The 4 Best Local Citation Services For SEO

Serious about local SEO? If so, then you’ll want to know which local citation service you should be using to boost your brand visibility.

Great citation software will help you get listed across major websites faster, allowing you to focus on building your business rather than dealing with the hassles of adding the citations yourself.

Also, you’ll find that Local SEO software can ensure that your name, address, and phone number (NAP) is consistent across all web properties. That’s important if you want to rank well.

In this article, I’ll cover the best local citation services for the job.

The 4 Best Local Citation Services For SEO

Yext

Yext is a one-stop shop for Local SEO that empowers you to keep control of the info you want to share about your business. It also helps with customer service, online marketing, and reputation management.

The tool does all of that with the aid of several features:

• Knowledge Graph – Publish details about your business such as product offerings, store hours, curbside pickup options, and more. It’s the “single source of truth” for all the good things you want customers to know about your shop.
• Yext Pages – Optimizes your site for search. That’s how people will find it when they use Google to find businesses like yours using various keywords. Yext Pages will also optimize your site for Google Maps and voice assistants.
• Yext Knowledge Network – Keep people updated about your business from a single app. It’s a feature that eliminates the possibility of discrepancies from one property to another.
• Yext Analytics – Gain actionable insights that help you improve online marketing. With Yext Analytics, you can track clicks as well as conversions and follow the digital path that people take to become customers.
• Yext Answers – Answer questions posed by potential customers from content within your website. This is one of the most powerful features of the tool and it’s likely to reel in lots of prospects.

If you want to check out Yext, you’ll have to schedule a demo.

We have a complete review of Yext if you’d like more details.

Uberall Local Citation Services For SEO

Uberall is another Local SEO software solution that will help you plant citations all over the web. It also helps with reputation management and keeps store data up-to-date.

Here are a few of the features you’ll appreciate:

• Listings Management – Generate consistent local data across all properties. That’s important because your rank could suffer if your NAP isn’t exactly the same from one site to the other.
• Reputation Management – Monitor the comments that people post about your business online. This feature also handles review management for multiple locations.
• Brand Protection – Correct inaccurate info about your brand on the web. Uberall searches various sites and identifies inconsistencies that can affect your rank.
• Voice Search Optimization – Earn a great rank for voice search. This is more important for Local SEO than many business owners realize.
• Data Cleansing – Eliminate problematic data that can hurt your rank or reputation.

How much does it cost? Once again, there’s no concrete data on the site.

Uberall says it will put together a pricing package based on the needs of your business.

Check out our review of Uberall if you’d like to learn more about one of the best local citation services available.

BrightLocal Local Citation Services For SEO

“Local SEO made simple.” That’s the promise of BrightLocal.

BrightLocal offers three tools that will help you dominate local search:

• Rank Checker – Track local rankings on desktop, mobile, and maps. The tool will not only show you where you stand currently, but it will also show you how much your site has improved over time. That’s how you can justify the investment you make in the local citation software.
• Citation Building – Add citations to web properties that matter the most to your business. Additionally, BrightLocal will also ensure that you have a consistent NAP on all sites. The tool will also create Bing local listings, add GMB local listings, and remove duplicate citations.
• Citation Tracker – Monitor your citations to catch NAP issues. Additionally, BrightLocal will highlight the best spots for citations for your type of business. And perhaps best of all, the citation tracker enables you to “spy” on competitors.

BrightLocal offers several levels of pricing that range from $29 per month to $79 per month. You can also request custom pricing if you’ve got a big job in mind.

Take a look at our review of BrightLocal for more details.

RenderSEO Local Citation Services For SEO

Another example of Local SEO software that can help you with citations is RenderSEO. As with other tools, it also helps with reputation management and social media marketing.

Here’s a list of the features you’ll find in RenderSEO:

• Listings Management – Save time by delegating the tedious task of listing your business all across cyberspace to RenderSEO. The tool will ensure that your NAP is consistent and will update your listings to keep people informed about how your business has changed during the pandemic.
• Store Locator Software – Launch store locator pages on your website. They reflect the look and feel of your site while optimizing each page for Local SEO. You don’t need to know anything about software development to use this feature.
• Review Management – Monitor, manage, and respond to online reviews all from a single interface. You’ll no longer need to hop around from site to site just to keep up with all your reviews.
• GMB Posts – Communicate offers, promote upcoming events, and make announcements to your GMB audience.
• Social Media Management – Plan content for social media marketing, respond to comments, and improve customer engagement.

Once again, if you’re interested in using the software, you’ll have to schedule a demo. At that time, you can talk about how much it will cost.

Feel free to read our review of RenderSEO if you’d like to learn more about it.

Local Citation Services For SEO FAQ’s

Got some questions about Local SEO and citations? That’s understandable, especially if you’re new to digital marketing.

Here are some frequently asked questions (and answers) about local citations.

1. What Is a Local Citation?

A local citation is a mention of your NAP on any web property. Usually, you’ll find citations on business directories, websites, social media channels, and apps.

They’re important because they help people find your business online.

But they don’t just help people find your business. They also help search engines find your business.

That’s why they’re important for Local SEO. The more your business is listed in various places, the more likely that you’ll earn a great rank.

2. Types of Local Citations

I touched briefly on the types of local citations in the intro. Here, I’ll cover them in more detail.

• Local Business Data Platforms – Local business directories provide a gold mine of potential citations for brick-and-mortar businesses. Examples include: Acxion, Localeze/Neustar, Infogroup, and Google My Business (GMB).
• Industry-Specific Platforms – While some directories are specific to a region, others are specific to an industry. It’s important that you find directories relevant to your own industry and get your business listed on them.
• Other Websites – Plenty of other web properties exist that will list your business but don’t fall into either one of the two categories listed above. If you’re unsure where to look for such citations, then you have yet another reason to enlist the aid of local citation services.

One other thing to keep in mind: there are directories that aggregate citations from other websites. So for example if you get listed on Infogroup then your listing might automagically appear on Superpages.

3. What Goes Into a Local Citation?

Although any good local citation must include, at a minimum, the “big three” (name, address, and phone number), there are lots of other details about your business that you can include on some sites. Among them:

• Business category
• Hours of operation
• Directions
• Description of services or products offered
• Images
• Videos
• Methods of payment accepted
• Reviews
• Links to social media pages
• Email address

It’s a great idea to get as much listed as possible on every property where you place a citation.

Pro-tip: during the pandemic, it’s also important to let potential customers know how you’ll keep them safe from getting the virus. If possible, include details about curbside pickup and mask requirements.

4. What Is Local Citation Software?

Before I answer that question, I have one for you: would you rather spend your time getting your business details listed on various websites all over cyberspace or focus on gaining market share?

Almost certainly you’d rather spend the lion’s share of your time building a great business and leave the tedious work to others.

That’s why you need local citation software.

A quality tool will streamline the process of getting your business details listed on various web properties while you get busy boosting your bottom line.

And yes, you’ll have to pay for that kind of service. But, like other services you pay for, it generates a positive return on investment.

5. What Are Other Local Citation Services For SEO?

There is also Moz Local, Whitespark, Synup, Direction Local and you can build local citations for SEO manually. Oh, and I forgot about RIO SEO and Chatmeter. These are all options and non of them are terrible. 

Wrapping It Up

If you’re running anything like a mom-and-pop shop in your neighborhood, then you’ll find that local citation software is essential. Without the best local citation services, you risk losing market share to competitors.

Do yourself a favor: check out the various products I’ve covered here. Compare them, read the reviews, and schedule demos as needed. Determine which one is best for your business.

Then, make the necessary investment.