How does Google handle street name abbreviations?

[RR415]

Sorry for the newbie question but I wanted to know the opinion of experts if this minor inconsistency would hurt me for local SEO.

Does it make a difference, for example, if I write Main Street vs Main St - Main Road vs Main Rd? Some citation websites force abbreviations automatically.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

No problem. G is smart enough to figure that out.

 

[Dustybones]

Here is a great post Whitespark did on the subject RR.

Acceptable Google Maps NAP Abbreviations and Variations

As you can probably imagine, this question comes in different nuances and versions but the answer (almost) always boils down to the same thing – Google and Bing are smart enough to understand abbreviations (or slight variations) and to associate them with their non-abbreviated counterparts.

 

[RR415]

Thank you very much for all the responses. I just wanted to be certain.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Scott and Justin! You are right.

However typically it's best in GMB to fully spell it out. (I go through all this in the other course you have not taken yet.)

Then all new citations you build should match exactly what's in GMB, and especially the NAP on the web site should match.

So it's CRITICAL to get NAP right in GMB first. (That's one of the things I was referring to when I told you about how GMB and onsite SEO are all intertwined.)

So if you, doing onsite SEO and citations just match what the guys that did the GMB page put in there. OR if the client had it wrong to begin with and your GMB guys don't know how to do all the research to be sure it's right... Then you do all your work - if you just match incorrect NAP - essentially you are wasting your time and building everything on a broken foundation.

So getting NAP right in GMB to begin with and then being consistent, is still pretty much priority 1.

But what the guys I think are saying is that if there are minor inconsistencies already out there, like standard street abbreviations out there OR if a citation source abbreviates, no need to sweat it. Google is now pretty good at figuring it out. (They weren't great at it in the past, but are now.)