Although business owners may have long forgotten the art of online citation building, this practice should not be ignored by companies who wish to increase their online presence as much as possible. In most cases, a citation is little more than a mention of a company name along with its contact information (without any direct links) placed in numerous online advertising directories. Here are a few reasons why this practice should be taken seriously.

Paper Directories are dead

Each year, companies like Yellow Pages and other telephone directory suppliers are reporting a significant decline in the amount of paper directories that are being requested and printed. The main reason for this is because of the plethora of free or highly affordable advertising options that can now be found online. This means that business owners should take as many of these opportunities as possible to list their businesses, services they offer, updated location information and contact details on as many online directory sites as possible.

Boost Search Engine Rankings

By now, most business owners know that the more adverts they place with online directory services, the more chance they have of being spotted over their competitors. Provided that the adverts are placed on reputable online advertising websites, each of them has the ability to boost a company’s search engine rankings substantially. When placing the citations online, it is imperative to ensure that all forms of contact information such as an email address, phone number, fax number (if this still applies) and a physical address are included.

Here are some resources to help you building citations:

• http://www.brandignity.com/2014/09/free-seo-link-building-resources/
• http://citationlabs.com/89-new-link-building-resources-the-citation-labs-launch-edition/
• https://www.whitespark.ca/citation-building-submission-service
• http://www.brightlocal.com/2014/05/21/15-great-citation-resources-local-search/
• http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/top-20-places-business-needs-listed-online/
• http://topalternatives.com/directories-for-local-businesses/
• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10322/The-Ultimate-List-50-Local-Business-Directories.aspx
• http://www.localseoguide.com/best-local-business-directories-seo/
• http://www.digitalsherpa.com/blog/business-included-top-50-local-business-directories/

Strengthen Consistency and Validation

These days, almost anyone can design a website and have it up and running online within a matter of hours. However, while building citations may take a substantial amount of time and effort, it is still one of the easiest ways for a company to prove to search engines like Google and Bing that it is in fact providing something of value to the community. Potential clients will be more likely to do business with a company whose details have been listed with numerous online directories instead of one that has little or no online presence at all.

Build Reputation as an Industry Authority

In many cases, potential clients will be more willing to use the services of a company that has been mentioned in numerous online sources, simply because they perceive them to be more authoritative and reputable than other businesses in the same industry. This also leads to the company in question being more well-known than any of its competitors, which will result in sales and customer levels being boosted substantially.

There’s no doubt that it can take quite a few months before a company will notice the fruits of its efforts with regards to citation building. However, this is still one of the most affordable ways to gain free or almost free website traffic. After placing business adverts online, it is essential to revisit the sites where the adverts are being hosted every few months to ensure that information on them remains updated.