Side one: what you say
Guide · Local SEOLocal citations and NAP: make every listing say the same thing
Your business name, address and phone number (NAP) appear in more places than you remember: maps apps, directories, your association's member list, old supplier pages. Each of those mentions is a citation. When they agree, customers reach you and Google has an easy job confirming who you are. When they don't, people ring a dead number.
Updated
Side two: what the web says
Identity checkone business, four listings
A fictional business and placeholder numbers, used only to show the check.
What a citation is, and why the details have to match
A local citation is any mention of your business name, address and phone number on a site you don't own. It may include a link to your website, or not.
Structured citations are listings with set fields: Apple Maps, Yellow, an industry member directory. Unstructured citations are mentions in ordinary text, such as a local news story that names your shop and its street. You control the first kind directly; the second kind you mostly earn, which is why our link building guide covers it alongside links.
Matching details matter because Google has to decide what your business is called, where it is and how to reach it, and it doesn't rely only on your Business Profile. Google's own Business Profile guidelines say it decides how best to display your address based on your business information and information from other sources. If the other sources disagree with each other, you've made that decision harder.
"Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results."
Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your business's local ranking on Google", read 4 October 2026They copy whatever number they find first. A disconnected number on an old directory loses you the job long before it touches your rankings.
Why we treat citation clean-up as customer service firstHow much citations count in 2026
In 2026 citations count for less than they used to; they're closer to housekeeping than a ranking engine. Get them right, complete the important ones, then spend your time elsewhere.
Whitespark, 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors (published 6 November 2025): estimated share of local pack ranking by factor group. It is a survey of local SEO practitioners' opinions, not data from Google.
What the survey suggests
The practitioners surveyed put citations at about 6% of what decides the local pack, behind your Business Profile, reviews, on-page signals, behavioural signals and links.
What Google itself says
Its help page says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that complete, accurate information makes a business more likely to show up. It doesn't list directories as a factor.
What that means for you
Fix wrong details everywhere you find them, and complete the handful of listings people actually use. Then stop. A hundred extra directory profiles won't do what a better Business Profile and steady reviews will.
Write your master record before you touch a listing
Write the exact wording of your details once, save it where the whole team can find it, and paste from it every time. Most inconsistent listings started with someone typing the details slightly differently.
Business name
Use the name customers see on your sign, van, website and invoices. Google's guidelines say the name should reflect your real-world name as used consistently and known to customers, and they rule out adding taglines, phone numbers, hours or service keywords to it. Breaking those rules can lead to suspension.
Check what's registered: ABN Lookup shows the business names linked to your ABN. If your sign says something else, register that name or change the sign.
Address
Write it the Australian way and keep the same form everywhere: unit and street number, street, suburb, state abbreviation, postcode. Decide once whether it's "Street" or "St", and whether a unit is "3/14" or "Unit 3, 14".
Working from home? Google says a service-area business should hide its address, and that a remote PO box or mailbox isn't an acceptable address.
Phone number
Pick one main number and one format. Google's guidelines prefer a local number over a central call centre line where possible, and say the number must be under the business's direct control.
If you use call tracking on your website, keep your main number on listings.
Website address
Use the one version your site actually loads on, including https and whether it uses www. For a business with several locations, link each listing to that location's own page.
Paste it into a browser first to check it doesn't redirect.
Hours, area and categories
These aren't part of NAP, but they're on most listings and customers rely on them. Write normal hours, public holiday hours, the suburbs or region you serve and a two-sentence description.
Google says a service area generally shouldn't extend further than about two hours' drive from your base.
Google Business Profile Help, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google", read 4 October 2026.
Where an Australian business should be listed
List your business where customers and maps apps actually look, plus the directories that belong to your trade. We checked each source below on 4 October 2026 and left off any directory we couldn't confirm is still running properly.
Services that push your details to hundreds of directories for a flat fee mostly reach sites no customer reads. Google's spam policy lists low-quality directory and bookmark site links as an example of link spam. A dozen accurate listings beat two hundred you'll never be able to update.
How to audit and fix your existing listings
An audit finds every listing, compares it with your master record and fixes or removes what's wrong. A few years of trading leaves a trail: old addresses, an early mobile number, a directory profile someone set up and forgot.
Search for every version of you
Search Google for your business name in quotes, then each phone number you've ever used, then each past address. Old details find the listings you forgot.
Log what you find
One row per listing in a spreadsheet: the site, the web address, and whether name, address and phone match your master record.
Claim before you edit
Most directories only let a verified owner change a listing. Claim it, then correct every field from your master record.
Deal with duplicates
Two listings for one business on the same site split reviews and confuse customers. Ask the site to merge or remove the extra one rather than editing both.
Fix your own website too
The footer, contact page and any LocalBusiness structured data should match the master record exactly. Our schema markup guide explains that markup.
