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If you’ve been providing listing management services to small businesses for any length of time, you surely understand the power of citations. Citations have been a local ranking factor for many years now, and are an integral part of a wide-ranging SEO strategy. But the fact that citations are ever-present in local SEO also makes it easy to lose focus on their many benefits. Here’s why we love citations at Advice Local – and want to make it as easy as possible for you to build them.
Benefits of Local Citations for Small Businesses and Brands
Are you unsure of the benefits of local citation building, or need to articulate to your clients exactly why their business needs them? Just consider the following reasons.
Local Citation Management Is Critical for SEO
Every local SEO strategy for small business clients needs local citations. Also called local search citations or SEO citations by some in the industry, these mentions on authoritative directories directly help companies improve their organic search placement. And while Google is often reluctant to discuss SEO factors, industry experts like those at Search Engine Journal indicate that the search engine uses local citations as a ranking signal in the local pack and in localized organic results.
Citations Help You Build a Diverse Link Profile
To increase your clients’ local presence and future-proof search results for algorithm updates, diversifying link profiles is essential. Citation building may seem like a fairly limited strategy on the surface, yet it actually lets you get featured on directories, review platforms, local community sites, specialized vertical directories and more. You may recall that in our questions to ask before hiring a citation builder we recommended checking both the quality and diversification of a distribution network.
Local Citations Are Vital for Hyperlocal Search Marketing
Citation building also ties into one of our favorite small business strategies – hyperlocal SEO. Hyperlocal is a particularly effective method right now, as Google is prioritizing proximity as one of its key search metrics. At Advice Local, businesses listed with us actually get a free listing on BubbleLife and a premium Judy’s Book listing. In addition, we also provide the option to get listed on Nextdoor within our system. These services let you drill down to highly specific geographical areas, delivering targeted search results.
Citations Are Adaptable to Changing Circumstances
Things change, and your clients may need to modify certain aspects of their businesses fairly frequently. From changing locations or opening a new branch, adjusting hours of operation and updating photos, listings will definitely require adjustment. Unlike many other types of backlinks, citations can be amended with minimal disruption. In fact, using our real-time listings management, you can find and fix inaccurate citations for a local business and keep the important details updated.
More Reasons to Love Local Citations
- Build Reputation – Accurate citations on quality platforms act as trust signals for search engines and consumers, showing credibility for a business.
- Improve Discoverability – Consumers are more inclined to search for businesses while in close proximity to their location. Focus on local citations to take advantage of mobile searches.
- Deliver Low-Cost, Converting Traffic – By placing a company listing on a variety of business listings, your client can reach targeted consumers interested in the products and services they have to offer.
Expert Citation Building Services for Agencies and Local Marketers
Advice Local provides top-quality listing management and develops citation building tools for agencies and brand partners. We make building your local business clients’ citations and growing their search visibility easy. To try our local presence management dashboard for yourself, call (214) 310-1356 or request a demo now.