NAP stands for name, address and phone number. Basically, it’s the basic information your customers will need to know if they want to do business with you.

You’re probably thinking, “Great! I’ve got all that information on my website. Job done. I have reached enough potential customers!” Well, it’s not that easy.

Your website may be up to date and may think that digital marketing isn’t for you or your business. But what about local listings through search engine optimization (SEO)? Like with local directories, if you haven’t kept tabs on these areas on your website or on social media, you might find that someone entered your phone number with a 3 instead of an 8 or that your old address is still listed. This will dramatically affect your local search ranking.

We’ll go over what NAP is, why it’s important for your business, and how you can ensure your NAP is consistent across the web.

What is NAP SEO? Why is it important?

NAP goes by many names. If you’ve never heard of NAP before, you may have heard of NAPW (name, address, phone number, website), or NAPU (name, address, phone number, URL). Basically, whichever you prefer it’s your business’ contact information.

It’s important that this information is correct across the internet, primarily so your customers can actually find you through local SEO. However, it’s also important because Google and other search engines take NAP consistency into account when they calculate search rankings.

What is NAP consistency and why does it matter?

So, what is NAP consistency? Simply put, it’s a measure of how well your business’ NAP information is consistent across various listings. Suppose you’re an electrician and your business is listed like this on your website:

Dave’s Electrical Contractors, Inc.

1234 Main Street

Smallville, KS 12345

888-765-4321

https://www.daveselectrical.com

So far, so good. But let’s say you have a Facebook page and your listing looks like this:

Dave’s Electrical Contractors

1234 Main St.

Smallville, KS 12345

888-765-4321

https://www.daveselectrical.com

The information is still accurate, but it’s not exactly the same. This won’t kill your search ranking. It won’t help it, either. But now let’s say your business is listed on Google like this:

DEC

1234 Main St.

Smallville

888-765-4821

https://www.daveselectrical.com

Wow! The name isn’t even recognizable and the phone number is wrong. A listing like that can really hurt your business’ search ranking. This is because Google’s algorithms will recognize the inconsistency and consider your NAP information unreliable.

You may be a master electrician with 20 years of experience, but it won’t matter because no one will find you in the first place. That’s why it’s so important to ensure your business listings have NAP consistency.

What are citations and how do I find them?

A citation is anywhere that your business’ NAP information is listed online. There are two types of citations: formal and informal.

Formal citations are the most important ones to keep track of. These are the listings you see on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and other websites that have specific listings. A good way to make sure these are accurate is to claim your business on those websites.

Methods of claiming your business vary depending on the website, but most major listings like Google and Yelp provide links for business owners to click. When you click on a link to claim your business, you’ll then go through an identity verification process to make sure it’s actually your business.

This can be challenging, particularly if your business has been around a long time and is listed on many websites. Unfortunately, the alternative is to rely on members of the public to keep your NAP information accurate. Even if they do, they’re liable to make typos or use abbreviations that can hurt your search rankings.

The other type of citation, an informal citation, is one that’s not an official directory listing but appears somewhere on a website. For example, if your business was reviewed by a local newspaper, there’s a good chance your name and phone number are listed in the article.

These citations can be difficult to fix. In fact, the only thing you can do is make sure you’re providing the right information whenever you’re asked. Even if you do, informal citations won’t get updated when you change addresses or phone numbers. Fortunately, this kind of citation isn’t very important for search engine rankings.

What are aggregators? Why are they important?

There are many local business listings on the web. Search for any city’s business listings like “San Diego business directory” and you’ll find a site or three that specializes in listing local businesses.

The same is true for specific industries. For example, lawyers have their own nationwide directory. Since these are niche sites, they don’t have the resources to obtain NAP information on their own, nor do they get enough traffic to depend on the public to keep their information accurate.

These sites depend on larger sites to keep their records up to date. These larger sites are called aggregators and your search ranking will live or die based on whether their information is correct.

This might sound like bad news, but it really isn’t. Imagine the headache of having to search for every possible niche site that might list your business and asking them to change it. You can get the same result just by contacting a handful of aggregators.

Here are some of the biggest aggregators you’ll want to look at:

• Infogroup – They work with some major GPS manufacturers. You want to make sure they have your address right.
• InfoUSA – InfoUSA is one of the biggest aggregators out there. They specialize in B2B listings, but also provide information to many other sites.
• Factual – They provide business listings to over 6,000 companies.
• Thomson Local – This is a smaller aggregator, but they specialize in local businesses.
• Acxiom – Another second-tier aggregator, but they make it very easy to update your business’ NAP info.
• Neustar Localeze – This service is made specifically for small businesses. They automatically monitor your business’ other listings online and update your information when possible.

Are there any shortcuts?

If this sounds like too much work, or if you’re not comfortable doing it, why not hire a professional to manage your NAP information? At Above The Fold we have years of experience managing local SEO campaigns for clients throughout San Diego.  Contact us today for a free consultation.