Local citation
A local citation is a listing or page online that names your business with its address and phone number, like a directory entry or a news story.
A local citation is any place online that mentions your business's name, address and phone number together. A directory listing, a profile on a review site, a page in a local chamber of commerce list or a mention in a news story can all be local citations. They don't need to link to you.
Search engines use them to confirm that your business exists, where you are, and that it's the same business everywhere it appears.
Where citations come from
Some you create yourself: business directories, map apps, industry listings, review sites. Others appear on their own, when a local blog writes about you or a supplier lists you as a stockist. And some are made by data aggregators, companies that collect business details and pass them on to many smaller directories at once.
For example, Fernhill Coffee's York café might be listed on a national directory, two review sites, the city's independent business guide and a local food blog's "best brunch" round-up. That's five citations. If three of them still show the old phone number from before the café moved, they disagree, and that weakens all five.
Getting them right
Quality and accuracy count for more than the number of listings:
- Start with the main directories and review sites in your country and industry
- Use exactly the same name, address and phone number everywhere
- Update every listing when you move, change your number or rename
- Remove duplicates, which often appear after a move
Local citations and AI search
The word "citation" means something else in AI search: a page an AI answer links to as a source. The two meet in practice. When a platform answers a question about businesses in an area, the directories and review sites that carry your local citations are often among the pages it reads. A listing with the right details is something the answer can repeat. One with the wrong details is a wrong answer waiting to happen.
In AnswerOrbit, Sources shows which directories and review sites the answers use, and Claims flags answers that contradict your facts, like an old address.