An important part of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is building citations for your company. A citation is a mention of your business online, including the name of your business, a phone number, your location, and a link to your website.
Citations are important because they make it easy for potential customers to find your business and make a connection. Not only do citations allow customers who are specifically searching for your company to find your contact information, but they also increase the chances of new customers discovering your website. Creating citations for your business can increase your local and general search ranking on Google, thereby increasing your brand’s visibility and your website’s traffic.
How Can Citations Benefit My Local Business?
Citations are especially valuable for local businesses, because they allow customers in your region to discover your company. When customers perform a Google search of businesses similar to yours, or products/services that your company provides, local citations can increase your ranking so that your information appears higher on search engine result pages. Even on Google maps, for example, if a customer searches for “(your company type) near me” or a search corresponding to similar businesses in your city, local citations allow your company to appear higher in the results. This provides your business with more visibility and increases the chances that customers will visit your brick and mortar location.
Creating citations also allows your company to maintain a competitive edge over its local competitors. Citations are increasingly becoming a marketing standard, which is why it is important to create as many listings for your business as possible, in order to ensure that your ranking is higher than that of your competition.
Companies that are resistant to the importance of online citations will suffer significantly, as online searches are one of the most common methods that new customers use to discover businesses. Having your company listed online with various citations, grants your company credibility in addition to visibility, thereby increasing consumer confidence in your brand.
How Can Citations Benefit My Online Business?
There is a common misconception that if your business is mostly or primarily run online, then local citations are not beneficial and do not increase your relevance; this, however, is not the case. One of the greatest advantages of having online citations for your company is the opportunity to create a network of links.
Those who have studied SEO know the importance of creating links in order to rank higher through the Google search result algorithm. Online citations that include links to your website can help your company’s overall general search ranking by strengthening your domain authority. Websites that have a lot of local links, for example, will perform more competitively for classic search terms, therefore increasing the brand’s overall visibility outside of local search results. This is because search engines favour websites that have a lot of links, as this is a signifier of a legitimate website.
Besides increasing your company’s SEO through link building, having local citations for your business can increase your visibility to an audience that your competitors may not have access to. Even if you do not have a brick and mortar location, having a local citation for the city in which your company is based allows it to rank higher through searches performed by local customers. This gives you a competitive edge to a specific audience.
Lastly, and equally as important, whether you own a local business, an online business, or a hybrid of both, having citations for your company through various online listings can help you increase the traffic on your website. Certain listing companies have their own audience who trusts their authority. For example, having your restaurant listed on TripAdvisor, your wedding venue listed on TheKnot, or your online retail store listed on ShopSafe grants your company credibility and can increase your website’s traffic from customers who frequent these listing services.
If your business is solely online, link citations are especially great opportunities to market certain products/services, and as well as other pages on your website.
What is the best way to create citations?
Citations can be created through various website listing services, such as YellowPages or Yelp, as well as other places on the web. Specialised companies like PBNButler can build citations for you that are designed to maximise your company’s SEO, increasing both its local search ranking as well as general search ranking. Investing in proper citations can significantly increase your website’s traffic and make it easier for new customers to find your business, since experts are knowledgeable about what online listings can best benefit your company’s specific needs. Whether you own a local, online, or hybrid business, citations can help your company rank higher on search results, grant your brand credibility, and allow loyal and new customers alike the opportunity to make a connection with your brand.