Local listings are simply online listings of business information helping the searchers to find out whole business information within the geographic area. It typically contains NAP i.e. name, address and phone number. This is not only good for Local SEO ranking but also boosts your online reputation. The listing also helps the search engines to rank your business higher compared to unlisted businesses.
How to build citations for local businesses?
Building citations takes time and effort. While building citations, you must use an email address with the company domain and not a generic email address. Also make sure to provide accurate, redundant information. There are different platforms to claim your citation. To a greater extent, it depends on your industry type. For e.g.-restaurant should always claim Yelp listing.
Here unveiling the most viral myths and speculations that are prevalent in local SEO
Myth#1: Slight variation in the business name will be treated as a violation of guidelines
This is true that if there is any duplicate listing then it will be suspended but if there is only a slight difference say “State Farm: Bob Smith” and another as “Bob Smith Insurance”. As long as the NAP remains the same there will be no negative impact.
Myth #2: Suite numbers are of paramount importance for local SEO
There is a myth that if citations don’t include suite number, the first thing is to fix it but the truth is Google even does not recognize suite number for the majority of Google My Business listings. Google is still reliant more on the location pin markers for determining the address.
Myth#3: Listing phone numbers, addresses, and even links will make your business vulnerable to cyber attacks
Quite a number of people think that giving information will lead to cyber-attack but no instead more people will get to know about your business which will again turn up in potential sales.
Myth#4: Citation Building is the only thing what you need for SEO
Relying only on citations for successful SEO is not a good strategy, though it is one of the important steps to establish in today’s virtual marketplace. You need to look at additional link building strategies to get over and above your competition.
Myth#5: Cancel automated citation services are risk-free
There are many companies including Yelp, Moz Local, and many others which will help you to put correct information across the board. Planning to cancel your subscription with NAP Management Company? Recent evidence has come out where the listings converted back to their previous erroneous state after canceling the service of a NAP management company.
There are risks associated with canceling the services, so it is better to ensure beforehand that such issues did not arise.
Conclusion
If you spend little more time in your SEO strategy, you will probably get to know about some myths that are floating around and on the other hand, it would be more helpful in outstanding your competitors thus, improving your rankings.
