Why Your Local Business Listings Are Dependent Upon Citations
The citations are a key ranking factor and are seen as the ‘new’ links:
In the Local algorithm, links can still bring direct traffic from the people who click on them. But the difference is that these “links” aren’t always links; sometimes they’re just an address and phone number associated with a particular business! In the Local algorithm, these references aren’t necessarily a “vote” for a particular business, but they serve to validate that business exists at a particular location, and in that sense, they make a business more relevant for a particular search.
Citations are becoming increasingly important for local SEO and Google Places optimisation as Google puts more relevance on Places Search which merges local search results with organic results. Citations are a validation in Google’s eyes that your online business is a valuable part of the online local community.
For Local SEO purposes, there is a lot of evidence to show that having local citations for your business is considered to be one of the most important factors in getting your website to rank higher in Google’s local results. Local search expert David Mihm polls SEO experts annually to find out their thoughts on Local Search Ranking Factors*.
Top 17 places for UK citations:
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