Citation building is an effort to list your business name, contact info, address, website, logo, business hours and any other pertinent information in an online directory or database. Why? This helps potential customers find your business.
Many SEO (search engine optimization) experts recommend prioritizing your online citation building ahead of all other online marketing efforts.
Here’s why:
Directories are favorites of customers looking for local businesses.
People rely on web databases and directories to find local businesses. Did you know that there are 40+ web directories in the top 400 of the most visited websites in America (i.e., Yelp, CitySearch, Foursquare, Yahoo Local, SuperPages, YP, Manta, BBB, Porch, Angie’s List, etc.). People uses them. You need to be there.
By building up your online citations, you are greatly increasing the chances that potential customers will find your business. This is especially true for newer businesses. A potential customer probably won’t know to search for your website, but they may very well find your business in a local or industry directory. If your business has ever moved location or used Call Tracking Phone Numbers you will be surprised by the inaccuracies. Make sure to monitor them closely since all-things-internet have a tendency to be passed around. Just when you thought it was cleaned up, something old repopulated.
Online citations will help your website perform better in search
When ranking a business website, Google and other search engines search don’t just search the content of your website, the automated “bots” also search for links to your website from credible third-party directories and databases. A link from their site validates yours. The more places it finds your business, the higher it will rank your site in search. The key is to make sure your business information (phone number, address, email) is consistent across the web. If it is not, it is unlikely to be as highly ranked.
If you don’t have the time, we’ll do it for you for just $39./mth.
