Entity & Knowledge Graph
The wider identity layer.
Authority
Local Citations
Every directory, map listing and profile that names your business is a claim about who and where you are. When those claims disagree, both search engines and models lose confidence.
At a glance
- Pillar
- Authority
- Type
- Hygiene and identity
- Focus
- Aggregators, not volume
- Measured on
- Consistency rate
- Re-check
- Twice yearly
Local citation work is the correction and maintenance of business listings across the platforms that feed the wider ecosystem, so that location and identity data resolves consistently.
Local Citations · definitionWhy listings are entity work
Old addresses, abbreviations, closed locations and duplicated listings accumulate silently. Nobody owns them until something breaks.
Inconsistency is the default
Drift is constant and mostly invisible.
Local answers are entity answers
A model recommending a provider nearby is resolving an entity with a location. Contradictory data removes you from consideration.
It is a maintenance discipline
Cleanup without upkeep reverts within a year.
How it works
Audit live listings
Name, address and phone across every platform that carries you.
Fix at the aggregators
Correct the sources that feed everything downstream.
Remove duplicates
Merged or closed, not left competing.
Cover the relevant platforms
Category-specific and customer-used, not hundreds of directories.
Re-check on a schedule
Twice yearly, and after any business change.
What is included
01
Listing audit
Every live record found and assessed.
02
Aggregator corrections
Fixed at the source.
03
Duplicate removal
Merged or closed.
04
Category platform coverage
Where your customers actually look.
05
Consistency reporting
Match rate across platforms.
06
Scheduled re-checks
Drift detection over time.
How it is measured
Consistency across the platforms that matter, and the resolution accuracy that follows from it.
- Consistency rate: name, address and phone matching across live listings
- Duplicate removal: duplicate and stale listings closed or merged
- Coverage: presence on the platforms relevant to your category and market
- Map and local pack visibility: position for the queries that drive enquiries
- Resolution accuracy: whether models return the right location and details
Baseline figures · to supply per client
Citation blasting does the opposite
| Dimension | Bulk submission service | RankingBite |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Submit to hundreds of directories | Fix the platforms that are actually read |
| Duplicates | Frequently created | Identified and removed |
| Data source | One-time submission | Corrected at the aggregators feeding the rest |
| Coverage logic | As many as possible | Relevant to category and market |
| Aftercare | None | Scheduled re-checks for drift |
When listings are costing you
A good fit when
- You serve customers from physical locations or defined service areas.
- You have moved, rebranded, merged or opened new sites.
- Your listings disagree with each other today.
Not the right service when
- You are a fully remote business with no service geography.
- Your listings are already consistent and monitored.
- You want volume submissions rather than accuracy.
For multi-location businesses the value is mostly in the aggregators and the duplicates, not in the long tail of directories.
Frequently asked questions
How many citations do we need?
Fewer than most vendors sell. The platforms that feed everything else, the ones specific to your category, and the ones your customers use. Accuracy on those beats presence on hundreds.
What is NAP consistency?
Name, address and phone number matching exactly wherever they appear, including formatting. Inconsistency here is the most common cause of poor local resolution.
Do citations still affect rankings?
They affect confidence in the entity, which affects local visibility. Correct ones rarely win alone; incorrect ones reliably cost you.
How often should they be re-checked?
At least twice a year, and after any change to a location, phone number or trading name.