Local Business Citations – What are They and Why are They Important to You?

What are they?:

Local business citations are mentions of your business name and address or your business name and phone number on Web pages other than your own. An example of a local business citation would be a listing local directories like Google Places, Relevant Yellow, Superpages.com and Merchant Circle create for your business. These listings do not always include a link to your Website, however your basic business information can be found, making citations a key component of the ranking algorithms of major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

Why are they important?:

A company with a large number of local business citations will rank higher in the search engines than a company with only a few citations with all else equal. Also businesses that have citations from established, trusted and well-indexed destinations like Superpages.com or Merchant Circle will have a higher ranking in the search engines when compared to businesses with citations from destinations with less traffic, a lower Alexa rating or questionable reliability. This is because the more consistent and reliable the information that is provided to the search engines, the more they will reward your business with high rankings. Helping the degree of certainty the search engines have about your business contact information and other details about your business, will make your search ranking increase.

If you do not have a Website for your business, citations are even more important to you. Without any formal business information on the Internet, search engines rely on any information they can find, which can often times be incorrect. Incorrect and inconsistent information hurts your rankings, making it hard for new customers to find your business online.

Bottom line, local business citations dramatically help your search engine rankings. This is why Local Splash works hard to create a variety of citations with the correct, consistent information. Our company also submits your business information to the top directories to help you reach the highest possible search engine page rank as soon as possible.