Citations & NAP Consistency for Local SEO

What Are Citations?

A citation is any online mention of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP). Citations appear on business directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages, social media profiles, industry-specific sites, local chamber of commerce listings, and anywhere else your business information shows up online.

Google uses citations to verify that your business is legitimate and that the information in your Google Business Profile is accurate. The more consistent your citations are across the web, the more confident Google is about showing your business in local search results.

Citations are one of the top ranking factors for the Map Pack. Businesses with many accurate citations tend to rank better than those with few citations or inconsistent information.

What Is NAP Consistency?

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. NAP consistency means this information is exactly the same everywhere it appears online. Not similar. Not close. Exactly the same.

Here’s what inconsistency looks like:

To a person, these all look like the same business. But to Google’s algorithm, these small differences create uncertainty. Is “Miami Plumbing Pros” the same as “Miami Plumbing Professionals”? Is “Suite 100” the same as “Ste 100”? Each variation weakens the signal.

When every listing matches exactly, Google has high confidence that your business information is accurate. This confidence translates into better local rankings.

Why Citations Get Messy

Most businesses don’t start with inconsistent citations on purpose. It happens over time:

• You moved locations Your old address is still on dozens of sites you forgot about or never knew existed.
• You changed phone numbers The old number is still listed in directories that pull from outdated data sources.
• Different people created listings Your receptionist set up Yelp, your web designer added you to directories, and each one formatted things slightly differently.
• Data aggregators spread bad info Large data companies collect and distribute business information. If they have incorrect data, it spreads to hundreds of sites.
• Sites auto-generate listings Some directories scrape business data from the web and create listings automatically, often with errors.

Our Citation Audit Process

Before we can fix anything, we need to find everything. Our citation audit identifies every place your business appears online and flags inconsistencies.

NAP Cleanup and Corrections

Once we know where the problems are, we fix them. This involves contacting each site to update or correct your business information. It’s tedious work because every directory has different processes for making changes.

Some directories let you claim and edit listings directly. Others require email requests. Some take weeks to process changes. A few make it nearly impossible to update anything.

What we correct:

• Business name variations “LLC” vs no LLC, abbreviations, misspellings, old business names
• Address formatting Street vs St, Avenue vs Ave, Suite vs Ste, unit numbers, floor numbers
• Old addresses Previous locations that still show up in directories
• Phone number formatting Parentheses vs dashes, old phone numbers, tracking numbers that shouldn’t be used
• Website URLs Wrong URLs, old domains, missing website links

Duplicate Removal

Duplicate listings happen when a business gets added to a directory multiple times. Maybe someone created a listing, then someone else created another. Or the directory’s system created duplicates from different data sources.

Duplicates are bad for two reasons: they split your reviews between listings, and they confuse Google about which listing is authoritative. We identify duplicates and work to merge or remove them.

Citation Building

After cleaning up existing citations, we build new ones on sites where you should be listed but aren’t. More citations from quality, relevant sites strengthen your local signals.

Types of Citation Sources

We prioritize based on what matters for your business. A restaurant needs TripAdvisor and OpenTable. A law firm needs Avvo and FindLaw. Every business needs the major directories and data aggregators.

Ongoing Citation Monitoring

Citation management isn’t one-and-done. New directories appear, old ones change ownership, data aggregators update their records, and sometimes sites revert your changes to old incorrect data.

We monitor your citations periodically and alert you to any changes or new inconsistencies. This is especially important if you change locations, phone numbers, or business names in the future.

How Citations Affect Local Rankings

Citation signals are one of the factors Google uses to rank businesses in the Map Pack and local search results. The impact comes from two areas:

According to local SEO research, citation signals account for a meaningful portion of local ranking factors. They’re not the only thing that matters, but ignoring them puts you at a disadvantage against competitors who have clean citation profiles.

Citations for Service-Area Businesses

If you’re a service-area business without a storefront (plumber, electrician, mobile services), citation management works the same way, but with one difference: you don’t display a street address publicly.

Your citations should still be consistent. Use your business name and phone number exactly the same everywhere. For address, either leave it blank where possible or use the city/region format allowed by the directory. Never use a fake address or a P.O. box as your business address.

Common Citation Questions