Updated Thu, May 5, 2022
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Local SEO
Citations in SEO are a key factor in improving local search results. Having your business listed in trusted online directories sends signals to search engines like Google that improves the degree of certainty that your business information is up-to-date and trustworthy.
The quantity of listings, the accuracy of the information, and the quality of the listing source, all have an impact on how search engines like Google perceive your online presence.
What is a local citation?
A local citation is an online reference to the name, location, and phone number of a local business. Most online directories offer opportunities to add additional rich data like website url, category, hours, services, business description, payment methods, and photos.
Why are citations beneficial for local SEO?
Local citations either positively or negatively impact local search engine rankings.
The quantity of citations a business accrues, the accuracy of the information, and the quality of the listing source, all have an impact on search rankings. This data is used by search engines like Google to validate the trustworthiness of business data when matching for local search queries.
If what search engines encounter is broadly accurate, there is trust in the validity of the data, which has a positive ranking effect. If the data is inconsistent, however, or there is a lack of data, this trust is eroded, therefore lowering ranking opportunities.
It’s not required that a citation link back to your website to be valuable for local SEO. The value in a citation is the mention of your business information. The more mentions of your business on the web, the more prominent your business appears to Google, and this will help with your local rankings.
How does Listing Sync improve search rankings?
Both Listing Sync and Listing Distribution (included with Listing Sync Premium) are complimentary solutions to building valuable local listing citations and improving search rankings.
Listing Sync gives you a single dashboard to control how your business appears across the internet. With the click of a button, you can create and update listings across an established network of 30+ sites, with the majority of those sites updating instantly.
Listing Sync Premium is a data amplification product that includes Listing Distribution, which syncs your same business information to the three major data aggregators: Data Axle, DataProvider, and Foursquare. These listings get updated in approximately three weeks. The data providers are then referenced by over 300 online listing directories, who update their listings at various points in time.
We estimate that it can take hundreds of hours every year to manually create, manage, and fix business listings across all of the relevant directories and data aggregators.
Listing Sync and Listing Distribution alleviates much of this struggle for local businesses and helps them submit accurate information to a network of high impact directories, voice search, GPS apps, and the major data providers: Data Axle, DataProvider, and Factual.
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Listing Sync vs Listing Sync Premium
