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You’ve got the goods. The products you sell and the services you provide are top-notch. You’re an industry leader — Respected. So why do your online efforts consistently fall flat? More specifically, why are your local search rankings so darn low? It could be something as simple — and yet fundamental — as poorly executed, outdated, or insufficiently broadcast listings and citations.
The gurus at Moz provide us with a solid definition of “citations” that provides a good springboard for us to discuss this concept further.
The fundamental pieces of a citation are the business’ name, address and phone number — known in industry parlance as the NAP. But there’s a lot more that goes into a successful and search-returnable citation, including but not limited to store hours, directions to the physical location, pictures, videos, reviews, and more.
In order for a local business to separate itself in the search engine rankings — that is to say, in order to rise toward the first page — its citations must be constantly monitored and updated.
Although the accuracy of citations and listings aren’t the be-all and end-all of search engine optimization, it’s extremely important. Potential customers are more likely to abandon a platform and head for a competitor’s site if they think they’re being misled (intentionally or otherwise).
And that’s a death knell for your search rankings.
It’s not uncommon for the first page of Google results to contain nothing but citation sites. That’s because search engines love citations.
At Webfor, we take these citations seriously — maybe more than most. That’s because we’ve taken a close look under the hood of search engine optimization, and we know that to rank well in local search — especially where Google Maps is concerned — it’s absolutely critical for your business’ NAP to remain consistent across all local listing websites. This is super important in cases where your business may have relocated or updated its phone number. If you’ve made changes like this, your business listings and citations could be outdated, leading to poor search engine results.
Elsewhere on the Webfor site, we’ve done some deep dives into the various types of SEO — E-commerce SEO, franchise SEO, enterprise SEO. Make sure you take a look at those articles to get a fuller picture of just how powerful search engine optimization can be for your website and your business.
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