10 Citation Building Myths that Needed to be Avoided

One of the most common myths is that citations have become irrelevant. Yet, this couldn’t be further from the truth. First, let’s clear the air: citations still hold significant value in local SEO.

Having correct citations makes your business more visible. It’s like telling Google, “Hey, I’m here, and my details are right!” This helps customers find your business more easily.

Watch this YouTube video of Whitespark to know the importance of citation building.

A common myth about citation building services is that they instantly improve your website’s rankings. Let’s clear this up: First, building citations is a step in the right direction, but it’s not a magic wand.

It takes time for search engines to index these citations and reflect them in search results. Also, while citations are important for local SEO, they’re just one part of a broader strategy.

Therefore, expecting immediate jumps in rankings after getting new citations is unrealistic. If you want to know how much time it will take to rank your business locally please read this post.

A common myth about citation building services is that more citations directly lead to higher local rankings. However, this isn’t always the case: quality over quantity matters; relevance is crucial. Citations from industry-related sites can be more beneficial than those from unrelated sources.

So, while building citations is important, it’s more about being smart with where and how you list your business. Remember, it’s not just about the number of citations, but the quality and relevance that truly count.

Some believe using the same phone number for different business locations is okay. Here’s the truth: it’s not the best move. Each location should have its unique number. Why? Well, when each location has a separate number, it stands out more clearly online. Also, it avoids confusion.

Imagine a customer trying to contact a specific branch but ending up somewhere else. Frustrating, right? So, while it might seem easier to use one number, giving each location its distinct contact details is smarter. This way, your business looks organized and customer-friendly.

“This is one of the main reasons Google suspends Google Business Profile Listing.”

You think that cancelling an automated citation service won’t cause any issues. Most of these companies claim that they don’t purposely do anything that results in the return of outdated data. Cancelling your subscription will not remove your business’s old data because there’s no guarantee of it.

If you don’t want to compromise on your listing trust score that Google gives, you can use Moz Local; or, if you’re using any other service, then think about it before you cancel the subscription.

If you’re a newbie in SEO and want to invest in citation building services, you may face these challenges.

Let’s see how: If you hire someone for citation building services and they list your business info on yellowpages.com, these two citation sites/directories will copy your business data:

superpages.com dexknows.com

That is just an example; there are many more websites like this. So, if you hire someone for this purpose, there are two problems:

• When building citations, they can get more money by saying, “We listed your business on the sites.”
• And if you have changed your business name, address, or phone number and now you want to edit these citations, these people can take advantage of it.

One common myth is that duplicate citations don’t harm your rankings. In my local SEO experience, I saw that duplicate listings are the biggest reason for not ranking your local business on Google.

Why does this happen? When you hire too many people, it happens. Suppose you hired a person for local SEO services three years ago, and he/she listed your business on a few citation sites; and after that, you hire another person who does the same thing.