A direct, step-by-step process for auditing and building local citations correctly, from defining your canonical business information to setting a recurring review schedule.
This is a direct, executional walkthrough for auditing your existing local citations and building new ones correctly. No commentary on how much citations matter is included here — just the process itself.
Before checking or submitting anything, write down the exact, single version of your business information that will be used everywhere going forward. Decide on every formatting detail in advance: "Street" versus "St.", suite or unit number format, a local phone number versus a toll-free number, and whether your business name includes "LLC," "Inc.," or similar suffixes. Save this as a reference document. Every listing, new or corrected, should match this exactly.
Search your business name, and separately your business name plus your city, to find every place your business is currently mentioned online. For each listing found, record three things: the platform name, the exact name/address/phone as currently listed, and whether it matches your canonical information from Step 1.
Citation tracking tools such as BrightLocal, Whitespark, or Moz Local can automate this discovery process across a larger number of directories than manual searching typically surfaces. Identify three categories of listings: accurate and matching, listed but with incorrect or outdated information, and duplicate listings for the same business at the same address.
Before adding any new citations, correct existing inaccurate ones. Log into each platform where information doesn't match your canonical version and update it directly. For platforms with no direct account access, most have a "suggest an edit" or business claim process; use it and specify the exact correction needed.
Duplicate listings for the same address, often created when a business changes ownership, moves, or is re-added by a third party, should be merged or removed rather than left active. On Google Business Profile specifically, use Google's duplicate reporting process within the platform to request a merge. Leaving duplicates active can split reviews and ranking signals between two listings for the same physical business.
Claim and fully complete your profile on these platforms first, in this order: Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Facebook, Bing Places, and Yelp. For each, complete every available field: hours, categories, business description, and photos, not just the minimum required name, address, and phone number.
Identify two to three directories specific to your industry, examples include Avvo for legal services, Healthgrades for medical practices, or Houzz for home services and contractors, and submit accurate listings to those as well. Industry-specific directories are typically higher-value than generic, general-purpose directory submissions.
Check that your own website displays the identical name, address, and phone number as your canonical version, typically in the footer and on a dedicated contact page. Inconsistency on your own site undermines the consistency you're building everywhere else.
Citation information drifts over time: phone numbers change, businesses relocate, platforms update their own formatting. Review your top 10 to 15 citations quarterly to confirm they still match your canonical information, and re-run a broader citation search every six to twelve months to catch any new duplicate or inconsistent listings that have appeared.
For a single-location business, an initial audit and correction of the top 15 to 20 citations typically takes 3 to 5 hours of focused work. Ongoing quarterly reviews take significantly less time once the initial cleanup is complete.
Your finalized canonical business name, address, and phone number formatting, login access to your Google Business Profile and any other platforms you've previously claimed, and a list of two to three industry-specific directories relevant to your business category.
Manual submission and correction works well for the initial top 10 to 15 platforms, where quality control matters most. Paid tools become more useful for discovering and monitoring citations across a much larger number of directories than would be practical to check by hand.
For the broader context on why this process matters for how AI systems evaluate your business, see citations as AI entity verification signals.
How We Work
