A citation is any mention of a business's name, address and phone number on another website, such as Yelp, the BBB, a chamber of commerce or a trade association directory. Google uses them to confirm a business exists where it says it does. The ones that matter are the major directories, the data aggregators that feed them, and sites specific to the trade and the city.

Local search. Reviewed October 29, 2026

Citations

Also called: Local citations, Directory listings

A citation is any mention of a business's name, address and phone number on another website, such as Yelp, the BBB, a chamber of commerce or a trade association directory.

In practice

Google uses them to confirm a business exists where it says it does. The ones that matter are the major directories, the data aggregators that feed them, and sites specific to the trade and the city.

Build the first 20 to 30 by hand with matching details, then stop. Volume past that point does not move rankings.

Related terms

NAP consistencyNAP stands for name, address and phone number, and NAP consistency means those three match exactly everywhere the business is listed online.
Local SEOLocal SEO is the work of getting a business to appear in Google's map pack and local results for searches in the area it serves.

Go deeper

Local SEO service

More local search terms

Backlink Canonical URL E-E-A-T Geo grid rank tracking Google Business Profile Google Posts All 100 terms

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