In the terms of Search Engine Optimization, Local Citation is how your company is mentioned on the other websites and the places found on the internet. Local citations will help you to rank your business website in the Search results. In other words, the citations are the local business directory websites where your company is mentioned specifically by the name. A local citation is simply an online reference for your business name, address and phone number which is used by the search engine like Google to determine your business authority in online mediums.
A local business listing will contain your NAP details (name, address, phone number) in sites like yelp, foursquare, yellow pages, etc. Citations will help you rank the Google plus local map listing.
How do citations help in SEO?
If Google finds the information about your company in any of the local directory websites, then Google confidentially assures that your business operates in those locations, So the Google will tend to rank your website or its listings in search results when the user searches for any related products or services that you are offering. In traditional SEO strategy, Google uses the linking factor to rank the website higher in the Search results, In this case acquiring more relevant link will further improve the rankings of the website in Google’s search engine results page.
Different types of Citations:
The citations may vary ranging from the local business directory websites to the large social profiles on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Some types of citations are,
- General Business Directories
- Domain Specific or Industry based Directories
- Local Newspaper or press release sites
- Local blogs
- Social Profiles (Facebook, twitter, Google+, etc)
The high authority social citation helps to increase the ranking of the website. High authority citations n the sense that it should be seen credible by both the people and the Google, For example, Citations from the directories like Yellow pages are high authoritative. The citation in the local business directory must contain mainly three information like Company name, Contact number with local area code, Business address.
How to rule your business with a citation?
Your business profile should have more citation when compared with your competitors. The quality of information you provide in the directories should be highly accurate. While the local business listings are more tedious to obtain, the more the citations your business has, then more authoritative will be your Business to google search Engine.
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number which plays a critical role in ranking your business website organically in Google search results. Because Google search engine will take these details into account to determine which company to show for the geo targetted search results. Google search algorithm in many cases cross verifies your NAP details in many business listing sites to make sure that your business is the legitimate one to show in the search results for the users. Thus for a fresh business website, Local citations will help the business website to increase its organic rankings in Google Search.
