We recently put together a list of 70 local citation sites. Think of it as a sort-of Konami code for your local SEO efforts.
“What does that even mean, Dustin?”
I’m glad you asked.
Did you spend the halcyon days of your childhood throwing your Nintendo controller at the wall because you kept dying in Contra and Gradius? I know I did. Thankfully, those controllers were very hardy. I imagine they were actually bulletproof. In my mind, I see a scene like in one of those moves where the hero gets shot, but the travel-sized Bible in his shirt pocket takes the bullet and he’s fine. I’m pretty sure a Nintendo controller would block the bullet just as effectively.
The walls weren’t as forgiving as the Nintendo controller, though. And neither were my parents. Strangely, they didn’t want me throwing an expensive electronic device around when I got frustrated.
Thankfully, there was a solution to my frustration: The Konami code. It provided the 30 extra lives I needed to make it through at least four levels (of eight, sadly) of Contra before I gave up forever. I’m not very good at Contra.
You can be better than me, though. At least when it comes to your local SEO results. Kelsey McCormick, our local search specialist, put together a list of 70 citation sites for your local search needs.
It’s exactly like a Konami code for local SEO.
CHECK OUT THE LOCAL CITATION LIST.
The Value of Local Citations
Whenever your business name, address, and phone number appear on a website, even without a link, you’ve earned a citation. According to local search expert David Mihm, citation-related factors make up 25% of his estimated top 20 local search ranking factors.
So, yeah. They’re kind of a big deal.
Citations can be found on online, yellow pages directories, chamber of commerce pages, local business association pages, and many other places on the web.
The problem is, many businesses can’t find their best citation opportunities, so they miss out on an important local search ranking factor.
Businesses with more relevant, high-quality citations will probably rank higher on Google and Bing than a businesses that never bothered to care about citations in the first place.
If you own a business in a smaller niche, like physical therapy or landscaping, local citations are even more powerful.
From Moz:
Citations from well-established and well-indexed portals (i.e., Superpages.com) help increase the degree of certainty the search engines have about your business’s contact information and categorization. To paraphrase former Arizona Cardinals’ coach Dennis Green, citations help search engines confirm that businesses “are who we thought they were!”
Citations also validate that a business is part of a community. It’s hard for someone to fake membership in a chamber of commerce or a city or county business index, or being written about in a local online newspaper or popular blog.
Citations and links from these kinds of websites can dramatically improve your local search engine rankings.”
Directories and other citation-ready sites are everywhere, and they’re not all created equal.
That’s why we put this list together. So you can build quality citations without subjecting yourself to spam sites and irrelevant directories.
What Makes a Good Citation?
According to this study from BrightLocal, there three most important factors for citations are:
- Industry Relevance
- Local Relevance
- Domain Authority
Industry relevance is more important, according to BrightLocal and Search Engine Land, than Domain Authority or local relevance. Though we can’t downplay the value of local relevance or Domain Authority, either.
Curious about a site’s Domain Authority? The Mozbar can help you figure it out.
Relevance is important for citations, either on the local level or the industry level. You also want to avoid spam directories.
There are so many directories on the web, though, that I wouldn’t blame you for throwing your figurative controller at the wall.
That’s why we put together this resource. So you can plug in the cheat code, grind through the process, and get local search ranking results.
Now get building. And stop throwing your controller around. Do you think those things are cheap?!
GET THE LIST OF 70 CITATION SITES HERE.
Question: Which video game from your childhood left you feeling only blind rage and emptiness? And why did you keep playing it? Let me know in the comments.
About Dustin Verburg