Any online listing of your business name, address, phone number,etc is a citation. Local citation building is mainly for physical businesses, but can be used to build local search rankings for any type of business. Citation building ensures your contact and location information is correct, readily available, and easily accessible by placing it in multiple directories. Local citation building is important for customers as well as search engines. This practice offers credibility. Inconsistent citations can lower your ranking and decrease the chance a consumer might use your business. So auditing this information across the web is a simple way to improve your business. 

Yes, citations matter in local internet search results. Citations help people locate local businesses online. If you have many citations in a variety of business directories that match up with correct, updated information this will boost your rankings on search engines for local searches. 

There are a few different types of directories for local citations we will look at for your small business. These include local business data platforms like Google My Business, Infogroup, and Acxiom. Other types of listings are social media or review based platforms like Facebook or Yelp, industry specific directories which include professional associations, and geographic specific directories like your chamber of commerce. There are other citation locations that can be utilized like government databases, maps, news websites, blogs, and much more. Finding creative spots for your business information is a great way to build your local citations. Often you can get a backlink too which has many positive consequences for your small business.