Doing business online? Search engines are the gatekeepers, and they want to know that you actually exist. Citation listings can help confirm your legitimacy.

Citations include any mention of your business on websites that are not your own, and typically consist of your business’s name, address, and phone number (collectively known as NAP). If you are a brand new business, citaton listings are integral to getting your footprint on the Internet. Even businesses that do not have a website can benefit, as long as they are operating from a physical location. By validating your existence with complete, corroboratve citatons, you improve your company’s local search results. Best practices target higher authority – or structured – directories first, such as Google, Bing, and Facebook, followed by mentions on secondary, or unstructured, sites such as news and media outlets and local blogs.