Google your business name and scroll past your own website. Who else mentions you? A directory, a local group, an industry association, a client’s page? Those mentions are called local citations, and the way they describe you matters more than most people realise. This guide explains what they are and how to check yours in about fifteen minutes.
What is a local citation?
A local citation is any place online that mentions your business name, address, phone number or website. Think of an online directory, your local chamber of commerce, an industry association’s member list, or a partner’s page that points to you. Some link to your website and some don’t. Either way, each one is another place that describes you.
Why do local citations matter for SEO?
Google and AI tools build a picture of your business from what’s written about it online. When several places describe you the same way, it’s easier for them to be confident about who you are, what you do and where you do it.
When the details disagree, that picture gets muddy. One site lists an old address, another spells your name differently, a third has a phone number you stopped using. None of this is a penalty. It just makes you harder to describe accurately, to people and to search tools.
How to check your local citations in fifteen minutes
You don’t need any tools for this. Just Google and a notepad.
- Open a notepad and write your business name, address, phone number and website exactly as you want them shown. That’s your master version.
- Google your business name. Then your phone number. Then your business name with your suburb.
- Write down every place that lists you, other than your own website and social profiles.
- Compare each one with your master version. Look for old addresses, different spellings of your name, missing phone numbers, or a “Pty Ltd” that appears on some listings and not others.
- Fix what you can. Most directories let you claim or edit your listing.
- Make a short list of the ones you can’t change yet, and tackle them one at a time.
Step four is where most people find something. It’s usually small, like an old phone number, but it’s worth fixing because it’s the kind of mismatch that makes you look less certain.
Where should your business be listed?
Start with the places your clients and the search tools are most likely to check:
- Your Google Business Profile, which is the most important one for local searches
- Your Facebook business page
- Bing Places for Business [Karen: light confirm]
- Apple Business Connect, for Apple Maps [Karen: light confirm]
- Your local chamber of commerce or business network
- The industry association you belong to
- A small number of directories your clients actually use [Karen: choose which Australian directories you’re happy to name]
A handful of accurate listings beats fifty you can’t keep up with. Be wary of paying for a directory you’ve never seen a client come from.
Before and after examples
These businesses are made up, to show the difference.
- A Brisbane physio clinic. Before: listed as “Northside Physio”, “Northside Physiotherapy Clinic” and “Northside Physio Pty Ltd”, with two different phone numbers. After: one name, “Northside Physiotherapy”, and one phone number everywhere.
- A bookkeeper for sole traders. Before: an old home address on a directory from before she moved into a shared office. After: her current suburb on every listing, and the same description of who she helps on her website and her Google Business Profile.
Local citations and AI search
AI tools and Google’s AI answers draw on what’s already written about you online. When your website, your Google Business Profile and the directories that mention you all say the same thing, you’re easier to describe and easier to recommend. [Karen: light confirm]
Your next step
Set a fifteen-minute timer, write your master version, and find three places that list you. Fix one today. One listing, ten minutes.
