What Is a Citation?
A citation is an online reference of a business’s name, address, and phone number (commonly referred to as NAP) that’s displayed on a third-party website. Also known as a local citation.
Citations are important for local search engine optimization (SEO) because citations send off-site signals to search engine algorithms that a business truly exists. Citations also confirm the NAP information for a business that is stored in the Google Knowledge Graph, a database of billions of facts about people, places, and things.
Local citations can be built on websites like Yelp, YellowPages, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Foursquare, Local.com, MerchantCircle, Hotfrog, Manta, and MapQuest.
Visit the SEO Glossary
Go to the SEO Glossary to find more terms and definitions that relate to the field of search engine optimization.
The Editorial Staff at SEO Chatter is a team of search engine optimization and digital marketing experts led by Stephen Hockman with more than 15 years of experience in search engine marketing. We publish guides on the fundamentals of SEO for beginner marketers.
