Citations: The importance and the objective of ..
Having a good network of Citations for your small business will help propel your web presence up the local search rankings surprisingly fast.
Citations
If you are setting up a web presence, either for a new business? Or perhaps an established one? One of things we can all agree on right off the bat is the need to get registered in Google as quickly as possible.
When deciding where to put your business in the index, Google looks at a host of different metrics. Including Location, Industry Category etc etc.
Once these facts are deduced Google wants to know how far and wide your name is spread through internet land? To do this, it sends its indexing robots off looking for and comparing Citations.
In simple terms a Citation is an instance on another webpage, (yell, companies house, Thompson Local, certain business directories etc) where your NAP details (Name Address & Phone) match what Google has on file.
At this stage its worth pointing out the importance of getting this right.
Example
If your NAP reads like this on your Google My Business entry….
South Wales Widgets
123 Any Street
Anytown
AN12 3YT
….but one of your Citations reads like this….
South Wales Widgets
Any Street
Anytown
AN12 3YT
….then it doesn’t count. The match has to be exact.
Splitting hairs? Perhaps, but for those who follow this rule to the letter of the law the rewards can be great?
Conclusion?
Simply put? Most don’t bother about manual Citations. Its laborious and time consuming.
What that means is in many instances local search is ripe fruit, low hanging and ready for picking.
So take advantage? Set up a good network of Citations or, if you don’t have the time have someone do them for you?
The investment will pay back in spades.