When it comes to expanding your business and promoting your business, you need to be able to gain the trust of potential customers.
One way to get the trust of potential customers is to use citations to help your business become prominent and seen in SEO results.
Over time as algorithms have changed, there are other factors that have a larger impact on where your business will rank on SEO result pages. These factors have a greater impact than citations, but this does not mean that citations are not important.
However, if you are new to SEO citations, then this information might not make complete sense. Well, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
In this guide, we are going to walk you through what SEO citations are and why they are important for your business.
What Is SEO?
Before we look at what SEO citations are, we need to understand what SEO is.
SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization”. Search engine optimization is when you try to improve the ranking or visibility of your website on search engines such as Google.
Improving your website’s visibility means that when people search for terms that are related to your business such as products and services, the website for your business will hopefully be on the first page of the search results.
This will then lead to increased chances of gaining more visitors to your website and hopefully more customers. A website for a business that ranks higher on the search engines seems more trustworthy to potential customers.
It is not possible to pay for the website of your business to be higher on the results page. Instead, SEO specialists have to work out what they can do in order to increase your ranking.
What Are Citations?
So now that we know what SEO is and why it is important, we can look at citations and how they link to SEO.
Citations are mentions of your business’s name, phone number, and address online. Essentially, it is when your business and all of the details of your business have been mentioned on other websites that are not your own business website.
In most cases, these citations are usually found in online business directories, such as Yelp. However, there are cases where citations take other forms.
In order for this mention on another website to be considered as a citation, it needs to hit the minimum requirements in terms of the information listed.
A citation must have the address of the business, the name of the business, and the phone number. However, many websites allow for other information about the business to be added.
Different Types Of Citations Websites
As mentioned briefly above, citations can come in other forms. This is due to the fact that there are many websites online for citations.
This causes a problem in terms of the value of the citation as SEO specialists’ opinions differ on which forms are most valuable.
However, there are a few websites that most people agree are extremely valuable when it comes to citations. These websites include;
- Yelp
- Google My Business
These websites are not the only ones you should focus on getting your citations on. In fact, there are citation websites that are split into certain categories.
Some of these websites would not be appropriate for you to list your business on. For example, there are citation websites that are purely for finding attorneys.
If your business has nothing to do with attorneys, then your citation should not be in this business directory.
General citation websites are always great to have a citation for your business on, but having a citation on a website that is specific to the industry of your business is also great.
This means that your business is likely to be shown to potential customers who are only looking for the type of industry you are in.
Why Are Citations Important For Your Business?
Now you know what citations are, it is time to look at why they are important for your business.
Improves SEO Ranking
One of the reasons that citations are important for your business is that they can help to improve your local SEO ranking.
If your business is listed online in directories such as Yelp that Google trusts, then this makes Google believe that your business is trustworthy and exists.
Therefore, it is important to have citations in trusted directories so that Google trusts your business which will help potential customers to trust your business.
Although you should not have citations in any directory, it needs to be one that Google trusts.
Increased Traffic
When it comes to finding a business, people tend to use trusted website directories in order to find one rather than going to google. This means that when they search for the industry your business is in, they are more likely to see your business.
If the link to your website is attached then you’ll be able to get more traffic to your website, due to this citation.
Helps You To Get On The First Results Page
Sometimes it can seem impossible to get your business on the first page of the search engine results page. Especially when trusted sites such as Yelp are always the first options that come up.
So instead of going head to head with these website directories, you should use them to put you on the first page of the search engine results page.
Having a citation on sites that are constantly on the first page of search engine results, increases the chance of your business being on the first page on their website. So when people look for a business in your industry on these sites, you’ll be listed.
Conclusion
SEO citations are when your business name, address, and phone number are listed on other websites such as website directories. These citations then help to make your business seem more trustworthy which then increases your SEO ranking.
We hope this guide has helped you understand all about what SEO citations are.
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