Local SEO 101: What Are Citations? by Chris Silver Smith

[Linda Buquet]

Discovered a great beginner explainer about citations from by Chris Silver Smith that I wanted to share.

I keep forgetting to add to this 101 section of the forum because I focus on more advanced stuff but everyone has to start somewhere, so I want to do a better job of building this section up with good content. AND stuff from Chris is always good!

Local SEO: What Are Local Citations? - [Ag] Search Blog

Fast forward to the present, and Google?s ranking algorithms are much more sophisticated, even though PageRank link analysis is still a part of it. Google now uses over 200 ranking factors, many of which may have 50+ dimensions, and they also use different types of ranking algorithms for the different specialized ?vertical? search engines they operate ? such as Image Search, Video Search, News Search, Local/Map Search, and more.

For performing Local Search for businesses, Google?s engineers developed another type of citation that they could incorporate as a ranking signal ? a ?local citation? ? and patented this as part of a local ranking method. Local search optimization experts such as David Mihm were inspired to declare citations to be the ?new link? where local business rankings are concerned. (Some refer to these as ?local references?, too.)

 

[Silver]

Thanks so much for the kind words, Linda! I've been meaning to consistently publish Local SEO 101 posts over time, but I tend to stay pretty busy, making it challenging! Anyway, I'm hoping to keep it up.

 

[Chris Barnard]

Great post, seems like every time I'm asked what a citation is by a smb I use a different answer & get too complicated with the response.

Gotta learn to just answer the question then shut up!

Thanks for sharing.

PS - no sharing buttons though

 

[Linda Buquet]

Good point.

FYI there are share buttons at the top of the thread for FB, Twitter, G+ and LI.