What Is Local Citation? How to Build Local Citations and Increase Your Visibility

A smart and well-thought-out start to a new business involves setting business goals and defining ways to achieve them. But no matter what goal you set, local citation management will be one of the first on the list of effective tools. It is directly related to attracting the target audience and increasing sales, as the local citation prompts Google or another search engine to display your website at the top of SERPs. That is why, before launching a new business project or promoting an existing one, it is important to understand the features of local citation building.

The Importance of SEO Local Citations for Business Promotion

Local SEO citations are a versatile way to advertise your business as providing services for a specific region. It is vital for communication with potential consumers and interaction with Google search engines:

• Thanks to local business citations, consumers learn about your company and its location on the city map and in the online space.
• For Google search engines, local business citation serves as a signal that your business can be useful for people living in a specific area. Therefore, when a user searches for a specific type of business, it will display your company data at the top of the SERP.

Thus, local SEO citation is a way to fit into Google’s local search algorithm for more frequent mentions in search results. After conducting an effective local citation building campaign, the number of impressions of your website or company data will increase significantly. Google will display your company’s data even if the user does not mention their location when searching, but your business is located near them.

What Are Local Business Citations?

Local citations SEO is a generic term for various types of mentions of your business in a local context. But the most significant of them is the inclusion of complete company data in various business or industry-specific directories, local news media or blogs, social media, etc.

Full local citations for SEO involve the publication of the following key company data:

• N — company name
• A — physical address
• P — phone number
• W — website link

Such SEO citation is the most effective, since searchers can immediately go to your website. However, even partial information is sufficient for Google search engines to perceive your business as credible and worthy of displaying it to searchers.

Thus, citations for SEO are something different than citations for a research paper or a student essay. Local citation SEO is specific and minimalistic. But the more such citations your company has, the more visible your business will become to the target audience. 

How to Increase Online Presence with Business Local Citations?

The only way to influence search engines is to follow their algorithms. Knowing that local search engine rankings are formed based on local citations, you can advance in SERPs thanks to local SEO citation building. To start a citation building SEO campaign, you need to know which online resources are most valuable for publishing data about your company:

• Business directories. SEO citations in local business directories increase the credibility of a business by making it appear legitimate to consumers and search engines.

• Industry-specific directories. Being mentioned in such directories also adds good reputation to a brand. Even if you are a small startup but listed among companies recognized in the industry, it adds more authority to your business.
• Local news sites. Mentioning a company in connection with local news, such as sponsorship of a local football team, participation in various tenders, investments in infrastructure, etc., makes it a visible participant in public life. Such information indicates its active position, which adds authority to it in the eyes of consumers.
• Maps. Placing geotags on local maps is extremely important if you want to build citations taking into account Google algorithms. Emphasis on geolocation ensures that your company will be in the SERP priority list in case the user is looking for a similar type of business near you.

• Social Media. Reach the target audience that searches for the business on social media platforms. To do this, build local citations on popular social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.
• Local blogs. Use the authority of local influencers to reach a wider audience. Google search engines will increase the company’s ranking if it is mentioned in authoritative blogs with an impressive number of subscribers.
• Event listings. Use various little things in the life of the company to make news. Initiate various social activities or participate in significant regional events to ensure that data about your company is integrated into SEO citation building.

Useful Secrets of Citation Building for Local SEO

• Incorrect citations can harm your local rankings. Therefore, carefully check that local search citations reflect accurate and up-to-date information about your company. If you change your phone number or office location, be sure to make corrections to the citations SEO.
• Domain-based email, which is mentioned in local citations, adds a company greater authority than Gmail or Yahoo email. So, make sure your business email is connected to the website domain.
• Don’t limit your efforts to publishing only NAPW when building local citations. Add other details, such as office photos, operating hours, logo, and so on.
• Analyze your competitors’ local listings. This will help expand the range of sources for local citations and understand their local SEO promotion strategies.

The Bottom Line

Focus your efforts on citations for local SEO even if your business goals are global. Their achievement will be real only if your company becomes visible to your target audience. Local citations link building helps fulfill this task, since in this case, search engines promote your business in the local SERP. The result of your local search efforts will be an increase in impressions, consumers, and profits.