Local Citations are the mention of your business name, address, phone number and other business-related details of your business. Local citations help your business name to rank on Google maps for your services-related searches locally.
Are you willing to boost your business’s online presence locally? If so, Local Citations can help!
Regardless of whether you run a brick-and-mortar business, a pizza restaurant, or a coffee café, Local Citations can help your business be found by the customers available in the nearby areas.
What is Local Citation?
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Local Citation is a word given by David Mihm in 2008 in his pivotal post, Local SEO v/s Traditional SEO. It is basically an indication of your business on the web. Citations can take place on local business directories, websites, apps, and social platforms. Local citations are very effective in Local SEO.
The essential components of a citation are a company’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) and can also comprise a reference or link to a selected page of the company’s website. Besides this, a citation may incorporate some or all of the following elements:
- Business categories
- Hours of operation
- Driving directions
- Business description
- Images
- Videos
- Payment forms accepted
- Geo-coordinates
- Reviews
- Owner responses
- Taglines
- Links to social & other forms of media
- Email addresses
- Fax numbers
- Alternate phone numbers
- Attributes
What Are The Types of Local Citations?
Local Citations can be done in either of the two ways, i.e, Structured Citations and Unstructured Citations.
Structured Citations
Unstructured Citations are done on sites that aren’t particularly a business listing directory. There is no such NAP format to list the business on such sites.
These sites are basically blog sites, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Why Local Citations Are Important in Local SEO?
- Helps Search Engines verify your business
Search Engines make use of citations to verify the existence of your business. Search Engines take into account the evenness of your business data on various high authority sites and then verifies your business as legitimate.
- Establishes trust in front of customers
The availability of your business on various prominent websites not only assures the online customers about your reliability but also improves your business ranking on Search Engine Result Pages. - Increases Prominence
As per the researches of prominent search engines, the citation factors make up approximately 13.31% of the Top 50 factors to acquire local rankings.
How to Do Local Citations for Your Local Business?
Building Local citations isn’t rocket science; however, you must also know it is a time-consuming process. Besides this, you should be aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of local citations.
On one hand, accurate citations can help people discover a local business and increase traffic, whereas, on the other hand, inaccurate citations can misdirect customers, leading to loss of standing and income.
So if you usually remain short of time or think this to be a delicate job, then you can take assistance from a trusted Local SEO company.
How To Do Local Citation
Search For Local Citation Sites in Your Area/City/Country
If you run a business in the USA, UK, Canada, or Australia then the list of citation sites curated by White Spark can be really helpful for you. Either if you run a business in India, then you can take help from the list of citation sources curated by Citation Builder Pro.
List of Local Citation Sites in the USA in 2021
- Google My Business
- Bing Places
- Apple Maps
- Express Update
- Acxiom
- Factual
- LocalEze
- D&B
- Yelp
- Yellowpages
- Yahoo! Local
- Superpages
- Foursquare
- MapQuest
- Manta
- Local.com
- Kudzu
- Yellowbook
- Citysearch
- ChamberofCommerce
- Merchantcircle
- ShowMeLocal
- BOTW
- LocalStack
- HotFrog
- Brownbook
- Cylex-USA
- InsiderPages
- EZLocal
- eLocal
- Tupalo
- ForLocations
- CitySquares
- Tuugo
- BizVotes
- B2B Yellow Pages
- My Web Yellow
- Thumbtack
- n49.com
- iBegin
- My Huckleberry
- My Locally
- Opendi
- Sale Spider
- Angieslist
- Yasabe
- Nokia Here
- 2FindLocal
- Get Fave
List of Local Citation Sites in India in 2021
- Indiamart
- Callme
- Zoompo
- Clickblue
- Yellow.place
- Searchingurgaon
- Yellowpages.webindia123.com
- Yalwa
- Bizsheet
- Startlocal
- Bharathlisting
- Findshops
- Tradeindia
- Tradesights
- Yellowpagesdir
- Prekkha
- Findshops
- Fionadates
- Vandanayellowpages
- Sulekha
- Aaspaas
- Dealerbaba
- Justdial
- Asklaila
- Indianyellowpages
- Merchantcircle
- Quikr
- Cootera
- Jantareview
- B2Bhouse
- Grotal
- Rajb2b
- Indyapages
- Sevanow
- Khargharcity
- Submitmybusiness
Take Help Of Data Aggregators
Data aggregator sites compile the information from databases with the intent to prepare combined datasets for data processing. As per the research conducted by Advice Local, the data aggregators can be also be used to spread business information.
