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Local Citation
What Is Local Citation?
A local citation is any online mention of partial or complete name, address, and phone number of a local business - also called NAP data. Citations can occur on local business directories, on websites and apps, and on social platforms. Citations help people to discover local businesses and can also impact local search engine rankings. Specifically, having high quality basic citations can help you rank accurately on Google's local search interfaces. Local businesses can actively manage many citations to ensure data accuracy.
Quick Links
Manually Checking Local Citation
There are literally 100s of local citation sources you could check. Indeed, when doing a comprehensive manual audit of your citations, you could in theory check all the major citation sites by hand. In reality, there are only a few major data aggregators that you likely would want to check. These include big players like Facebook and Apple Maps. We've included a short list of where to get citations here.
Automated Local Listing Checks
To make things easier, Moz offers a local listings tool for your business. You can check your local business listings across the web for both inclusions and accuracy using Moz Local's Check Listing tool. These listings include the major data aggregators that most influence web results.
Types of Local Citations
Mentions of your business online frequently appear without any action being taken directly by the business. Online citations can result from automated aggregation and the flow of data from local business data platforms. For example, data on a site like Data Axle can flow down to another site like YP.com. This reality of how the web works makes it especially important for local businesses to take control of the accuracy of their data, so that inaccurate data is discovered and corrected, preventing customer loss, revenue loss, and any negative impact on local search rankings.
Here is a list of the main types of local citations:
Search Engines - Google, Bing and Apple.
Primary Data Aggregators - Core platforms include Foursquare, Data Axle, and Neustar/Localeze.
Major Directories and Important Platforms - Key local business listings can also be built on popular social and review-oriented sites like Facebook and Yelp and more.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
Geo/Industry-Specific Platforms - In addition to building local business listings on the major local business data platforms that serve all industries, your company can seek to build listings on websites that are specific to its unique industry and geography. Examples of these platforms would include chamber of commerce websites or the websites of professional associations and guilds.
