Oh, citations. Remember how annoying they were to do in college? And how you would often leave them until the last minute to complete? In the world of SEO, local citations can be equally annoying but just as important! Local citations are one of the first things (if not the first thing) your small business should do.
What are citations?
Citations are mentions of your business name and contact information throughout the internet. Many people underestimate the power of citations and the key that they hold to your search engine rankings. Getting citations from reliable sources boosts your online credibility and trustworthiness. But here is where many people get it wrong… at the very first step! This means establishing a uniform way to input your company name, phone number, address and website. Is it floor, building, suite or plain #? Do you use a local area code or 800 number? Don’t miss out in the details as a small mistake can cause a big headache later on.
Where can I get citations?
Yelp, CitySearch, YellowPages, Angie’s List, Insider Pages, Merchant Circle, BBB, local blogs and niche directories are all credible places. Like directory submissions, there are paid options, as well as many paid ones. Of course, we can’t forget about Google, Yahoo! and Bing’s local business center. Because those are the most important places to first get citations, right? Wrong. Many believe that infoUSA, Acxiom, Localeze and Super Pages are the best places to get citations when starting out. Why? Because Google Places pulls information from throughout the internet and these are their most reputable sources. This can help your listing get verified sooner and help prevent it from becoming suspended for “inaccurate” information.
How should I submit citations?
Of the few citation resources I listed above, it won’t be surprising to know that there are a lot more. This is why many small business may be interested in hiring someone to complete citations for them. It’s understandable if you don’t have the time or know-how to do your local citations. But before hiring a company to do so, make sure that they will have someone do it manually.
There are some companies and software out there that claim they can submit your information to hundreds of sites in one smooth automated process. But buyer beware. This automated process means that the information never gets seen or confirmed by a human being. There are horror stories of submission forms or information getting cut off before being sent. And there’s nothing worse than having dozens, if not hundreds, of incorrect of half-filled submissions. In short, this information is not only useless, but it will be extremely difficult and time consuming to go back and undo the mess that the automatic process created.
Is there anything else you’d like to know about local citations? Be sure to leave us a message or tweet us @emarketed.
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