Importance of Accurate Google + Local Page Listings

In this time and age people rely more and more on the internet to search for people as well as locate stores, business place or anything remotely related to businesses they deal with. And for this purpose it is vital for businesses to understand the importance of working with the best online business directories which will then take care of feeding accurate information about the local business working with them so that consumers are driven to the right location and so the business gets proper listing on search engines.

Google My Business is a feature offered by Google which is aimed at small local businesses to help customers locate their exact location and other important information such as their phone number, online store, reviews of their business etc.

Google My Business feature specially benefits small businesses, boutiques, food outlets etc so when shoppers search directly for them or rather similar, their information shows up for the customers so they can reach them with ease. One thing that every business must consider and take very seriously is the bad affect of entering wrong or old information about your business on data providing websites. If incorrect information is fed into a data providing platform your business will not only miss out on new customers but also have a bad reputation in the market.

What is NAP and its Importance in  Accurate Local Page Listings

NAP means Name, Address and Phone Number which is the most important factor for SEO and a well ranked business as far as online business is concerned. It helps in tracking businesses and enhancing SEO search of markets and businesses. Many local businesses don’t understand that if feeding correct NAP data  it can help them increase traffic to their business then feeding erroneous data can cause the business heaps of trouble for a long time.

How to Use NAP

Search engines such as Google and Bing will list reliable and valid business on the internet by scanning and gathering information from everywhere throughout the web even Google+ page. It is important that the Name, Address and Phone Number you enter on your main website is the same as the one on other data providing platforms such as Localeze, Infogroup, Whitepages etc. The most essential part to learn here is that if your information mismatches in any of the platforms then it will hamper your listings on the search engine. Directory submission service provider such as Axciom and Localeze can help businesses obtain exposure and consistency across many directories. These service providers are also responsible to pass on accurate information fed by the business.

Remember, even a tiny error such as misuse of period or hyphen can manipulate your listings on the search engine so make sure to feed in correct information that is up to date on your website and also on data providing websites with a format that you’d like displayed all across the web

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Many businesses use micro-formats and take help from service provider such as schema.org who assists businesses in adding data to the HTML pages so they are tracked and recognized by most important search engines resulting in strong listings. To learn more on how you can format your NAP you can visit schema.org and enhance your business listings.

Along with providing accurate information it is also imperative that your business’ web presence remain consistent. If you do not have a consistent web presence, in that case Google may not be capable to gage reviews or feedback from other websites about your business. Reviews of your business and consistency makes a place for your business on Google listings, so if you mess up even slightly, your Google listing will be drastically affected.

Citations and their Importance in Accurate Local Page Listings

Citations are published or unpublished reference that helps people locate the source of information. Google uses automated programming rather than manually collecting business data to rank them on the search engine. How does Google rank your business? By tracking and scanning mentions of your business name, your name, Free Phone Number, website URL and remotely anything to do with your business. Google then compares or cross checks that information with other data providing companies and directories to check the accuracy of the record. So in simple words, Google ranks your business on the basis of citations of your business information on the web, the consistency and accuracy of the information.

Factors That Affect Your  Ranking

Business data providers such as Localeze,Infogroup,Acxiom and business data receivers such as  Bing,Yellowpages, GPS navigation system, mobile applications etc go through complicated but automated procedures to keep the barter going. To get an idea of thie complexity of these relationships below I use a diagram developed by David Mihm Inc and SEO Moz. I would also refer you to their excellent article on accurate local listings.

The traditional method as to how data is provided to data receives is automatically but it is NOT on a real-time basis. All data providers and receivers have their own time management system but most data providers take at least one month to transfer business data to a system from the time the business information is initially fed into the data providing source. Now, the real problem arises when a business owner feeds in incorrect information and the wrong information is passed on to several data platforms. However, this situation can be avoided if accurate NAP is fed into the system initially.You need to understand that anytime you share your business information on data providing platforms such as Localeze they transfer your business data to several other web platforms and just in case you enter an incorrect phone number or name it’s a dead end and even if you decide to go on after a few days to edit the information, your business will be registered as another listing on that platform without you having to realise it. The annoying part is that most data collecting websites don’t usually replace the business data with the edited version but will create a duplicate listing with mismatched information which will result as multiple listings.

There will be multiple problems in queue when this situation occurs:

• Research Problem
• Data providing platforms transfer data like virus and it is likely that each online platform may receive different set of listing.
• If incorrect information is fed, it will get extremely difficult to clean up or track the source of the goof-up.

One of the top thought leaders on citations  Nyagoslav Zhekov has explained a scenario of data mismatch and a perfect example of bad NAP in an article at Whitespark.ca which will help you understand what serious rut you could be under if you feed incorrect information about your business to a data providing source.

Where should you feed your business NAP fo accurate local listings?

To get local listings, it is wise to enter your NAP in local and reliable directories such as Yelp, Citysearch, 411.com, Foursquare.

If you want a strong  local listing on the internet make sure to follow the most effective rule, the rule of accurate NAP. Good luck!
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