What are Citations?
In SEO, Citations are references to the Name, Address and Phone No. (NAP) of a business on external websites.
For Example
Vandana Villa
House No. 3497, Near Tulad Devi Temple, Chaul, Alibag-Revadanda Rd, Alibag, Maharashtra 402203
09372854510
Make sure the NAP details are exactly as appearing in the Google Business Listing
Citations can be structured (where the details of NAP appear exactly in the order of Name, Address and Phone No.) or unstructured (where the order of NAP details is interchanged eg. Address, Name, Phone No.)
Note: Structured citations are much more valuable as compared to unstructured ones.
Types of Citations?
- General – Citations on generic business directories.
- GEO relevant – Citations on the local websites, blogs, & directories of your city.
- Niche Based – Citations on websites of the same category. eg. For Vacation Rental Properties, citations on Travel Websites, Booking Websites, etc.
How do Citations Help Improve your Rankings?
Google wants to provide the best experience to its users, and so it focuses on ranking businesses that it can trust.
In order to build trust Google not only considers the information that you provide on your Google Business Profile but also looks for the accuracy & consistency of the same information on other high authority websites.
Citations basically help convince Google about the existence and certainty of your Vacation Rental Business.
How long does it take to expect results?
Like any other SEO strategy, it can take up to a few months to truly see the impact of citations on your STRs Google My Business Listing.
The key is to stay patient.
Points to Remember while Building Citations
- NAP Consistency
- Choose Quality Websites Only
- NAP Structure
- Citation Building is a Continuous and long term process
- Citations alone can’t help grow your business, but combined with other Local SEO efforts can be a home run!
