Why should you optimize local business citations? 

Optimizing citations can help you to enhance your online presence by providing Google with more information about your business. Actions such as adding keywords to your business description, or choosing the right category, help Google better determine when your business should be displayed to local search users. 

Greater online visibility for relevant searches can also result in more traffic to your site, more conversions, and increased footfall to your brick-and-mortar location.

What does citation optimization entail? 

Citation optimization considers each element of your business listing. This includes which directory and listing sites you pursue when building citations, the accuracy and consistency of information, and the amount of helpful detail shared. 

How to Optimize Your SEO citations 

Whether you’re going back through existing listings to identify opportunities for optimization or creating a new listing, optimization efforts should be systematic and include each citation element. 

Maintain Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) Consistency 

NAP consistency is a local search ranking factor. To reap the most benefit from this, you’ll need to check each listing and verify that they all use the same NAP data.

Check Your Business Description 

Optimizing your business descriptions is another way to be confident that your citations are working as hard as possible for your business. 

In addition, a clear, concise description is a valuable data source for Google and other search engines. It can help search engines better understand which local searches your business should rank for. 

For popular sites that receive a large volume of consumer traffic, such as Tripadvisor, Facebook, or Google Business Profile (GBP), there’s the added benefit of being able to provide potential customers with useful information.

Choose the Correct URL 

For small local businesses with a single location, choosing the correct URL to attach to your business listing is straightforward. 

For larger, multi-location businesses, it can be more complex. You should link to the location page specific to the citation. If your citation relates to your outlet in Denver but you also have outlets in Miami Beach and Atlanta, your citation should link to the Denver-specific page on your site.  

A benefit of taking this approach is that consumers looking at the Denver business listing can click straight through to the relevant webpage without needing to hunt around on your site.

Select the Most Appropriate Business Category

Selecting the most appropriate business category for your website provides additional insight to Google. It helps it understand what your business does and which search queries you’re most relevant to. 

In the case of citations from GBP, your primary category is the number one local search ranking factor for Local Pack visibility.

Add Engaging Imagery

If the citation site permits image uploads, selecting high-quality, attractive photos can help your listing stand out. Images also clearly show consumers what they can expect from you.

A range of photo types is most useful for consumers. Google suggests adding a mix of pictures showing your business’s approach from several directions, as well as the interior and exterior of the building. Google also recommends sharing photos of key staff members, customer areas, and shots of individual products or services.

For example, a hotel may want to upload images of the rooms, while a bar may wish to share pictures of cocktails and other popular drinks.

Grow Your Review Profile 

Many sites where you’ll optimize your business information will allow consumer reviews. Where this is the case (and it isn’t against the review platform’s policy to solicit consumer reviews), you should have an ongoing review generation strategy in place. 

Specifically for GBP, review signals — such as the recency of reviews and percentage of positive reviews — are known to be local search ranking factors. 

If you only have a few citations referring to the office in question, then it’s not a big deal, but businesses will rarely have just a couple of citations. If anything, it’s likely you’ll have hundreds of citations for each location.

The whole situation can seem really disheartening because while citations aren’t difficult to change, they sure do take a lot of time to manage. And, let’s face it, it can be a pretty dull job.

Does the above scenario sound like something you’re experiencing? If so, you’ve come to the right place. I’m about to take you through the steps required to effectively update your citations, now that one of your business locations has moved. This guide will ensure that all the information you decide to include is correct, and it will make it easier to manage your citations should your business decide to relocate again in the future.

1. Gather a List of Your Citations

While there are online tools out there that can automatically gather your list of citations for you (and handily tell you which information — if any — is missing), I’m going to assume that you don’t have access to any of these tools.

Now, in an ideal world, you would be able to easily access a list of your business’ citations, with whoever originally listed your business deciding to make it simple for everyone to access in the future. In real life, though, that’s probably not the case. And even if there was a spreadsheet that was created at the time of citation building, it could’ve been so many years ago that the information simply got lost over time.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t start by searching the depths of your company’s shared folders, just on the off-chance there’s a document with all the answers — but don’t be disheartened if there isn’t. When are things ever that simple?

When you need to update your client’s citations, you’ll likely be using SEO software that enables you to track links. However, even if you aren’t, you can still discover your list of citations for free.

Head on over to Google Search Console, click on ‘Links’ (under ‘Manual Actions’) and ‘Top Linking Sites’. You’ll now havea list of every single website that links to yours.

Scroll through the list of URLs to see which business directories are currently linking to you (Yelp and Foursquare are two of the big ones).

Now, you have two options here: you can either copy and paste the URL of the business directory (which will be the homepage) to your spreadsheet, or you can click on the URL, search for your business, and then copy and paste the URL that takes you directly to your listing.

