Local Citation Building
Local Citations That Build
Trust With Google and Customers
Local citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number across the web — in directories, data aggregators, and local websites. Consistent citations tell Google your business is legitimate and established. Inconsistent citations tell Google something is wrong. We build and clean up citations so every mention of your business sends the right signal.
Overview
What citations are and why consistency matters so much.
A local citation is any online mention of your business's name, address, and phone number (NAP). These appear in directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages, data aggregators like Foursquare and Data Axle, industry directories, chamber of commerce sites, and local news sites.
Google uses citations as a trust signal — if your business information appears consistently across many sources, it validates that your business is real, established, and located where you say it is. But inconsistency — different phone numbers, different address formats, old locations — sends conflicting signals that suppress your local rankings. Citation building means creating new listings where you're missing them. Citation cleanup means fixing the inconsistent ones that exist.
What's Included
Everything you get.
Citation audit
A complete scan of your current citation landscape — where you're listed, where you're missing, and where your data is inconsistent or incorrect.
Data aggregator submissions
Your business submitted to the four major data aggregators (Foursquare, Data Axle, Neustar/Localeze, Acxiom) that feed hundreds of directories downstream.
Core directory listings
Manual submissions to the highest-authority local directories — Yelp, Yellow Pages, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Facebook, and industry-specific directories relevant to your business type.
NAP consistency cleanup
Existing listings with incorrect information corrected — old addresses removed, phone numbers standardized, duplicate listings suppressed or merged.
Industry directory targeting
Citations in directories specific to your industry — contractor directories, medical directories, legal directories — that carry additional relevance signals for your category.
Citation monitoring
Ongoing monitoring for new incorrect citations that appear and alerts when your listings are changed by third parties.
Why Sherwood
Why businesses choose us.
Cleanup first, build second
Building new citations on top of a messy existing citation profile doesn't help — it adds to the inconsistency. We audit and clean before we build.
Manual submissions for quality
Automated citation tools create listings that get rejected or come through with errors. We handle core citations manually to ensure they're accepted and accurate.
Integrated with your GBP
Your citation data matches your Google Business Profile exactly — the consistency that local SEO depends on.
Industry-specific targeting
We don't just submit to generic directories. Industry-specific citations carry more relevance weight and we research which ones matter for your business type.
Transparent deliverables
You receive a full spreadsheet of every citation created or corrected — the URL, the business data submitted, and the current status.
One-time or ongoing
Citation building can be a one-time project to establish your foundation or an ongoing service to maintain and expand your citation profile as you grow.
FAQ
Common questions.
How many citations do I need?
It depends on your competition. In some markets, 50 consistent citations is enough to outrank competitors. In others, 200+ are needed. We benchmark your top map pack competitors and target enough citations to match or exceed their citation authority.
Do all directories matter equally?
No. Authority varies significantly. Yelp, Google, Facebook, Apple Maps, and Bing Places carry the most weight. Data aggregators matter because they feed hundreds of downstream directories. Industry-specific directories matter more than generic ones for relevance signals.
What happens if I change my phone number or move locations?
Every citation needs to be updated — and it's a significant project. This is why citation consistency from the start matters. If you've already changed your information, we do a full audit and update every listing systematically.
Can duplicate listings hurt my rankings?
Yes. Multiple listings for the same business at the same address confuse Google and can suppress all versions of the listing. We identify duplicates and suppress or merge them as part of the citation cleanup process.
Also Offered
Related services.
Get Started
Free mockup.
No commitment.
Fill out the form and we'll build a real mockup of your site within 48 hours. No invoice. No pressure. Just a real design for your real business — before you spend a cent.