Every business owner aims to offer a valuable product or service according to the requirements of the customer and looks to generate the maximum ROI. To achieve this, it is important to ensure maximum visibility for the brand. You might be following various SEO techniques to make your website appear for the searches. But, if your website isn’t appearing for the keywords on searches that your customers are looking for, or if your competitor is out-ranking you on the SERPs, all your efforts are in vain.
Wondering how to gain a competitive edge? Local Citations is the answer!
What are Local Citations?
Local citations are nothing but the online mentions of your company/business information. This information comprises of your business name, contact information, address, and website URL. There are many forms of citations like – listing the company profile on yellow-pages, directories, or on the social channels. These listings basically help the local searchers to obtain information regarding a business located in their location. Ultimately, wherever your business information is listed online, local citations helps the searchers to see the details about your business. Making use of the local citation service helps your business attract the right audience. Here are some ways on how Local citations can benefit your business:
Why Is Local Citation Important For Your Business?
- Increases Visibility –The benefits acquired through the online business directories are countless. Since the business directories have advanced filtering options and suggesting capabilities, they help you appear easily for the searches conducted by the targeted audience. This is extremely helpful for small and medium business, as it increases the visibility of the business online.
- Improves Rankings – Local citations can help you climb up the SERP ladder. When the search engines inspect your business information, citations can be of great help to establish your website authority and credibility. Meaning the more often your business information shows up online, your website gains more authority.
- Brings in Relevant Website Traffic – When the website rankings improve, it means increased visibility for your business in the local search results. This, in turn, will automatically boost up the website traffic.
- Builds Trust – Local citations can help establish the trust for your brand among the customers and the search engines. Supposing that your business has a number of websites with high domain authority that cites the same information about your business, it is a signal to the search engines and your customers that your business can be trusted.
How to Build Citations for Your Business?
There are many places, where a business can build citations that offer authority and authenticity, they are:
- Local Search Engines – Yellow pages, Yelp, Foursquare are a few main resources through which the search engines scrutinize the authenticity of business information. Hence it is important to ensure that the Name, Address and Phone number remains consistent and accurate on these sites to gain the authority of the search engines.
- Niche/Local Blogs – Blogging is a great source of citations. It can help in getting your business listed, while offering some good content for SEO.
- Industry-related Directories – Search Engines trust industry-focused directories, as they are connected with a specific city or region. Even if the directory does not focus on a particular area, getting the business listed in the industry directory is a great way to develop citations.
Citations are an essential ranking factor for the SERPs. It might take some time to witness the results, but it is worth any investment made. But, always keep in mind that any information mentioned about your business should be accurate and uniform, right from the NAP details, company logo and even the business description!
