Last week we discussed how to complete a Google Business Profile audit. Since we’re all about helping local marketers and agencies support their local business and service area business clients’ places in search results, we’re going to discuss how to complete an audit of their business listings distributed around the web.
Three Methods for Conducting a Business Listing Audit
There are a few ways to conduct a business listing audit. We’re going to start with the most simple and go from there.
1. Run Our Online Visibility Report
Advice Local’s Online Visibility Report is one of the easiest ways to check the visibility of a local business on the top directories, data aggregators and mapping apps. Our free Online Visibility Report will also display if the business is voice search-ready.
2. Search the Business’ Name on Google
By searching the business’ name on Google (using quotation marks around the name), you will be able to identify the sites that mention the business. There’s likely to be a quantity of results to funnel through in order to spot the directories. You’ll need to click through to a directory to manually audit the business’ name, address, phone number and categories. For future reference, we recommend placing the links to these sources in a spreadsheet with the audit results.
3. Search the Business’ Address on Google
To ensure you find all mentions of the business online, you’ll also want to search by address. Searching this way will help you discover any inconsistencies in the business name. Plus, you’ll be able to spot other businesses sharing the address – businesses that may have been located there in the past.
We’ve just hit the high points in a citation audit. However, we have a citation audit and clean-up guide to walk you through each component of a citation audit.
Why Is a Citation Audit Important?
What makes a citation audit such a must-do? Just consider the NAP data. Inconsistencies in name, address and phone number info about a business on the web damages trust with search engines and consumers alike.
While the 2021 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey showed that citations are less important than they once were, they remain significant.
As an example, one of our Advice Local partners was having issues with Google automatically changing their client’s Google Business Profile (GBP) address back to an old one. Because the old address was listed in online directories, the business used postcard verification to confirm the new address. Despite this action, the new address continued to revert to the old automatically! This business hadn’t contracted with the agency for business listing management, and this was causing issues with the GBP and online visibility in the local pack. Today, the partner is having trouble getting Yelp to accept its new address, as the old address still reappears. So how influential are citations? We’ll let you decide for yourself.
Are You Helping Your Local Business Clients Get Found in Search Results?
Agencies and local marketers love our business listing management solution, and for good reason. Advice Local partners can:
- Run unlimited Baseline Reports. This report offers a great way to start a conversation with prospective clients.
- Add our lead generation widget to their website. Partners can offer a freebie to those that visit their website, and get leads they can follow up with.
- Use a landing page branded with their logo that allows prospects to run a free Online Visibility Report. This is an excellent option when a partner doesn’t want to integrate the widget on their website.
With the options mentioned above, all the leads generated populate in your Advice Local partner dashboard for your follow-up. These leads are yours – we do not contact them, and other partners have no access to view them.
How to Complete a Business Listing Audit & Why You Need To by @BernieColeman #SEO
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