What are online citations and why do I care?

By definition, an online business citation is anywhere online where your business’ information (name, address, phone number – also known as NAP) is listed.

Citations are important because they tell Google (and the other search engines, of course) WHERE you are located. The more citations you have, the more clear you make that to Google, building their trust in you as a business and website.  

Have you ever searched your local business? I am sure you have seen examples of online citations outranking your website – for example, Yelp, Facebook or Home Advisor.

Google loves citations because they help confirm that a business is genuine, that its address is correct and its industry or service is valid.

For example, if two businesses have a similar number of incoming links, similar keyword portfolio and similar onsite content optimization strategies, Google will prioritize the business with the highest number of quality citations to rank higher.

Isn’t that your goal? To rank higher?

How do I get citations?

We recommend starting with Google My Business, and then working through a list of the obvious citations for your business. For example, if you are a restaurant then Yelp would be a great example of the next place to look.

Google different citations in your area and of course, applicable to your business for more ideas. Start investigating, it is fun!

The more citations, the better!

Not necessarily.

While the number of citations is important, the quality is even more important.

When getting your business listed on citation sites, you want to ensure that your business’ name, address and phone number is in the exact same format on as many citation sites as possible. For example, the following two citations are NOT the same:

  • 78th Street Studios
  • Seventy Eighth Street Studios

So, start today!

Try building 3 citations for your business today, and make a goal to build three more a day this week.

Too busy? Confused? We can help! Please contact us or email us for a free consultation, we have a team of SEO professionals who would be happy to help you with this portion of your SEO strategy.