How SEO Citations Can Help You Boost Your Visibility

Although no one truly knows the exact formula for a particular business’s local search engine ranking, established experts have some solid theories.

One of them is that local citations are a crucial factor, and with good reason.

But what are citations, and what purpose do they rcs data serve? And perhaps even more importantly, are they really all that important when it comes to search engine optimization?

Here we’ll go over everything you need to know about SEO citations to understand them better and use them to the advantage of your business.

What are SEO Citations?

From an SEO standpoint, the term “citation” refers to any instance where your business is mentioned online, and examples might appear in many places.

These include social networks, various types of businesswhen should kpis and okrs be combined?  directories, local websites, and basically, anywhere else people might be online looking for information about businesses in their area.

In addition to actual mentions of the business’s name, citations can include other identifying information unique to that business, including its phone number or europe email physical address. (NAP citations are citations that specifically show name, address, and phone number.)

Why Do SEO Citations Matter?

The purpose of SEO citations is to better assist people from a given location in finding businesses that offer the services and products they’re interested in.

They also factor into your SEO rankings on Google and other search engines. Here’s a better look at how both of those things work.

Business Discovery

Although people do use Google to explore businesses in their area to address a specific need or issue, that’s not the case for everyone.

Some people far prefer browsing YellowPages, review sites like Yelp, or specialized business directories dedicated to what they’re looking for.

Business directories also tend to comprise most of the top results when a person Googles for a local business solution, not business websites run by service providers. (Just try Googling for a plumber or a mechanic in your area, and you’ll see.)

Help with SEO

Again, not every expert agrees on the importance of citations when it comes to SEO, but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s a lot of evidence to suggest it.

Search engines like Google use many factors to determine the legitimacy, trustworthiness, and overall value of their search results.

Mentions on other trustworthy websites and across social networks are among the most important.

The more times your business’s name, address, or phone number come up, the more evidence Google has that your business is really out there and that it is what you say it is.