When it comes to local search, something as small as mismatched citation information can have a big impact on SEO visibility.

When it comes to raising brand awareness and driving traffic, there’s SEO, and then there’s local SEO. The former is all about casting a wide net among qualified leads, while the latter is specific to geography. Local might not seem like a very strict limitation, but it can actually confound a lot of webmasters who don’t have all of their ranking signals in order.

For example, BrightLocal’s Myles Anderson surveyed local business owners who were trying to increase the visibility of their web presences through geospecific SEO. It turns out that the number one challenge (41 percent of business owners) was citation inconsistency.

What does that mean? Basically, it comes down to identifying information that matches up correctly. For example, if a website’s “Contact Us” page lists one address and phone number, while a Google Local profile gives a different set of parameters, it will negatively impact search ranking. This is troubling in general SEO, but when local search is all about specific geographic areas, it can torpedo an entire campaign.

Keeping nearby SEO customers

So brands need to make sure all of their citations are consistent. But is it all they have to do to ensure local search visibility? Some other optimization techniques include:

Social listening

It’s a good idea to keep track of local social media conversations in order to stay up-to-date on specific terminology and subject matter. It will also help brands ​​develop keyword profiles that match up with actual local searches.

Content improvement

It’s very unlikely a brand can come up with a content strategy and immediately start seeing massive results, especially when it comes to local SEO. Instead, blogs should be monitored and refined to understand what kinds of idiosyncratic preferences a certain subset of the population might have.

To learn more about building a local search campaign, check out this Brafton resource:
Infographic: Make Content Marketing Drive Local SEO

Alex Butzbach is a Marketing Writer at Brafton. He studied Communications at Boston College, and after a brief stint teaching English in Japan, he entered the world of content marketing. When he isn't writing and researching, he can be found on a bike somewhere in Metro Boston.