When searching and gathering your list of citations, don’t forget that it’s not just business directories you’re looking for. Your social media channels (e.g. Facebook and LinkedIn) will list your address, as will your Google Business Profile (GBP) account, Bing Places, and any other local directory you’re present on).

2. Review the Most Important Citations

The likelihood is that you’ll have hundreds of citations that you’ll need to update to your office’s new location, which means that amending them all is going to take time.

If there’s a team of you who can tackle the citations all in one go, then that’s great — but if it’s just you on your own, then you’ll need to prioritize.

Does one particular citation drive a lot of traffic to your website, or generate a notable number of calls or visits to your store? If so, start with that one. However, realistically most businesses build citations to increase the number of links to their website, without much (if any) traffic being generated.

If the second scenario is the case, then the way you prioritize your citations will be different. The domain rating (DR) or domain authority (DA) — depending on which one you measure — are what you should be looking at. Facebook, GBP, LinkedIn, Yelp, Foursquare, Yellow Pages, and Yahoo Local all have extremely high DRs and are the ones you should be targeting first.

3. Update Your Spreadsheet

After following the first two points, you should now have a long list of citations that need updating to reflect your office’s new location, in the order that you’ll tackle them.

Don’t stop there, though! As you’re updating your citations, make sure you update your spreadsheet so that anyone who accesses it can easily tell which ones have been updated and which ones haven’t. Including the date that you actioned each one can be extremely helpful, too.

Another thing that’s safe to assume is that it’s unlikely you’ll have the passwords for all of your citations. However, this isn’t an issue either — you’ll just need to claim your listings.

For the majority of listings, there will be a button that says ‘unclaimed’ or ‘claim your listing’. Click on it and follow the instructions. Usually you just need to make an account, but in some cases, you’ll need to verify your location by having a code sent to you, usually via a phone call or postcard.

When it comes to GBP, you can simply log in and change your address. If you don’t have the login details, you’ll need to request access from the current listings owner or report the incorrect address to Google Maps directly.

The one thing you should avoid doing when changing your address in GBP, though, is to create a new listing. If you do this, you’ll end up with duplicate listings, which can be very damaging. If this does happen, you can remove any unverified listings yourself. However, if you’ve somehow ended up with more than one verified GBP listing, you’ll need to contact Google.

4. Check the ‘N’ and ‘P’ in ‘NAP’

Every single SEO expert should know the NAP acronym! When you’re updating your business address, you should also check the name and phone number to ensure they’re both still correct.

For most businesses, citations are typically created in one go as part of a link-building initiative, never to be looked at again. This means that until you realized you had to amend your address, it’s possible your citations hadn’t been looked at in years!

While you’re updating your office’s new location, it makes sense to check the name and phone number listed to ensure they’re still correct.

Another thing to check is your opening hours. After all, how many times have you opened up Google Maps or Apple Maps to see what time the store you need to visit is closing? How annoyed would you be if you were told you the shop was closing at 6pm and you arrived at 5.30pm to find it already shut? You don’t want to do that to your potential customers.

It takes just a few seconds to check this information and update it if it’s missing or wrong, so it makes sense to include it in the process of managing your citations.

5. Keep a List of Passwords

Having gone through the process of claiming each business listing individually, you’ll appreciate how much simpler it would have been had you had a list of passwords to hand.

Make it easier for the next person who’ll have to go through your citations (you never know, it could still be you!) and note down the passwords on your spreadsheet. Also include the relevant email address. I would suggest using a generic business address such as info@mybusiness.com, instead of your personal business address.

6. Find New Citation Sites

Once you’ve updated your current list of citations, it’s useful to check if there are any other citation sites you could list your business on. If you’re moving locally, it’s likely you’ll have all bases covered, but there’s no harm in checking.

Aside from a simple Google search, the easiest way to find new sites is to see where your local competitors are listing themselves. The more business directories you list your business on, the more brand awareness you’re raising and the more links you’re driving to your site. As we all know, more links can help you to rank higher in search engine results.

When your business moves locations, it’s an exciting yet stressful time, and citations form just one tiny aspect of the move.

While they aren’t difficult to update, the process can soon become very time-consuming. These steps will ensure you’ve updated all of your citations. Also, you’ll have created a central document that has all the information required to update citations again in the future!

Once a citation has been created and optimized, it should be maintained appropriately. If this doesn’t happen, the SEO and consumer benefit could be lost. 

Having a structured system to track the status of your citations is an easy way to always see the complete picture. Additionally, this allows you to quickly remedy any issues before they take root and replace citations that are lost for any reason.

Manually Tracking Citation Status 

If you don’t mind manually checking listing information, you can track the status of your citations using a spreadsheet. 

Your spreadsheet should list each citation along with information such as the date it was created, the date it was last checked, the listing URL, and whether the citation is confirmed as accurate. It’s also a good idea to have a column to track if and when citations are lost and a note of the remedial action taken.

