Local SEO is extremely important for small businesses that are targeting local users only. To improve your local SEO strategies, you may often end up using SEO citations for mentions of your website to your local area. It can be very helpful in quickly driving traffic to your website from quality leads.
Let us look at a common situation that many small business owners encounter when they bring their business online.
A dentist launches a new website to promote his business among online users in his local area. With relatively low knowledge of digital marketing, he ends up using lots of common dental keywords. His website receives significant web traffic which makes the dentist feel that the website is doing well.
In a few months he realizes that even though website traffic is not a problem, the website is not able to provide him with quality leads. By now he is also more aware of competitors and local SEO. The dentist realizes that a large chunk of his web traffic does not consist of local users because his website is not optimized to focus on local web traffic.
A website that has not been optimized for targeting the right audiences and market will end up in the search engine result page(SERP) of users for whom your website or products add no value. As a result, even if they visit your website, they would either leave too early or not have the ability to use your services.
Since running a website costs you money, your website must generate adequate leads that support higher revenue. Local citation services are useful in overcoming these challenges.
What is a local citation?
A local citation is any place online which displays your business’ name, address, and phone number (NAP). Some may even include your website (NAPW). These are critical pieces of information that can help anyone find your business.
Mostly, online directories tend to hold this information. The local citation sites list will vary based on the country or local area you are targeting. Common websites used by businesses around the world for structured citations include:
- Acxiom
- Localeze
- InfoGroup
- TripAdvisor
- Yelp
- Angie’s List
Some SEO specialists identify Google My Business and Apple Maps as citation websites too. While listing your business under these are crucial for local SEO, they are not citation websites but core search engines where your business is listed. They do not distribute your listing information to other websites.
In addition to the websites mentioned above, businesses are also utilizing articles for local citation services. This is because articles can help users understand details about the business. Alternatively, it can also include an in-depth review of a product or service by the business. This helps you address two problems at the same time, your website gets a citation and you can even enjoy a positive review of your product or service. You may come across the term ‘unstructured citation’ when referring to citations on blogs, articles, and online news sites.
A local citation checker helps you review the citations for your business. This helps you correct wrong citations and build new citations where required.
How to build citations for a business using article publishing?
In addition to listing your website on prominent citation websites, you can use articles to promote your business and encourage web traffic. Content will play an important role in gaining the attention of your target audience. The information provided through the article should add value in some way for your readers. The absence of quality content will reduce the efficacy of the SEO citations in that article.
A creative content creator will be able to provide you with impactful content that can capture your audience’s attention and get you more web traffic. When these articles are placed on websites with a good reputation, then search engines will use them to rank your business in the SERPs. By regularly posting valuable content for your readers on different websites you can greatly improve your local SEO through the citations on those articles. These citations also supplement your website’s backlinking requirements giving local SEO a further boost.
Benefits of local citations through articles
- Builds trust
Articles published on reputed websites can help readers verify the accuracy of information about your website. It also improves their trust in the brand and its products or services. This is also the reason why articles must publish clear and accurate information about your website. The right content can drive more users to read the article and visit your website.
- Improve online visibility
When a well-written article cites your website, it supports your local SEO efforts in many ways. Search engines can validate information on that article for backlinks, and the NAPW information available on the article. This helps them verify that your website is an authority in your industry for your local area. As a result, you gain better visibility on search engines.
- Drive more web traffic
When combined with a strong local SEO strategy, local citation services help you get higher rankings for local searches. This drives more people to your website. Additionally, users also visit your website through the articles with the local citations.
- Get more revenue from your website
The goal of most businesses who have an online website is to generate more revenue. This becomes possible when your website and business gets more citations and enjoy higher rankings on search engines.
Local citations are always helpful for your local SEO efforts. It is important to use relevant content that adds value for your readers when building local citations.