When it comes to marketing a local business online, local citations play an important role in improving SEO and boosting visibility in local search results. This is especially true in mobile search results. Most likely, this isn’t anything you haven’t read about before, but in 2017 this is even more significant.
As search engine algorithms continue to evolve and get smarter, we have to get smarter and more focused on where we build citations for local businesses. We’ll discuss this point more as we get further down in the post.
But First, What Is a Local Citation Exactly?
Here’s a simple definition:
A local citation is any mention of a business online that includes the business name, address, and phone number (often referred to as NAP).
Common citation sources include directory sites, data aggregators (i.e. Factual, Acxiom, Localeze, and Infogroup), Chamber of Commerce websites, social media, review sites such a Yelp, plus Google My Business and Bing Places. It’s important to note that a mention of the business on its own website doesn’t count as a citation. Visit Advice Local to [read more].