What is Local Citation SEO?

You are here:Home»Knowledge Centre»SEO Knowledge Centre»What is Local Citation SEO?

We are rated as the Best SEO and Google Ads Agency of 2024. Check out our Google and Clutch reviews below.

No fixed contract, just MONTH BY MONTH
Affordable and FAIR prices
Fast responses WITHIN hours
We love getting RESULTS
PPC iconSEO icon
Five star rated company★★★★★
GET YOUR FREE AUDIT & PROPOSAL

What is Local Citation SEO?

Local citations are mentions of your business on the internet. It includes your business name, address, and phone number (NAP), along with website address. Local citation SEO is a key factor to improving your ranking in local search results.

Local citations can include your business name, business name and phone number, NAP, business name and website, and more. A complete citation includes NAP, if it does not include name, address, and phone number, it may be referred to as partial citation. It is imperative that you remain consistent when it comes to citations, ensuring that all your information remains the same across all the directories and platforms.

It can get a little confusing when speaking to digital marketing gurus when they start using terminology you don't know, such as NAPW (Name, Address, Phone Number, Website) or UNAP (URL, Name, Address, Phone Number). These are extra data points that help search engines find your business.

What is Local Citation SEO?
GET YOUR FREE ONLINE QUOTE

Interestingly, a citation does not need a backlink to your website for it to be a valuable asset to your local SEO strategy. A citation mentions your business and that is a valuable asset on its own. Google can identify your business has been mentioned through your NAP information, crediting you for the mention. The more mentions you have on the web, the more prominent your business appears, helping you improve your ranking in local search engine results pages (SERPs).

The Various types of Citations

There are two categories when it comes to citations; structured and unstructured.

Structured

Structured citations is your NAP of your business displayed in online directories. When you see a list of citation sites, they are always business listing directories. They enable you to submit your business to secure a citation. These sites include Yellowpages, Yelp, MapQuest, Superpages, Facebook, and more. 

Unstructured

Unstructured citations is when your NAP appears on a website that is not a business listing directory. These are often found in blogs, newspaper sites, magazine sites, wikis, and more. There is seldom a link back to your website, though it remains a valuable citation, helping to boost your brand visibility. 

Are Local Citations Important?

Local citations are very important to the success of your local SEO strategy. They offer a range of excellent benefits, including:

Credibility and Trust

Local citation SEO helps search engines, such as Google, verify that your business is authentic. When a number of credible sources have the same consistent information about your business, it shows the search engines that your business is the real deal. When listing your business on prominent local and national directories, it helps your business become an authority in your industry, building trust, and showing potential customers that you are credible.

Become Prominent

Google takes citations into consideration when it comes to ranking local businesses in SERPs. Surveys showed that citations made up around thirteen percent of the top fifty ranking factors.

Not All Citations are Advantageous

It is important to remember that not all citations are equal and not all are advantageous. What makes citations good for your local business? There is a choice of citations available. Mentioning your NAP on top quality directory sites is better than listing your business on a spammy website directory that was created for low quality backlinks. 

Citations vary in value and can be broken into different categories.

Conclusion

When it comes to local citations SEO it is important to ensure you remain consistent when adding your business name, address, and phone number. If anything changes, you want to update all your citations, so that they remain the same across the web. Local citations are an excellent way of helping your business improve your ranking in local SERPs, reaching your local audience and driving them to your website or store.

RESEARCH
Understanding your market and target audience.
1st step
STRATEGY
Putting together a clear and precise road map.
2nd step
IMPLEMENTATION
Putting everything into practise and making it work.
3rd step
MEASUREMENT
Tracking your success with tools to ensure progress.
4th step
Testimonials

See What Our Delighted Clients Say About Us

Genie Crawl carried out a detailed SEO audit for my tutoring website and explained everything in a clear and understandable way. I hired them straight away and since then I have seen a noticeable improvement in the traffic and leads coming to my website.

Jalisa Ogundelu
Owner

Awesome service, Tony and the team have been great with completing our website and meeting all the deadlines we set. They have lots of bright ideas and created so much value to our business. Our search engine rankings are now on the first page of the Google! We wouldn't have managed this without you guys!

Anna Farra
Owner

Excellent service and great results with our Google Ads account. They are always there at the end of the phone when we need them and they are a friendly bunch of people to deal with. We are very happy with the results.

Olesia Luspa
Owner

Genie Crawl has helped massively with my rankings as a business owner using SEO. My business is doing very well now, all thanks to them!

Daniel Rushton
Owner

Genie Crawl is a very efficient company to work with; they were clear on what they felt they could offer and assisted me in improving my SEO rankings.

Rob Cain
Owner

GenieCrawl was recommended to me for their SEO optimisation services and they have been great to work with. Our traffic jumped straight away and our business has gone from strength to strength thanks to their support.

John Carter
Owner

I was really struggling to get my SEO ratings higher for my business, and my website noticed on google. Thanks to GenieCrawl and their excellent service and SEO knowledge, I was able to increase my rankings sufficiently and am now reaping the benefits of their optimizations. I would highly recommend their service if you are struggling with SEO rankings as I was.

Fynn Healy
Owner

As a new business start up we needed help driving traffic to our website. In all fairness this was an area we were all pretty clueless on. Genie Crawl have been invaluable to us and undoubtedly have been a driving force to increasing sales. They are always there with helpful advice when we need them. Thanks!

Sarah Williamson
Owner

I was a little skeptical about hiring a company to help with the SEO for my website, but I am over the moon with my decision to work with Genie Crawl. They have really increased the traffic to my website and I would highly recommend them to everyone!

Becky Townsend
Owner

Fantastic company. They've been essential in getting us the business that we need. Would completely recommend. We've really found that our rankings have gone through the roof. SEO experts for sure! A+

Lee McRae
Owner
Contact Details

Contact Us

Visit Our Location
US: 244 5th Avenue, New York City, New York, 10001
UK: 120-122 High Street, Whitton, Twickenham, TW2 7LL
Get in Touch

Drop a Line

Complete the form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your enquiry.