You are probably already familiar with citation websites and understand that your business needs to be on them. We’ve all looked up a restaurant on Yelp in order to decide whether or not we wanted to eat there. Your customers or clients are looking at those same websites and are making those same decisions about your business. Especially for businesses that are restricted to a certain geographical location, having that business listed on the right citation websites, with plenty of great reviews, is the best way to make sure that you have the social proof that today’s consumer requires in order to make a decision about where to spend their money.

But What Exactly Is a Citation Page?

These pages are generated by third parties and each business is given a specific listing. There, the public can post pictures of that business, enter information about that business, and leave reviews about their experience with that business. Essentially, it allows the public to leave their opinions and impressions of your business, in a format where you cannot censor or destroy what they post there. The candid nature of these sites is what makes them so useful. People go to these websites to see what other average people thought about your business. You, yourself probably use them on a regular basis. Common examples include Angie’s List and Yelp.

These pages often have more domain authority than even your own business. Someone will search your name specifically and they will be provided with a link to your listing on one of these citation websites before they are presented with a link to your website itself. This can be good for you—a link back to your website on this page gives you a boost in the search engine optimization department.

You know that these websites are important. What is said about your business there can make or break your business. People give reviews left here more weight that reviews left on your website, because there is a perception of fairness and at least the illusion of being non-biased here.

What Does My Citation Page Need?

You will usually have the option of claiming your listing, posting a little bit of information about your business on your page, and moderating the reviews left there. While you won’t necessarily be able to kick off unfair negative reviews, you do have the option to respond to them or have those reviews evaluated if you believe they were placed falsely or were maliciously placed by a competitor. What do you need to do to make sure your listing is as good as it can be?

Add high quality pictures to your page. This will help people know that they have found the right listing when they are looking for your business. Don’t just add pictures of your interior and exterior, add pictures of your products. This is most effective for businesses that do offer a finished product, but could still be a useful tip even for service-based businesses.

Always include a description of your business. You might already have a snappy description on your website, but you want something unique for your citation page. You might have a character limit and it is never a good idea to just copy and paste something from your website. Have something unique written and post it to your listing. Make sure that it includes some sort of value proposition. Tell those reading your listing why they should choose you over your local or national competition. If you already have a statement like this on your website, rewrite it so it is unique and make sure it is featured on your page.

Be sure that you listing includes your correct contact information. This means making sure that your physical address is correct, that your email address is right, that you phone number is correct, etc., etc. You do not want to have the wrong contact information on a single listing, as this information could be transferred and spread as your actually contact information, making it impossible for people that want to find your business to actually find it, essentially losing you customers.

Do I Need To Be On Every Citation Page?

This is the big question, isn’t it? The short and long answer is no, you do not need to be on every citation website. How do you know which ones you need to be on? You need to be on the websites that pop up for your keywords. That means if you search “New Haven lawyer,” and the first three results are all listings on Yelp, you need to be on Yelp.