Author: Ryan Walsh

Date: 13/03/2025

 

Introduction

We are now in an era where the buzzwords are “AI” and “Machine Learning”- as such, we start to think, well, will robots eventually take over the world?

So, when we start to detail a plan for how a business will improve its local SEO, we may begin to think that building business citations sounds a bit, well, basic.

But is it?

But, here in 2025, although we are in an era of quantum computing and AI, the humble business citation still has its place. It’s still a crucial part and a building block in improving a business’s local SEO.

In this article, we will explain precisely what business citations are and why it’s vital that your NAP details are consistent. We also address the crucial detail of how many business citations a business need.

 

What are the ranking factors?

Ranking factors are the aspects of your company website, both onsite and offsite that Google uses to determine how strong your company’s search engine optimisation is. There are widely thought to be more than 200 ranking factors, but they are not all worth the same. Therefore, different ranking factors are given different weightings regarding their importance to a company’s SEO.

Quality links are widely considered at the top of the tree; less important ranking factors could be, for example, if you have well-written alt text. However, NAP is essential to improve a business’s local search engine optimisation, as it provides key information about your business, such as name, address, and phone number.

What exactly is a local business citation, and why is it important?

A local business citation can be gained from websites like Yell and Thomson Local.

Therefore, the page mentions your company’s contact details and name URL in plain text.

Googlebot then crawls and indexes this work and page, reinforcing where your business is based, its phone number and name. Now, let’s say you have 100 business NAP citations consistent and 100% the same; this gives Google’s algorithms confidence that your business is based at that location, the phone number is correct, and your company’s name is correct.

It solidifies and reinforces that your business is where it says it is.

Where can we get these local citations / NAPs?

We recommend getting local business citations from quality websites. For example, we recommend getting business citations from

Wales.gov, Wales Online, Yell, Thomson Local, and Facebook business pages here in Wales.

Again, the NAP citation must be consistent.

 

What exactly does a local citation look like?

The central core aspect of a business citation is getting the business name, address, and phone number on the page. This is important; that’s what NAP details are.

However, to strengthen your local SEO, you should do the following:

– Add a bespoke business description on that page
– Add a to your home page
– Add your company logo

Which websites should we start building business citations?

So, start with the most important first, in our view it’s the following:

Make sure NAP is in plain text or highlighted using schema (a type of structured language) on your website

So, first things first, before you even go building business citations, make sure you have NAP details on your company website.

This should be your company’s Name, address and phone number; this should be written in plain text. It should also be on the Contact Us page and in the footer.

 

Google Business

Then, set up a Google Business profile.

This shouldn’t take too long, but add as much information about your business as possible.

Ensure you add NAP information, the company website address (the homepage), and the logo.

Place your business in the right business category. Also, make sure you add opening hours; update this if the opening hours change. Lastly, this is important: you add a unique business description.

Consistent Data

Making sure that your company’s NAP information is 100% consistent across, for example, Facebook Business Page, business citations, and Google Business is crucial.

If 70% of your business citations say a new address, the remainder an old address, this can cause “conflicting business citations”.
This then confuses Google’s algorithms about where the business is or its phone number.

For example, you might have a lot of business citations that cite your old address, not your new address- this is an example of conflicting business citations. So, in a nutshell, all business citations must match perfectly.

 

How many business citations do we need?

As with all things to do with search engine optimisation, it’s not too much about quantity. It’s all about quality. So sure, the more quality citations, the better; however, this shouldn’t come at the cost of quality. So, build quality business citations, such as those on Business Wales.

Build business citations on Wales Online if your business is based in Wales. Then, build business pages for social media websites like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Again, ensure all the company NAP information is consistent and current.

 

Will we need to keep updating our business citations?

Yes, most definitely. Otherwise, this is a common problem in SEO, so many businesses obtain conflicting business citations. So, you must keep your company details up to date.

For example, if your business relocates, even just down the road, you must update all your business citations.

 

How vital are NAP/business citations when improving a business’s local SEO?

They are crucial; for a very long time, Google’s algorithm has used them as one of the core ways of working out where the company is based.

For example, suppose you have 140 business citations stating your business is located in a light industrial unit in Cardiff. In that case, this gives Google confidence that you are located in that business park.

Therefore, Google will have less confidence if you have a start-up company with no business citations, just the business address on the Contact Us page.

 

Would you recommend automated citation / NAP building?

We would say that we should build business citations manually at this agency. We say this because you, as the business or the marketing company, must choose quality business citations relevant to your business sector.

For example, if you run a solicitors practice, you should seek quality business citations from websites that offer business citations to solicitors.

However, the key detail to remember is quality. All business citations you build should come from quality websites with high DA scores; that’s domain authority.

 

How we can help:

We are an SEO agency based in Cardiff’s city centre.

If your business needs help and advice on improving your SEO, contact us today.