Citations can simply be defined as the mentions of your business information such as its name and address on other websites. For example, including your name in an online yellow pages directory can be considered as a citation. You will also be able to find citations on the pages of local chamber of commerce.
Leading search engines such as Google and Bing pays important attention towards local citations when sorting search engine results. That’s because the search engines are looking to deliver a better user experience for the people who use search engines by listing nearby businesses on the first few pages of search results.
Several effective methods are available for you to build local citations in a convenient manner. Releasing strategic press releases hold a prominent place out of them. You just need to write quality press releases and distribute them. However, the press releases that you write should be in a position to deliver great value to the readers. You can also think about creating your own videos and then sharing them in leading social media networks and video sharing platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo. While you upload the videos, you need to make sure you include the NAP of your company as well.
If you do a simple research on the internet, you will be able to discover local forums or groups, which are relevant to your state or city. Then you can post an announcement on those groups or forums related to a special sales promotion or an event. However, it is important to go through the guidelines before you post in order to stay away from hassle.
Wikipedia can also be considered as an excellent platform available out there for the people to build quality local citations. You just need to create a new page on Wikipedia for your business. Then you can include all the relevant information on the Wikipedia page along with name, address and phone number. Another excellent and a powerful method available to build quality local citations is to use a document sharing website. Docstoc, Scribd and Slideshare are some perfect examples for document sharing websites. When you share documents, you need to include your business name and other related information in the summary area.
The effectiveness of these local citation building methods are proven and any business owner can think of following them.