NAP consistency and local citations

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. A citation is any mention of those details on another website: a directory, a review site, a map service, a chamber of commerce page. NAP consistency means those details are the same everywhere your business is listed.

It is unglamorous work, and it is the foundation the rest of local SEO sits on.

Why it matters

Google builds its picture of your business from many sources, not only your profile. When the sources agree, it can be confident the business is real and where it is. When they disagree, it has to guess, and a business that is hard to be sure about is a weaker candidate for the map pack.

The same is true of AI assistants. A model describing your business is reading those same sources, and mismatches are a common reason a good business is left out of an answer. I cover that in how ChatGPT decides which local business to recommend.

What inconsistency looks like

• “Smith & Sons Plumbing” in one place, “Smith and Sons Plumbing Inc.” in another
• “Suite 4” on the website, “Ste. 4” on Yelp, no suite on Apple Maps
• A phone number from before you changed provider
• An old address on a directory that scraped your details years ago
• A tracking number on some listings and the main line on others

Small differences in abbreviation rarely cause harm. Different phone numbers, different addresses, or a business name that has changed are the ones to fix.

How much it counts today

Less than it did when directory lists were a main part of SEO, and still more than most people assume. It is not a tactic that moves you up on its own. It is closer to a precondition: it stops you losing ground, and it makes the other work count.

How to check it

1. Decide the correct version of your name, address, phone and website, and write it down. Use your Google Business Profile as the reference.
2. Search your business name, your phone number and your address, and note every listing that comes up.
3. Check the main ones directly: Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, Facebook, and the directories that matter in your trade.
4. Record each mismatch against the reference.

How to fix it

Claim or sign in to each listing and correct it. Where you cannot, most directories have a form to request a change. Some data comes from aggregators that feed many sites, so a correction can take weeks to spread.

Start with the highest-traffic listings, and do the wrong phone numbers and addresses first. Do not pay for a service that promises hundreds of submissions. Quantity is not the goal, and low-quality directories add little.

Building citations that help

Beyond fixing errors, a few new listings are worth having: the chamber of commerce, trade associations, supplier directories and local press. Each is an independent source confirming that you exist in a particular place, which is the point of a citation.

Make the website agree

Put your name, address and phone in the footer or on the contact page as text, exactly as they appear on the profile. Then every source, including your own site, tells the same story.

Tidying citations is a regular part of the local SEO work I do. It pairs with the profile work in what is the Google map pack.