Check again later
Some directories take weeks to publish changes, and some pull details from other sources. Recheck the list after a month or so and note anything that reverted.
What to update when your details change
Update the master record first, then every listing, on the same day. Most citation mess comes from one change that only reached half the listings.
You move premises
- Update the master record and your website first.
- Change the address in your Business Profile and complete any verification step Google asks for.
- Update Apple Business, Bing Places and the directories on your list.
- Tell your association and suppliers who list you.
You change phone number
- Keep the old number forwarding for as long as you can.
- Update every listing, your email signature, quotes and vehicle signage, then search the old number in quotes every few months.
You rebrand
- Register the new business name first, so ABN Lookup shows it.
- Change your sign and website before the listings, so the new name is the real-world name.
- Edit existing listings rather than creating new ones, so reviews stay attached.
You close a location
- Mark the Business Profile as permanently closed rather than deleting it.
- Remove the location from directories, and point its old page on your website to the nearest open location.
Running several locations is the same job multiplied, with one master record per real location. Our multi-location SEO page covers how we handle that, and the Google Business Profile guide walks through the profile itself.
Tracking numbers, wrong AI answers and directories that sit above you
Tracking numbers, stale AI answers and outranking directories keep causing mismatches even after a clean-up.
Phone
Our agency put a tracking number on our listings. Is that hurting us?
The bigger risk is ownership, not ranking. Google's Business Profile guidelines say the phone number must be under the direct control of the business, and must not redirect callers to numbers other than the business's own. A tracking number that belongs to the agency can stop working the day the contract ends, and every listing carrying it goes dead with it.
If you track calls, keep the tracking number in your own name with a provider you control, and your main number everywhere else. Then list every place each number appears.
AI answers
An AI answer gives our old hours and the wrong suburb
There's no form that edits an AI model's answer directly, so fix what it reads. Correct the Business Profile first; Google says a Business Profile can help a business show in its AI responses. Then make sure your own website states the hours, address and service area in plain text rather than only inside an image, and that the main directories match your master record.
Use the feedback option on the answer where the product offers one, and check again a month later. If the wrong detail keeps coming back, search for it in quotes: an old directory or a news story still carrying it is usually the source.
Directories
A directory ranks above our own site for our trade and suburb
Big directories and lead marketplaces often win broad searches because they cover every trade in every area. You rarely beat them on that exact phrase, and you don't need to. Make sure your profile on the directory that outranks you is complete and matches your master record, so a searcher who lands there still finds the right business and number.
Then compete where they can't: the map results, through your Business Profile and reviews, and specific searches for the jobs you do, through a page per service with real photos, prices and detail.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google" (website and phone section); Google Search Central, guide to generative AI features in Search. Both read 5 October 2026.
Local citations and NAP, answered
What is a citation in local SEO?
A citation in local SEO is any online mention of your business name, address and phone number on a site you don't own, such as a maps listing, a directory or a news story. It may or may not include a link. Citations help customers find you and help search engines confirm your details.
What does NAP consistency mean?
NAP stands for name, address and phone number. NAP consistency means those three details are written the same way everywhere they appear: your website, your Business Profile and every listing. Small differences, like a missing unit number or an old phone number, are the usual problems.
Are local citations still worth it in 2026?
Accurate ones are. Google says complete and accurate information makes a business more likely to show up locally, and wrong details on a listing cost you calls. Building large numbers of new directory listings is a different matter; the local SEO practitioners Whitespark surveyed for 2026 rated citations a small part of local pack ranking.
What are the best free business directories in Australia?
Start with Google Business Profile, Apple Business and Bing Places, which feed the main maps apps. Then add Yellow and Localsearch, both live Australian directories when we checked on 4 October 2026, plus your industry association's member directory.
Do duplicate listings hurt local SEO?
They cause problems. Two listings for the same business can split reviews, show different details and send customers to the wrong number. Google's guidelines say not to create more than one profile for each location. Claim the duplicates and ask each site to merge or remove the extra one.
Should I pay for a local citation building service?
Only for the clean-up, not for volume. Paying someone to correct your details on the listings that matter can save time. Mass submission to hundreds of directories is poor value, and Google's spam policy names low-quality directory links as link spam.
What address should a home-based business use?
If customers don't visit you, Google's guidelines say a service-area business should hide its address on the Business Profile and set a service area instead. Don't use a remote PO box or mailbox as your address. On directories that require an address, use your real one consistently and hide it where the site allows.
Questions drawn from Google autocomplete suggestions for "local citations", "what is a citation in seo", "nap consistency" and "business directories australia", checked from Australia on 4 October 2026.
Not sure what your listings say?
Our free audit checks your main listings against your website and flags anything that doesn't match.