task, discovering poorly formatted data and performing corrective steps. It can even connect to your Google My Business profile and ensure your data remains the same across several locations. However, you should ensure that you have the correct information from which it can compare other areas of the Internet.

Verify Accuracy

Ensuring accurate online contact is a substantial part of reinforcing your online user experience. No customer wants to try to contact you only to find they have inaccurate information.

Use citation management tools to ensure real-time data updates and avoid the legal implications of incorrect business listings. As LegalZoom discusses, it may lead to you losing your business license if you do not keep up-to-date on this data.

This step is even more critical after a change in your business, such as moving premises. Having a tool to do this when you switch up a part of your real-life presence is very important to prevent it from taking too much time.

Claiming and Optimizing Key Listings

High-authority sites and the information on each of these can improve the visibility your site receives and the engagement of users. With regular updates, you should provide them with enough data to make them as valuable and relevant as possible. For example, by uploading:

• New photos
• Detailed descriptions
• Recent branding
• Product or service listings

At the same time, you should ensure any reviews are accurate and do not feel ignored. Taking these steps can ensure customers see you as actively engaged in your company's online image.

Claiming Listings on High-Authority Sites

As mentioned above, try to identify the most high-authority sites online. If you do not have a listing on them, create one as soon as possible. You will then have authority over it, preventing others from claiming it fraudulently or using it for malign purposes.

You may need to provide documentation to verify this, so ensure you have it to hand when starting the process. These may include:

• Tax forms
• Utility bills
• Personal ID
• Certificates of incorporation

Then, set up the listing with as much information as you can provide, including:

• NAP data
• Business categories
• Service descriptions
• Opening times
• Unique information
• Profile pictures

You should then return to these regularly to check the details and ensure they remain accurate.

Filling Out Business Information

Search algorithms often favor complete and consistent profiles, giving you priority visibility. As such:

• Put in as much detail as possible
• Keep this detailed information consistent
• Update all locations at the same time
• List unique events
• Detail holiday opening times

If you need to do this on many sites, you may want to investigate using a digital tool to help perform the step faster. If you do not, you may discover it takes more than a day to update all the sites where you have a listing.

Adding Accurate Business Details

Many sections in an online listing will work together to help a user find your business online and in the real world. These include:

• Geotags
• SEO keywords
• Service areas
• Business categories
• Accepted payment methods
• Accessibility features

Failing to include a geotag may make it much harder for someone to find you. Working out of a hard-to-find location or an address with a significant physical footprint could exacerbate this issue. As such, try to make this geotag your main entrance where people can find you.

Correct latitude and longitude, if available, can also help with local SEO. Someone looking for a specific keyword you use alongside a "near me" will thus be directed to local places such as yours when in your vicinity

Similarly, stating your service area can inform search engines of whom you can help. A search engine will then inform local people of your business when needed.

Listing your payment methods also helps with the user experience of your business. People can ensure they have the correct payment method when visiting and avoid disappointment. Similarly, accessibility information helps people contact you if they need help getting the most out of their experience.

Including Website Links and Hours

You should never ignore your website. It will likely have much more information than an online listing and display your branding and offering more accurately.

Sometimes, you can add alternative contact methods on your website, such as social media or blogs. These can increase your social reach and grow your online community in a journey starting with a citation.

Adding your URL to a listing can thus increase the potential of achieving conversions.

Uploading Photos and Media

High-resolution digital photos can make your profile much more appealing. Make sure to have images of:

• Your location
• Your offering
• Professional headshots of staff
• Maps of where to find you

All this information makes it easier for people to know if they want to use your services and decreases friction when they do. Putting up photos yourself also increases how professional your listing looks, especially if others can also upload photos.

Focusing on NAP Consistency

Your business's name, address, and phone number should always be consistent across all listings. Ensuring this can take a lot of effort, demanding the use of third-party tools to keep the information accurate.

Achieving NAP Standardization

When developing your NAP, create a standard template across all platforms. You can thus ensure that your phone number, address, and name all appear the same in all locations. Google will then consider that set of data more authoritative than others.

Ensure you also train other employees on the importance of consistency of NAP. That way, it will not lose effectiveness if they post your NAP in different locations, such as social media or LinkedIn.

Tools such as Jooice will always use the single version of NAP you offer them, except when a website only accepts specific formats. Even automated systems need human oversight, so double-check these listings once in a while yourself.

Formatting Profiles Across Platforms

Examples of formatting you may want to ensure are accurate across locations include the following.

• Always using "St." vs. "Street"
• Using +1 at the start of international phone numbers
• Using parentheses around area codes (123)
• Whether you use a hyphen in your phone number
• Utilizing consistent capitalization in your business name
• Adding LLC or Inc. on the company name
• Listing postcodes with 5 or 9 digits
• Including or omitting country names
• Formatting the name of the country

Despite this, you may need to follow each platform's guidelines to ensure the data displays correctly.

Syncing Information on Social Media

Make sure this information is also accurate on social media profiles. While people can contact you directly via social media, locations like Facebook and LinkedIn have local business benefits.

Also, use consistent visuals and names across social media where possible. Doing so will reinforce your brand identity.

Ensuring Matching Details on Invoices

While not an online location, you should also ensure you have the same information on your invoices. Depending on your location, it may impact more than customer trust if you do not. Many locations demand that you use accurate invoice address information, for example.

