A local citations service is a way of increasing the online visibility of your business in the search engines. This is a critical part of any business’s SEO strategy. These citations help your company’s name, address and phone number (NAP) appear in search engine results pages, improving the chances that potential customers will find you.
When you work with a professional to build local citations, they will ensure that your information is accurate across the entire web. This includes business directories, review websites and other online platforms that list your business.
Structured Citations: These are typically found on sites like Google Business Profiles, Facebook, Yelp and Bing Local. These directories are designed to provide users with an easy and comprehensive way to find businesses in their area.
Having your business name, address and phone number listed on these platforms can lead to improved search engine rankings, as well as increased traffic and sales. As such, it’s essential to ensure that these citations are consistent and unique.
Unstructured Citations: These are less structured and may come from sources such as online news articles, reviews and blog posts. While acquiring citations from these sources can be challenging, they can have a significant impact on your online presence.
The key to achieving success with this type of local citation building is identifying opportunities that will provide a strong benefit to your business. One way to do this is to make a list of suppliers that your business works with and perform a site search to see if they have supplier pages on their websites.
Another way to get these citations is to ask people who use your services to write about you or your business on their blogs, forums, or social media accounts. This can be a great opportunity to share your company’s story, mission and vision, values and USPs with others.
Maintaining Your Citations: It’s important to remember that local citations aren’t just “done once.” This means that they need ongoing maintenance and monitoring. This includes closing duplicate business listings and ensuring your company’s data is accurate.
A reputable citations service will also provide you with the ability to easily add, remove or change your NAP and website information at any time. This is especially valuable if you have multiple locations or are a large company that needs to manage many different listings.
The best citations service will not only build a wide range of citations, but they will also track your citations and show you where you’re ranking on Google for certain search terms. This is an invaluable tool for any local business and will save you a ton of time and effort!
You can get started with a free trial of BrightLocal’s citation building service. This tool is the fastest and easiest way to start adding citations and tracking their rankings.
While it’s not possible to create thousands of local citations in a short amount of time, you can quickly get the ball rolling by using a reputable local citations service. These services will provide you with the tools and resources you need to succeed.