What is Local Citation?
Citations are considered a great help to search engines to verify the existence, legitimacy, and trustworthiness of the business. In simple SEO terms, a local citation is any mention of the company online. This could be on an industry-specific site, a blog, a business director, or any other local website.
Citations are useful for two main things:
- Ranking higher for local search queries (maybe)
- Helping people discover your business online
Citations, by providing Google with a credible source of information about your business, help to rank your Google Local Pack Listing. Citations inform Google that your business exists and how it can be corroborated from multiple sources.
Local SEO citations might also feature:
- Company website
- Opening hours
- Business description/category
- Driving directions
- Images
- Links to social media profiles and
- Email address
Types of Local Citations
Local Citation building is beneficial for SEO because it helps Google and other search engines to trust the authenticity of the business and the accuracy of the information.
Types of Citations include:
- Structured Citations
- Unstructured Citations
Three factors value the Unstructured Citations:
- Location
- Industry relevance
- Website authority
Structured Citations
Structured citations are the most common type of local citation. A structured citation lists the name, address, and contact number of any business. The information of every company is displayed in the same way and the page is effectively designed around the data.
Unstructured Citations
A contextual mention of a business is called unstructured citations. This type of citation is usually seen in blog posts, forum posts, or as a result of press mentions. Information is not grouped together in this type of citation.
Components of Local Citation
The basic components of a citation are the company’s name, address, and contact numbers and a website link to the company's ’website. In addition, some of the citations may incorporate some or all of the following elements:
- Business categories
- Hours of operation
- Driving directions
- Business description
- Images
- Videos
- Payment forms accepted
- Geo-coordinates
- Reviews
- Owner responses
- Taglines
- Email addresses
- Fax numbers
- Alternate phone numbers
- Attributes
- Links to social and other forms of media
What is Directory Submission?
Directory submission means the practice of submitting a website URL and its details on the web in a directory under a particular category. Directory submission is an off-page factor that helps to optimize your webpage and improves your link building. There are different categories under which you can submit your website. These directories are similar to the phone directories which have a list of websites in each category.
There are three types of Directory Submissions:
Paid or Featured Web Listing
You will be paid for the submission of your website and your link will be improved within 24 hours
Free or Regular Web Listing
In this kind of Directory submission, no one charges for Directory Submission. There is no guarantee of the websites getting approved by the Administrator.
Reciprocal Regular Web Listing
When you activate Directory Link, a reciprocal link must be submitted to your site, at that time the Directory administrator will approve your link.
Importance of Directory Submission
Online directories display business information, logo, and link to your websites. An online directory is a submission-based online service. Online directories are also referred to as “citations” or citation sites. Directory submission is considered the basic aspect of Off-page optimization and helps in doing search engine optimization. Directory submission helps by increasing the page rank by building authority backlinks. Directory Submission is a big must for those who have just started blogging. Directory submission will lend you a helping hand in getting noticed.
Benefits of Directory Submission
Directory submission involves the submission of your site to a specific category of a web directory. There are some basic guidelines that most directories follow to approve a site into their database; Title, Description, Keywords, URL, Category, Email, and Site Content.
There are a number of benefits of having your site listed in an online directory. Some of those benefits are as under:
- Fast Indexing
- Higher Link Popularity
- Higher Page Rank
- Social Media Sharing
- More Traffic
- Brand Awareness
Online directories can be good for business and local searches. Directory submission is essential to digital marketing. There are millions of websites, and SEO effectively attracts new customers and consumers to your business.