How often you’re able to check the status of your citations will depend on how many you have and how much time you can assign to the process. However, it’s a good idea to check at least once a month.

Manual revisions can be quite time-consuming, especially if you have thousands of citations to keep track of. A tool can make life much easier and save hours of effort by automating the process.  

Using a Tool 

A tool like Citation Tracker can automate the review process for you and this is more efficient than conducting manual checks. The software can flag up inconsistencies in name, address, and phone number (NAP) data, compare your profile with competitors, and keep close tabs on whether your total citation count has gone up or down. 

Using a tool also means you can scale the frequency that your listings are status-checked without needing to bring in an extra pair of hands. 

Essential for business discovery, local search visibility, and consumer awareness, these little nuggets of information must be managed correctly for their full benefit to be unleashed. 

Can I still build local citations if my business doesn’t have a customer-facing location?

If you’re a service-area business that meets customers at their place (such as a plumber or landscaper), your business may not have a physical location. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t build business listings for your service-area business. It may be a problem if your legal business address is also your home, though, as is typical for many small service-area companies. 

Understandably, you may not wish to share your home address publicly. However, the business address is required for most listings, which can leave service-area businesses stuck. 

While PO boxes are usually not permitted, you may be able to use a virtual office address. You won’t be contravening Google guidelines if the virtual office is staffed during working hours. If that’s not an option, try exploring these specific citation sites for service-area businesses. 

Should multi-location businesses invest time building citations?

Citation building isn’t just for small local businesses. Large multi-location enterprises can still benefit from the SEO and consumer benefits associated with having listings on sites such as Yelp, Facebook, Tripadvisor, and Google Business Profile (GBP). 

However, it’s worth noting that large organizations, such as Starbucks or Home Depot, will need to use a specialist tool to build, optimize, and manage listings on a grand scale. 

My business has a toll-free number, will that be a problem?

It shouldn’t be a problem to use a toll-free number. Most directory sites will allow a toll-free number to appear on a listing. 

While it doesn’t expressly prohibit the use of a toll-free number, Google’s guidelines say that a local number is preferable. Therefore, if you have a local number for your business, it’s advisable to use it where possible.  

Can I use a call tracking phone number for building local citations?

When creating local citations, you can use a call tracking phone number as your main business number. This is good news as you’ll be able to track where your leads come from. 

However, this must be done correctly as you don’t want to create consistency issues by having different numbers appear on different listings. On your GBP, you can set your call tracking number as the primary phone and the standard business number as additional. 

What if my business address is home to several businesses?

Suppose you’re in a shared office space, or you’re a practice or practitioner business (such as a lawyer, real estate agent or dentist). It may be that several companies wish to use the same physical address in their citations. 

Multiple businesses at the same address will not present any issues for your listing. Individual practitioners can also create a listing using their location separate from any citations for the practice. 

Do I have to verify my new business listings by phone or mail?

Most citation sites will offer several methods for verifying new listings. Standard options include by phone, email, and post. One problem with verification by post is that it can be a slow process, also there’s always the danger of the postcard getting lost or being delivered to the wrong address. 

GBP has often relied on postcard verification but now offers a range of verification options, including video calls.  

The only way to see which verification method is required is to create your business listing. 

How do I update my listing if I move to a new address?

If you move your business to a new address, you may wonder how to maintain consistency with your name, address, and phone number (NAP). Unfortunately, a common mistake is to think that you need to change all of your current listings to ‘permanently closed’ and begin from scratch. Happily, that’s not the case. 

All you need to do is update each of your listings with your new address information. You can do this manually but be aware that a management tool substantially speeds up this process. 

I’ve completed a citation campaign for my business; why am I not ranking higher on Google?

Citations are known to be a top-five local search ranking factor, but they’re not the only factor influencing your search position. The three core pillars of this ranking algorithm are:

• Proximity (how close you are to the searcher).
• Relevance (how closely you match the searcher’s need).
• Prominence (how prolific your business is online). 

Google uses a wide range of signals to determine position alongside data it gathers from citations, including your GBP, link profile, website content, and your consumer review profile. 

Manual citations, data aggregators, or both? What should I focus on?

Building manual citations takes time as you need to visit each listing site and input your business information by hand. 

If you opt for a data aggregator, you’ll submit your information once, and then the aggregator will submit it to a wide range of sites. You can choose to build submissions manually, use an aggregator, or go for a combination of the two.

Aggregators are a fast way to build lots of listings, so they can save you a significant amount of time. The downside is you can’t specify which sites to target. If you want to build visibility on specific niche citation sites, you may need to do that manually, even if you subscribe to a data aggregator. 

We have a handy comparison of manual submissions vs data aggregators to help you decide on the best approach.