I keep hearing that I need lots of Google citations to get better rankings in Google Places. What are they, and how do I get them?
If you are a small business owner trying to get page one rankings in Google Places, citations are a very important element to getting your business listing up on top. In this article I am going to explain what a Google citation is, and why you need them to get top rankings in the Google local search results.
So, what is a Google citation?
A Google citation is simply the name, address, and phone number of your business as Google sees it listed across the Internet. More commonly known as NAP.This means that when you claimed and filled out your Google Places listing you provided Google with a correct name, address, and phone number in your business listing. Again, commonly referred to as NAP.
Why are Google Citations important?
If you know a little about search engine optimization (SEO), you probably understand that getting back links to your web pages are very important to helping your website get higher rankings in the Google organic search results. A back link is simply a link back to your website or web page from another website.If you receive enough back links using keywords in your anchor text as the link, you can easily achieve higher rankings for those keywords, even if your website on page optimization is not fantastic. Google views a back link as a vote for your website by another website.
How are Google Citations different from back links?
A Google citation, while sometimes a link, is a mention of your businesses name, phone number and address. In other words, a Google citation is more of a validation by the Google search spiders that your business is real and your NAP is accurate.Does Google trust that your business is real?
Google is building the worlds most powerful and accurate local search directory. This is why they are constantly scouring the Internet for consistent information about your local business.The more consistent NAP information they find the more they trust that you are a legitimate business in your particular industry and area. Remember, a Citation is a validation that the NAP information about your business listing is accurate and consistent.
The bottom line is… because of all Google Places spammers out there, Google does not trust your local business listing if it has NAP information that is not exactly the same everywhere you are listed.
A common trust killer is when a local business changes locations, business names, or phone numbers. Google sees different information around the web and will penalize your listing by dropping it lower in the local search results.
How to create citations that Google Trust?
Make sure that your website has your NAP exactly the same as your Google listing and create one standard listing for all your directories that you get listed in.Simply put, a Google citation is a mention on another website that lists your name, address, and phone number. (NAP) Google is constantly searching the internet looking for local information that matches the business listing on that appears on Google’s local results. The more citations they pick up about your business the more credibility and relevance they will give to your business listing.
Let’s say you own a local restaurant, the Google spiders may pull NAP info from websites like Yelp, Urban spoon, and open table. If your NAP is accurately listed on these popular websites, Google will count that as a citation. The more Google citations you have the higher you will rank.
Here is where it gets tricky. If Google spiders a website and finds a NAP about your business, it must be 100% accurate to get credit for a citation. This is why it is so important to have consistent information on all your listings and your website.
Example: If Google finds your listing on another website and instead Road, you have RD. it will not read it as the same address. Even though you and I know that St means Street, Google sees them as different and it will hurt your listing.
Using multiple phone numbers will also hurt your listing: If Google sees your NAP info on another website with a different phone number than what is on their Google Places listing, it will also hurt your search results. If you use multiple phone numbers at your business, pick one to use in all your listings.
Changing your business name in the heading can also hurt your listing: I had a person that was complaining to me that he had listed his local business in numerous directories but was receiving no Google citations. After investigating, I found that in every local business listing he had changed his business name, adding different keywords in each listing. He thought he could capture more keywords by changing up his business name.
Google sees all those different business name listings and will not give him any valid citations. Remember, Google is looking for consistent NAP info! You should always use your business name and if you do add an extra keyword, keep it the same in every listing. DO NOT try to stuff extra keywords into your business name or Google may penalize you for spam.
How can you find out if you have inconsistent Google Citations out there?
Before I ever take on a client I do a comprehensive citation search. The tool I use is a subscription service that also offers a free version.You can use https://www.brightlocal.com, whitespark.ca , or www.yext.com to find out inconsistent, duplicate & incomplete citations.
By doing a Google citation search first, I can see exactly what needs to be done for that client. If I see lots of inconsistent NAP info it will cost more to clean up the mess. Do not take on a new client without reviewing their current NAP situation or you may do a lot of work to their Google Places business listing and see little or no results.
Tactics To Get Google Citations for Your Local Business
So, the real big question is! How can I get more Google citations?Before we go any further, let’s talk about organization. You absolutely need to keep track of all your Google citation listings and their URLs. A quick and easy way is to create an Excel spreadsheet and store them there.
Where can you find the best Google Citations?
First of all, all citation sites are not created equal. You will find that from Industry to Industry Google seems to prefer certain Citation sites more than others. Google pulls citations form many different websites around the Internet. Our research has shown that there are some places that Google favors over others. It differs from industry to industry.Your ultimate goal should be to get as many citations as possible, but you should make sure you start with the ones Google uses the most often for your industry. There are plenty of Free places to get Google citations. always start there and try whenever possible to avoid paying for directories that charge for listings.
Here is a quick ideas to get google citations.
1. Data aggregators: In the United States, there are four primary aggregators of local business data. Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual have all compiled unique indexes of approximately 20 million business locations across the United States. These indexes are typically compiled by scouring traditional phone books, business group membership rosters, banking and phone records, and databases from business registration entities.
2. Local search engines: Local search engines like Google and Bing crawl the web for citations that will validate or correct the business information in their own indexes. Getting listed on sites like YP.com, Yelp, Foursquare, Hotfrog, and others can shore up search engines' confidence in the accuracy of your business name, location, and website. Most local businesses will need to engage in a concerted citation building campaign that ensures that they are listed in as many relevant, quality local business directories as possible.
3. Local blogs: Local blogs are a great place to get your business listed. These will obviously vary by particular geography, but if you simply perform a search on Google for "[your city] blog" or "[your neighborhood] blog," you'll likely see good candidates.
The sites that show up for these kinds of searches are, by definition, very well-indexed by the search engines, and highly associated with a particular neighborhood, city, or region in local results. Businesses that are mentioned or linked to on these blogs are viewed as trusted, relevant results in the local search engines.
4. Locally focused directories: Like local blogs, local directories are well-indexed by the search engines and are highly associated with a particular city or region. Directories which are edited by a human are much better than those which are "free for all". Human-edited directories are less susceptible to spam, and are therefore more trusted by the local search engines. Two examples of terrific locally focused directories are Best of the Web's Regional Directory and Yahoo's Regional Directory. You can perform searches for things like "[your city] directory" or "[your state] directory" to find good prospects for these kinds of citations.
5. Industry-focused directories or blogs: If a website is focused on topics and keywords related to your products and services, it may be included among the sites that the local search engines count as citation sources—even if that website or directory is not focused on a particular region. For instance, the membership directory of your trade organization or a blog that is popular among readers in your industry will both probably be crawled by the local search engines for citations. Searches like "[your industry] directory" or even "[your keyword] directory" will give you some ideas of the kinds of sites on which to get listed.
6. Social Media Profiles
Given the expansion of data sources/types that Google's using, social profiles, where you can often add information about your business including name/address/phone/site/etc. make a lot of sense.Sites like Twoo, About.me, Quora, Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, etc. all offer potential, and you can likely find many more social media site list here.
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