Local Citations Improve Search Results
How Citations Influence Search Results
When it comes to ranking your business website, it is important to be mentioned on other authority sites. Most business owners spend a huge chunk of their time looking for hyperlinks from other websites. What they don’t realize is that they can get benefits from simply being mentioned on authority sites; this is true even if the site doesn’t use a hyperlink to directly link back to their website.
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Local SEO
It is important to get local citations for your business. Sites like the Yellowpages can help boost your search engine rankings; they do this without ever linking back to your site. Local business associations and your local Chamber of Commerce websites are also places where you can get a local citation.
When the search engines notice your business name mentioned on an authority site, they know that you aren’t some fly by night company. The search engines take this information and use it to give your business more authority; this authority means better search engine rankings.
Local citations are used by major search engines as an additional ranking factor; if your website has many citations, then it is likely to rank higher than a website without them. Businesses often spend thousands of dollars on SEO only to be outranked by sites that have very few backlinks. They don’t realize that their competition is ranking because of citations on authority sites.
Why Local Citations Are Important
Citations help the search engines verify your business address and contact information; when the search engines are sure that your information is current and correct, they are likely to display your website over others. Citations help search engines categorize your business; search engines work hard to give people information that is relative to their search queries. If the search engines can’t decipher what type of business you run, then they aren’t very likely to show your business in their local search results.
Using local citations is very important in less-competitive niches; they help to give you an advantage over your competition. Local sites tend to be put together sloppily; they often don’t use strategies that larger companies use. Without much information about these sites, the search engines use whatever they can find to help their algorithm rank sites correctly.
A local citation allows search engines to validate your business; your business is more likely to show up in local search results when the search engines know you are part of the community. It is hard for businesses to fake being listed in the Yellowpages or in their Chamber of Commerce. Search engines know this; they use this to give your business a boost in the rankings.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
A seasoned digital marketing professional with over 20 years of expertise in digital marketing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, brand development, conversion optimization, lead generation, web development and data analytics. He is a strategic digital marketing thought leader in a multitude of business verticals including automotive, education, financial services, legal marketing and professional services.