Reviewing NAP for Updates

Regardless of if you use professional automation tools to update NAPs, try to schedule quarterly reviews of your online listings. If you find any issues, update them immediately across all platforms to prevent long-term problems.

Another critical step is to create a feedback loop people can use to report internal and external changes to your company's listing. Then, track these updates with one centralized document to determine if specific locations need regular updates and if you need to do anything to prevent that.

Targeting Industry-Specific Directories

When investigating industry-specific directories, try to determine where your competitors are listed. If they appear in locations you would not expect, try to determine why this is the case. It may be either a strategy or a mistake on their part, and you should not waste your time to match an error.

Ask industry experts about their experiences with these directories, too. They may be able to offer advice on which locations gave them higher traffic, giving you the same benefits.

Creating Profiles in Niche Directories

If you create profiles in lesser-known directories, ensure they are as accurate as any other. Not having the correct detail in these areas will make the information look even less professional.

If a location relates to a specific service, highlight your USP in that area and your qualifications or expertise. These can then set you apart from others listed there.

Optimizing for Local Relevance

If you want to focus on your local area, make sure to:

• Use local and regional keywords in descriptions
• Add geotags to photos and other media
• List participation in local events
• Detail regional events you run
• Share localized content

Each of these dramatically enhances your local SEO and boosts the region's trust in you as a community member.

Engaging With Sector-Specific Audiences

Try to understand the demographic details of your field or industry. Then, when you know where they are likely to engage online based on this, try to do the same. Participate in industry-specific discussions, boosting your visibility and encouraging engagement.

Building Out Regional Citations

Regional citations can help boost local search visibility, helping you connect to your customers more effectively. It can also drive foot traffic to your location once people know you are in the area.

Sometimes, a local region may have a prominent local directory specific to your city or region. Discover the method you need to take to submit your business information to such a directory and follow them to the letter.

These should be as accurate as any other directory, as inaccurate information can drive people to the wrong physical location. Such inconvenience hugely frustrates users, turning them off your brand.

Other options for locations to update your details for local visibility include:

• Neighborhood forums
• Local online business groups
• Regional Facebook pages
• Community event pages
• Local news sites

The exact list of what you can utilize will depend on what your region provides.

Prioritizing Location-Based Keywords

Location-based keywords can help people in your area find you online when searching for relevant businesses. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find terms or phrases with many monthly searches related to your business. Then, use these terms in your:

• Metatags
• Titles
• Headers
• Website body
• Image descriptions

The exact nature of keyword use is complex, but in short, use them naturally to avoid coming across as though you are trying to manipulate Google's algorithm.

Other ways to build up local citations include the following:

• Engaging with local influencers
• Creating region-specific content
• Seeking out guest posts on other sites
• Sponsoring local events or teams

Each can result in a citation on an external website for a local source. So long as you follow the same rules for formatting your NAP, these will help Google consider you a local authority.

Submitting to Data Aggregators

Big brands occasionally go to other sites to seek out your information. These data aggregators "sell" your information to search engines, maps, or other online locations as a part of their business. As such, you should ensure that these data aggregators remain accurate.

Using a tool such as Jooice, you can check the accuracy of such data aggregators and ensure they have the correct information. Update online listings to prevent a data aggregator from picking up inaccurate information and passing it on further.

Utilizing Local Citation Builder Automation Tools

It can often help you use automated tools to update these websites to save time and effort. Such automation ensures you only have consistent information across all platforms and prevent the spread of misinformation.

They can also perform this efficiently, which is only possible with digital tools.

Using Tools for Citation Management

Citation management tools offer a centralized dashboard where you can see all the information you need about your online listings in one location. You can use their information to make decisions about managing your online presence.

Automating Listing Updates

When something about your business changes, an automated tool can take all the work out of updating several sites. Instead of going to each one and sending off change requests, you can make a single call, and each one will receive the update.

In addition to the significant reduction in manual workload, it also prevents human error from occurring. So long as the core information is correct, all locations will receive the right data and display it similarly. Google and other search engines will then view this synced data as highly trustworthy and you as more of an authority in your industry.

Monitoring Changes in Real Time

Automated systems such as Jooice can also do the following.

• Monitor changes to websites you did not make
• Notify you of changes so you can take action
• Provide you with stats related to your visibility
• Offer tips on adjusting your citation approach
• Create regular reports to track your local citation progress

Each of these qualities can help you to perfect your online presence.

Choosing the Right Citation Builder

Ensure you choose the right online citation builder to get the most out of it. Select one with:

• A robust user experience
• Coverage in the area you need to update
• High-quality customer support
• Scalability with your business
• A free trial to help you decide
• Alignment with your online citation objectives
• Tracking for your online presence

Using the tool, you should be able to identify which listings will yield the greatest ROI. You can then leverage these to help you drive additional conversion.

Propel Your Business Forward With a Smart Citation Strategy

A well-executed local citation builder strategy can do a great deal when it comes to driving the growth of your business. You can achieve considerable boosts in your SEO and customer trust when you know your online listings are accurate and trusted.

Jooice is an application that can help you take control of both your online presence and your SEO. It can help ensure your online NAP information outshines your competitors, attracting more customers than ever. So, contact us today to learn how we can do this and more for you now and in the future.

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