The management of local citation is the basic part of your local SEO and this can be your great foundation where you can build your online business particularly for those businesses that are going to start their journey on the online platform.
What Are Local Citations?
In SEO, the term ‘local citation’ will refer to any business listing on any local directory. These days there are few online directories e.g. Yelp, Angi, and you may even include Facebook too.
Broadly, the citation will mean the online marketing context, your business name, your business address, and the contact number on a certain third-party website. Usually, these details are also termed as ‘NAP’, and this is considered the most important part of any local citation.
Your online citations may take many different forms and will include the mixture of any of the following:
- Name of company
- Address
- Company phone number
- Business hours
- Products and services
- Images
- Videos
- Links of social media
All these mentions of the entire details about your business may occur in many places around the web, which may also include a local business directory, review sites, social media pages, local media outlets, industry-specific publications, Google My Business, and including apps.
![INFOGRAPHIC] SEO Alphabet](https://www.pointvisible.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Featured1.jpg)
According to an expert, in the local algorithm, even your links can also bring direct traffic from all the people who will click on them. However, the difference will be that all these ‘links’ may not always be links but often they can be just a certain address or phone number that is associated with that particular business.
All these references in the local algorithm, may not necessarily be a ‘vote’ for a certain particular company or business, but they will serve to validate that particular business is existing at a certain particular location. In that sense, they can make any business more relevant for any particular search.
The search engines of Google and also other search engines will use your citations to verify all the data and consumers who use them for finding and comparing local businesses. Generally, for local SEO, all SEO communities will agree that the following directories should compulsorily be present for business citation purposes:
- Google My Business
- Yelp
- Microsoft Bing Maps
After the citation has been properly indexed, then it will act almost like a link and that can help in boosting your ranking on local search engines
Most citations will usually remain under your control. When you submit your website to any business directory, then you will control what information has to be provided and you can always go back and edit your information as needed.
Few other citations, like those acquired because of local media coverage, will be outside of your range of control. There are a few citations that will be free, and for a few others, you will have to pay for them. Quite a few may need to have a reciprocal link that is to be added to your website to activate it.
To get a few more backlinks you can also make use of the blogging platform provided by BusyFox.com.au where you can contribute more quality articles with your links.
