LOCAL SEO MARKETING FOR LAWYERS
What Is A Citation?
A citation is when you have your business name, address, or phone number listed online. Any of your business information is considered a citation and does not need to link to your website.
The “NAP” Citation
The most common way local business citations are presented are in the NAP format, which stands for Name, Address, and Phone. It is really important that your information be consistent across the web. Although search engines are getting better at understanding that “st” is the same as “street” in an address. You should strive to make sure your address is exactly the same across the web.
Why Are Citations Important For Local Businesses?
These citations are important for helping search engines like Google & Bing find and rank businesses online. Citations are one of the major local ranking factors for businesses the more quality citations you have the better. There are several factors that go into a quality citation.
Citations VS Links
Citations = When your business information is referenced online.
Links = When someone links from their website to yours.
Common Citation Problems
Their are several ways that a citation can be incorrect. The most common citation problems you will find are:
Old addresses and phone numbers being indexed
Typos or incorrect names
Duplicate directory listings
If your law firm had old office locations, then you might have an issue that your current location is not being recognized because of the older addresses. You might have to go through and change certain info so that it all matches up. Now if you have never moved, then this shoudlnt be an issue, yet a lot of lawyers move around and have multiple offices, so this can become a real issue and might be why your law firm isnt better ranked in the local Google map results.