Citations are every place online that lists your business name, address, and phone. Here is why consistency matters, what you can do yourself for free, and when paying a company makes sense.
Citation management is one of those services that sounds technical and is actually simple. Because it is simple, you should understand it well enough to decide whether you want to pay for it. Here is the plain version, including the parts a vendor is not always eager to tell you.
What A Citation Is
A citation is any place online that lists your business name, address, and phone number: Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, Facebook, the Yellow Pages, industry directories, and dozens of data aggregators that feed all of them. Your business probably has citations you have never seen, created automatically from public records or old phone books.
Why Consistency Matters
Search engines cross-check those listings. When your phone number, suite number, or business name differs from one directory to the next, the engines trust your data less, and your profile tends to show up less. Customers see it too: an old number on one site sends calls to a disconnected line, and a duplicate listing splits your reviews across two profiles.
The Do-It-Yourself Version
You can claim and correct the listings that matter most yourself, for free:
- Google Business Profile
- Apple Business Connect
- Bing Places
- Yelp
- The one or two directories specific to your trade
Plan on a few hours the first time, plus an hour or two a quarter to check for changes and duplicates. If your business has never moved, never changed its phone number, and has one location, this may be all you need.
When Paying Makes Sense
- You moved, rebranded, or changed your phone number, and old data is still circulating.
- You have found duplicate listings and cannot get them removed.
- You have more than one location.
- Your time is worth more than the fee, and you want someone accountable for keeping it right.
What You Should Get For Your Money
- A list of the directories that were submitted or corrected, with links you can check.
- Duplicate suppression, not just new submissions.
- A monthly report showing what changed.
- A person you can call when something is wrong.
- A clear price, in writing, with no surprise add-ons.
Questions To Ask Any Vendor, Including Us
- Which directories exactly, and can I see the list?
- What happens to my listings if I cancel?
- How do I reach a person?
- What do you not control? The honest answer is that nobody controls Google’s decisions.
Our citation management service covers 70+ directories with duplicate suppression and monthly accuracy reports, and the price is on the page. If the do-it-yourself list above covers your situation, do that instead. We would rather you get it right than pay for something you do not need.