Citations from Around the World

Building your popularity is an important component of local SEO, and the first place to start is through citations.

What are local citations, and what do they mean?

A citation is a reference of your company on another website that does not include a link. Citations that detail your NAP are important for local SEO.

Structured citations on authoritative websites are of special significance to us. To put it another way, we want to see our NAP structured in a way that allows Google and Bing to recognize that this is a company listing (and the NAP data) on websites that they trust to provide this kind of information.

The use of citations is crucial in assessing prominence and relevance. A couple of them on well-known, reputable websites will assist build assurance about who you are, where you’re based, and what you have to offer.

In most circumstances, you may get citations by going to listing websites and creating a profile for your firm. Some of the big ones will be charged, while others will be free, and some will use a premium model in which you can pay extra to be prominently promoted. In most cases, ranking higher in a business listing will not result in increased SEO value.

What is the best way to locate my current local citations?

Before we construct any new citations, we must first locate the ones we already have. Citations that are wrong, partial, or just inconsistent can cause Google and Bing to become confused, thus those that are incorrect should be corrected or eliminated.

We can locate our citations in a variety of ways. The simplest methods are to conduct a manual search or to use a tool (or two).

Manual searching isn’t as difficult as it appears. Bowler Hat, a local SEO firm, has an amazing step-by-step tutorial.

You have a few options if you wish to use a tool. Moz Local features a free search tool that makes it simple to find what you need. There are other free trial options from Whitespark and BrightLocal, but you’ll have to pay for full data access (payment also unlocks other local SEO tools).

com
co.uk
com
co.uk
com
net
co.uk
com
city-listings.co.uk
co.uk
co.uk ( Yahoo )
cylex-uk.co.uk
independent.co.uk
thesun.co.uk
com
com
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
com/directory/uk/
com/en
co.uk
com
apple.com (Apple Maps)
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
bt.com
com
co.uk
co.uk
net
uk-local-search.co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
co.uk
com
co.uk

Remember that there are many other citation sources available, and you should focus on the ones that are most relevant to your industry. We recommend Whitespark’s excellent guide to the most important citation sources by industry (the page defaults to the US; select the UK tab and your industry from the dropdown list), Moz’s details of the UK local search ecosystem, and SEO Mark’s citation guide for more inspiration.

You can also use citation-building tools like Yext or Whitespark (among other local tasks they help with).

Where do you think the search engines will find your site? A dentist, for example, would have different citations than a restaurant. Also, keep an eye out for local directories. What are the most commonly used local listings in your area?

Don’t forget about your social media profiles! These are more customizable brand citations with the added benefit of potentially generating traffic. Instead of creating a profile with no audience or capacity to participate, try to create an active, community-driven profile that can serve as a resource.

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even SnapChat are all excellent platforms to consider.

How to use reviews to establish trustworthiness

According to a study conducted by SearchEngineJournal, over 91 percent of consumers actively read online company evaluations. It’s important to take care of your online reputation.

Furthermore, Google is putting a greater emphasis on the relevance of reviews. In the more thorough information section (known as a knowledge box) under the search results, they now use evaluations from third-party sites. Getting five-star reviews can help you stand out from the crowd, and many local SEO professionals feel that review signals (such as quantity and diversity) are used to rank local results.

Of course, providing a fantastic experience for your consumers is the best approach to receive excellent ratings. Here are some tips for making the most of your online reviews, assuming you’re currently doing so.

Your website’s reviews

If you’re fortunate enough to have a mechanism on your website for users to submit reviews, this can be an effective approach to send review data to Google. Feefo and Trustpilot are two examples of tools you can use.

Using Schema to markup reviews on your website is an excellent method to convey details about your reviews to search engines. However, there are certain restrictions – for example, you can’t use Schema on reviews from third-party sites.

Reviews on Google My Business

If you have ten or more reviews on your Google My Business listing in the last calendar year, you may receive a star rating in local results. This will demonstrate that you are a trustworthy supplier while also making your listing stand out on the page.

Google has some suggestions for getting reviews on your listing. One of the most important lessons is to respond to your Google My Business reviews; this shows that you care about your customers and encourages others to leave evaluations since they know they will be read. When it comes to Google reviews, there are specific criteria as to what is and is not permitted.

Getting More Positive Feedback

Your top goal should be encouraging and monitoring reviews on Google My Business, as well as having reviews on your own site and properly marking them up with Schema.

You’ll need a method to get more reviews and make leaving them as simple as possible:

Asking your current client base whether they’d want to post a review is a great place to start (sometimes an incentive can work wonders).
Set up systems to encourage new consumers to leave reviews on your website or on the platform of their choosing. This may, for example, be on a thank you page or in a confirmation email.
If you’re concerned that the process will be too tough, offer assistance to your customers. Consider building a page on your website that explains how to leave a review in straightforward, step-by-step directions.
On your website, you may offer a prominent link to your reviews with a header like “check out our online reviews.”
Give consumers a cause to evaluate your site – outstanding customer service or value, going above and beyond the competition, or assisting customers in achieving their objectives.
You should also study some instructions on how to encourage more reviews for ideas.
Also, keep in mind that you will receive some unfavorable feedback! Just make sure you have a strategy in place for dealing with them.

More Resources: THE BENEFITS OF LOCAL SEO OPTIMIZATION

More Resources: How to Make Your Google My Business Listing Completely Optimized