Glossary

Citations

Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites, usually directories like Yelp, BBB, Yellow Pages, and industry-specific portals. They are a foundational local SEO signal, telling Google your business exists and where to find it.

Why NAP consistency matters

Name, address, and phone must match exactly across every citation. Adrythm LLC at one site, Adrythm Marketing at another, and Adrythm Inc at a third confuses Google and weakens local rankings. Same applies to address formatting like Street vs St and suite numbers.

Run an audit at least once a year. Updates take 30 days to propagate, so fixing inconsistencies now pays off in next quarter's rankings.

Top directories for service businesses

Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Yelp, BBB, Facebook, Yellow Pages, Angi, HomeAdvisor, and industry-specific portals (e.g. Healthgrades for medical, Avvo for legal). That covers about 80 percent of citation authority.

Beyond those, citation quantity matters less than quality and consistency. A handful of authoritative listings beats hundreds of low-quality directory submissions, which can actually look spammy to Google.

Ready to talk?

We will run a free citation audit comparing your NAP across 40 top directories and flag every inconsistency along with the priority order to fix them.

Book a Free Strategy Call