The Ultimate Guide to Citation Building and Cleanup Services for Local SEO

Do you believe that having a successful digital marketing strategy is through citation building and cleanup for Local SEO? It’s true. Believe it or not, citation is one of the most important ranking factors of SEO while the latter is considered as the top strategy to increase traffic on your website. SEO is where you do your best to rank higher on search engines like Google, and doing so will amazingly increase CTR or Clickthrough rate by 30.8%!

Now, do you ever wonder if you are doing your SEO right? If not, maybe the time is ripe for doing some citation building and cleanup services – and this ultimate guide will help you do just that.

What is Local SEO Citation and why is it important?

Citation building and cleanup services refer to the process of creating and updating online business listings for local businesses. These listings contain important information about a business such as its name, address, phone number (NAP), and website link. The number one importance of doing a Local SEO citation is to increase your business’ online visibility by sending a signal to Google that all the informational background surrounding your business is factual and correct.

Now, let’s try to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. If you see a business website with inaccurate and inconsistent information all over its social media platforms or multiple landing pages, are you going to trust them and purchase their product? Not at all. Plus, it’s more likely that Google or other search engines won’t endorse the website since it’s not providing the same, precise data. This is where the importance of citation building and cleanup service comes in.

Types of Citations:

Facebook – A citation is a mention of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on a third-party website, and Facebook is one of the most popular and effective platforms for local businesses to create and maintain citations. The information on this platform should match what is listed on your website and other citation sources. That way, it can greatly impact your local SEO efforts.

NOTE: More than 2.85 billion people use Facebook, and it’s most likely that you even have an account on this platform. So, it’s just fair that you take advantage of Facebook and use it for your business.

Bing Maps – When you add your business to Bing Maps, you are essentially creating a digital footprint for your business that can be indexed by search engines. But, keep in mind that the information that you provide on Bing Maps will be used by search engines to verify the legitimacy of your business, and to make sure that your business is located where you claim it is.

 Yelp – Yelp is a platform where consumers can leave reviews and ratings for businesses they have visited. It also has become a go-to source for people looking for local businesses, and its listings rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs). Having a presence on Yelp and getting good reviews can help your business rank higher in local search results.

 Google My Business – One of the most important citations for local SEO is Google My Business. In point of fact, 4 out of 5 consumers use Google search listing to find a business, a good reason why a lot of entrepreneurs prefer making a Google My Business Page before any other platform available on the internet. By creating a Google My Business listing, you can help to ensure that your business appears in local search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.

 How to keep your citation consistent with Local SEO?

To maintain citation consistency, start by conducting an audit of your website’s existing listings across various directories and platforms. This can include all the types of citations we mentioned earlier or any other social platforms your business has. Once you have a comprehensive list of all your listings, ensure that your business name, address, location, and phone number are identical across all platforms. Remember, even slight variations in your NAP can cause confusion among search engines and negatively impact your local SEO ranking.

In case you don’t have the time to conduct the citation building method your business needs, maybe it’s better to hire an expert on the field or a lead generation agency that does a reliable citation building service. Doing so may also increase your chances of success and provide solutions to your problems.

The Power of Citation Management Tools

If you decide to do it on your own, it’s important to have a powerful citation management tool on hand. This will not only make the process easy but also ensure that you are doing it right rather than causing more harm than good. The following are some of the many citation management tools you can utilise for local SEO.

1. Uberall

 

Uberall is an effective tool for citation management because of its ability to help you manage your business listings from a single dashboard. With Uberall, you can easily monitor and track how your business is listed across different directories and platforms.

2. Synup

Synup is a comprehensive citation management tool that makes local SEO management a breeze. With Synup, you can manage your online presence across multiple directories, update your business information, and monitor your online reputation – all in one place.

3. Whitespark Local Citation Finder

With Whitespark Local Citation Finder, you can easily find and manage your citations across a wide range of platforms, including popular business directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Google My Business.

In case you don’t know where to start and have no idea what management tool to use, you can always hire a professional digital marketing agency that is expert in citation cleanup services.

 Final thoughts

Building citations is an important aspect of local SEO and we believe this guide provides an in-depth understanding of the process and how it can benefit your business. With the help of citation building and cleanup services that are offered by many professional digital marketing agencies, you can ensure that your business is accurately represented across the web and improve your local search engine rankings.