In simple words, data aggregators collect information on businesses and then convey that information to other sites.
Some popular data aggregators are
- All top
- Popurls
- Factual
Make Use of Local Directories
A local directory encompasses your business Name, Address, and phone number (NAP) along with other details. There are a lot of directories where local businesses can create free local business listings
You can check your local directories to see if a listing already exists for your company and make sure the information is accurate. You can also submit a new listing if one doesn’t yet exist for your business.
Be found on Review Sites
Besides impacting customers’ decisions, reviews are considered vital by search engines while determining the ranking of any website. Now you must be wondering why reviews are so significant both for your customers and search engines. It helps to increase your Online Reputation.
Here are the reasons that depict why reviews are so important.
- Reviews Drive Incomes To Your Business
More number of positive reviews can attract many customers to your business.
- Make Your Business Be Found
Positive customer reviews give your business a steady pipeline of positive content that search engines cherish while displaying the results.
- Make Your Business Appear Reliable
Positive Customer Reviews establishes trust among customers that are seeing your business for the first time.
- Make Your Business Center Of Attraction
Your business reviews are the place where only your products and services will be discussed and will thus make it the talk of the community.
- Promotes Decision Making
Customers are likely to incline towards the business that has positive reviews, instead of one that doesn’t have.
After reading the above-given reasons, you might have got a clear idea about the importance of reviews for any site.
Thus, Review sites can be a great place for listing your business. Don’t forget to check whether or not the review sites entail factual business information.
Some of the famous review sites are:
- Influencers
- Consumer Reports
- Amazon
Social Media Can Be Helpful
A social media account for your business can not only engage customers but can also provide an opportunity for Local citations. So set up a social media account for your business, and make sure your address, phone number, email address, and website are correct.
Also Check:Â How To Promote A Facebook Business Page?
There are multiple social media management tools that you can use to make your social media marketing strategy more powerful. It’s always a better decision to hire a social media marketing agency to take care of the social media marketing needs of your business.
Visit our social media marketing packages now!
Tips To Do Local Citations
- While listing your business ensure that you use domain-based email rather than one made on Gmail or Yahoo.
- Make sure the Name, Address, and Phone Number of your business are the same on every site.
- Try to choose the category that best describes your business nature.
- Add details like photos, logo, a full business description, your operating hours, links to your social accounts, and so on.
- After you have done the listings don’t forget to enter the verification pin to claim your listing. This is a trust-building strategy.
Local Citation FAQs
The three core things that are mandatory while doing a business listing are Name, Address, and Phone Number.
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Other than these three, you can add info like:
The business’s website URL addresses
Any keywords associated with the business
A couple of words describing the type of business
Names of the business and the owner
Business address
Email address
Business Commencement Date
Number of Employees
The hours of operation
A video link about the business
Any links to social networking sites such as Facebook, Google+, and Instagram.
Brand or business logo.
Before making any submissions, check whether the listing is already there or not. In case if it is there, check for any inconsistencies between the information.
Yes, Social Media Platforms are the best places to spread the word about your business.
Citations vary in their value. Depending on the impacts various citation sources can bring in your business, they can be classified into:
Core Search Engines: Google, Bing, etc.
Primary Sources: Info Group, Acxiom, etc.
Tier 1: Yelp, Facebook, etc.
Tier 2: Yellowbook, Hot Frog, etc.
Tier 3: Yellowise, Local Database, etc.
Tier 4: IGot Biz, etc, etc.
This was everything you should know before listing your website to enhance its value locally.
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If you have any queries related to local citations or need a reliable Local SEO Agency to get this done for your business, then looks no further than Rankon Technologies. We have helped hundreds of businesses thrive locally and can give comprehensive services to increase your business local value. To get more information about our services, request a quote today.
If you are searching for an SEO Company that can help you to get the first-page website rankings then look no further than RankON Technologies for the best SEO Services in India. We offer cheap SEO packages for small business SEO projects and follow white hat techniques for long term results.
