Local Citation Building
Local citation services that make your business name, address and phone number match on every directory that lists you, and add you to the ones that matter for your trade and town.
What's included
- A search for existing listings of your business, including old names, addresses and phone numbers
- One master record of your business details, agreed with you before we touch anything
- Corrections to wrong, outdated and duplicate listings on major directories and data sources
- New listings on general directories, industry directories and local sites relevant to you
- Listing logins recorded and handed to you, so you control every account
- Descriptions, categories, hours and website links filled in, not just name and phone
- Problem listings we can't fix directly, documented with what's been requested and when
- A citation report showing every listing, its status and a link to it
Who it's for
Citation building is the unglamorous side of local SEO, and it tends to matter most for businesses with a history. If any of these apply to you, your listings probably need work:
- You've moved. Directories still send people to your old location, and some of them keep copying that address to other sites.
- You changed your phone number or used a tracking number at some point, and now several numbers float around the web.
- You rebranded or merged. Old and new business names both appear, sometimes as two separate businesses.
- A previous marketing company set up listings in their own name, with logins you never received.
- You've never done it. Your business is new, and apart from Google, few sites know you exist.
Contractors, medical and dental practices, attorneys, accountants, auto shops, salons and other service businesses tend to benefit most, because industry directories in those fields are well established and customers use them. A family law attorney, for example, needs to be correct on legal directories as well as general ones, while an HVAC company benefits from home services sites and local trade associations.
Local SEO citations won't carry your rankings on their own. They sit alongside a strong Google Business Profile, reviews and a good website. But inconsistent details can hold back everything else, and fixing them is one of the more predictable pieces of local work.
How we do it
- 1
Agree your master record. Before we build or correct anything, we confirm one official version of your business name, address, phone number, website, hours, categories and short description with you. Every listing will match it. If you're a service-area business that hides its address, we note which sites can hide it and which can't.
- 2
Find what's out there. We use map ranking grid scans and listing checks to see how your business appears across the main directories and data sources, then search by hand for old business names, previous addresses and past phone numbers. Those old variants are often where the worst errors hide.
Map ranking grid scans - 3
Sort by priority. We rank what we found. Wrong phone numbers and wrong addresses on major sites come first. Duplicates come next, since they split your reviews and confuse customers. Missing listings on important industry sites follow, and small cosmetic differences come last or not at all.
- 4
Fix and remove. We claim listings where we can and correct them, or submit correction and removal requests where we can't claim. Some sites respond quickly, some slowly, and a few ignore requests. We record each request so nothing is forgotten.
- 5
Build new listings. We add your business to general directories, the main sites for your industry and local sources like chambers of commerce or city business directories where you qualify. Each listing gets full details, categories and your website link, not just the bare minimum. We use accounts in your business's name with login details handed over to you.
- 6
Recheck. A few weeks after changes, we check your listings again, because some directories revert edits or re-import old data from other sources. Anything that has slipped back goes on the next round of fixes. We also compare your listings against the details on your Google Business Profile and your website footer, since a mismatch between those two is one of the most common problems we find and one of the easiest to overlook.
We don't use automated blasts to hundreds of low-quality directories. They create more listings to maintain and rarely help. For Apple Maps and Bing specifically, see Apple Maps and Bing Places listings, which we handle as their own setup.
What you receive
At the end of the project, you receive a citation report as a spreadsheet you can keep. It lists:
- Every listing we found, built or corrected, with a link
- The status of each one: live and correct, correction requested, removal requested, or not fixable
- The login details for every account created in your name
- Your master record, so anyone updating listings later has the correct details
On a monthly plan, the report is updated each month with the new citations added and any listings that have changed since the last check. If you move or change your phone number again, send us the new details and we'll start the update round. Keep the master record somewhere your office manager can find it: it saves time whenever someone new sets up a listing, an insurance profile or a supplier account in your business's name.
Pricing
This is covered by our Standard one-time SEO package at $199.
Our one-time SEO packages include business directory listings with a report of every listing: 10 with Basic, 20 with Standard and 40 with Premium, so citation building is covered by the package that matches how many listings you need. If you'd rather keep adding citations over time, every monthly plan includes 5 citations a month; see the Pricing page.
Basic
$99 one time
- Competitor analysis
- Research on 10 keywords
- 10 pages optimized
- Image optimization
- 10 business directory listings
- Report of every listing
Standard
$199 one time
- Competitor analysis
- Research on 20 keywords
- 20 pages optimized
- Image optimization
- 20 business directory listings
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Schema markup
- Report of every listing
Premium
$399 one time
- Competitor analysis
- Research on 50 keywords
- 50+ pages optimized
- Image optimization
- 40 business directory listings
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Schema markup
- 2 guest articles on relevant websites
- Report of every listing and link
Every listing and link is on a real, trusted site. No spam links. You get a report showing each one.
Directory listings include Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, Foursquare and directories for your industry.
Frequently asked questions
Something else? Call (866) 571-4320.
What are local citations?
A local citation is any online mention of your business name, address and phone number together. They appear on directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages, industry sites, chamber of commerce listings, map apps and local news or community pages. Google uses them as one way to confirm that your business is real and that your details are correct.
Does it matter if my suite number or abbreviations don't match exactly?
Small formatting differences, like 'St' versus 'Street', are generally not a problem, since search engines understand them. What causes trouble is genuinely different information: an old address, a different phone number, a previous business name or a tracking number. Those are what we focus on fixing.
I moved. Do I need to update every listing?
Yes, as far as possible. After a move, your old address lives on across many directories and data sources, and some of them feed others, so the old details can keep reappearing. We update the main sources first, then work through the rest, and we list any site that refuses or ignores a change.
How many citations do I need?
There isn't a magic number. Quality and accuracy matter more than volume: being correct on the main directories and the ones specific to your industry beats hundreds of listings on sites nobody visits. We recommend a set based on your trade and region, and we won't pad the count with junk directories.
Are citations the same as backlinks?
Some citations include a link to your website and some don't. Their main job in local SEO is confirming your business details, not passing link value. Links from real editorial articles are a different kind of work, which is covered by our off-page and link building services.
Can I use a call tracking number on my listings?
It's safest to keep your main local number on your Google Business Profile and major citations, so your details stay consistent. If you want call tracking, there are ways to set it up that keep your main number listed as well. We'll look at how you're set up before making changes.
Find out how your business is listed across the web
Tell us about your business in a short chat. We review your website and contact you within one business day, with no obligation.