How to Improve Your Local Listing Ranking through Local Citations (2 Ways)

What exactly is a local citation? It’s any listing of your business’s name, address and phone number (NAP) on various websites, apps, local business directories and more. Simply put, it’s any online mention of your business’s contact information.

Think of all the places these listings appear online: your website, your social media pages, Yelp, Google, etc. These are all your local citations.

Local citations are an element all business owners should be concerned with having, because they act as additional places your information can be found and provide a way for more consumers to discover you.

According to Moz, “Citations help Internet users to discover local businesses and can also impact local search engine rankings. Local businesses can actively manage many citations to ensure data accuracy.”

The formula below explains how local citations bring you customers:

Therefore, more local citations = more customers.

Citations that are specific to your location and industry help consumers discover local businesses like yours, and also impact local listing and search engine rankings.

There are a variety of types of business directories out there: Yelp, Angie’s List and Houzz are all examples, as well as major platforms like Google My Business and Facebook. Major business platforms like these are all great to have citations on, but to show up in local searches—and increase your local listing ranking—it’s crucial that you also have citations on business directories that are specific to your location and industry.

Focusing on directories that are specific to both your industry and location will ensure the right consumers are finding you

For example, when choosing business directories to add your listing to, a local industry-specific one like the Home Builders Association of Northeast Louisianais a great choice for kitchen and bath remodeling clients in Monroe, LA. This is exactly where one of our clients, Key Millwork, has a local citation, meeting both the local and industry-related criteria.

Additionally, Key Millwork shows an HBA logo on their own website that links over to the directory, which is a perfect example of our second way to improve your local listing rankings.

REMEMBER: To accomplish this, you must provide your digital marketing agency with names and links to the geo/industry-specific business directories you want to be listed on.

Linking to other local, reputable organizations creates a great opportunity to improve your local listing and SEO ranking.

When it comes to gaining authority for your website and improving your local listing’s ranking, creating quality links is a strategy we highly recommend. In order to do this, you need a balance of:

1. Links to other local businesses on your own website that you are in some way partnered with, and
   
2. Links to your own website from those local businesses
   

Linking to other local, reputable organizations and businesses tells Google that you are connected within your community, increasing your local authority. This creates a great opportunity to improve your local listing and SEO ranking.

Similarly, we recommend reaching out to these businesses, thanking them for their partnership, letting them know you are linking to their website and asking them if they’d mind doing the same for you (by mentioning your business name, phone number or location. The more links you have coming to your website, the better.

Think of building links as a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours kind of deal.

So, if the goal is getting consumers to come to your own site, what kind of local businesses would you want to link out to? Any local partnerships you have are great opportunities for these links, such as schools, hospitals, charities, publications or professional organizations that you work with.

For example, one of our clients, The Maids Scottsdale, works with a local charitable organization called Cleaning for a Reason, which partners with maid services in different areas to provide free housekeeping to women undergoing cancer treatment. On The Maids Scottsdale’s website, they’ve provided a link to the Cleaning for a Reason website for people who want to learn more about the program. It gives them an easy opportunity to create a link, as well as shows the customers what kind of work they’re doing to benefit local community.

REMEMBER:

1. Having your partner’s logo on your website is NOT enough; links are what really matter. Provide your digital marketing agency with your partners’ URLs so they can create links to your partners’ sites.

2. More partners = more links. Always look to create new partners, even if you already have some.

When it comes to increasing your local listing ranking, local citation listings are something you can’t overlook. Not only do they give consumers more ways to find you, but they also build your website’s authority with search engines. It might sound like local citation building is too good to be true, but we promise it’s not.