Local SEO Local SEO Citation Building 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following is an example of an 'unstructured citation'?
- A Yelp business page
- A BBB listing
- A local news article mentioning your business address (Correct answer)
- A Google Business Profile listing
Correct answer: A local news article mentioning your business address
Unstructured citations are mentions of business information (NAP) in non-directory content like blog posts, news articles, or press releases.
Question 2: When auditing citations, which tool is commonly used to check NAP consistency across the web?
- Google Search Console
- BrightLocal or Moz Local (Correct answer)
- Google Tag Manager
- Screaming Frog
Correct answer: BrightLocal or Moz Local
Tools like BrightLocal and Moz Local are purpose-built to scan the web for your business citations and flag NAP inconsistencies.
Question 3: What should you do if your business has moved and has an old address on dozens of directories?
- Delete all old listings and start fresh
- Update each citation manually or use a citation management tool to push the new address (Correct answer)
- Leave the old address since changing it may hurt rankings temporarily
- Only update Google Business Profile and ignore other directories
Correct answer: Update each citation manually or use a citation management tool to push the new address
All citations should be updated to the new address to maintain NAP consistency; citation management tools can automate bulk updates across directories.
Question 4: Which major US data aggregator feeds business data to Apple Maps and Siri?
- Neustar Localeze
- Data Axle (formerly Infogroup)
- Foursquare
- Acxiom (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Acxiom
Acxiom is one of the key data aggregators that feeds business information to Apple Maps and related Apple services.
Question 5: What is a 'citation audit' in local SEO?
- A review of your Google Business Profile photos
- A systematic check of all existing online mentions of your business to find errors or duplicates (Correct answer)
- An analysis of your competitors' review counts
- A Google penalty assessment for spammy listings
Correct answer: A systematic check of all existing online mentions of your business to find errors or duplicates
A citation audit involves systematically reviewing all online business mentions to identify inaccuracies, duplicates, and missing citations that need to be fixed.
Question 6: Which practice is considered black-hat in citation building?
- Submitting your business to industry-specific directories
- Creating multiple listings for the same location with slightly different business names to rank for more keywords (Correct answer)
- Updating your address after a business move
- Building citations on local chamber of commerce sites
Correct answer: Creating multiple listings for the same location with slightly different business names to rank for more keywords
Creating multiple listings for one location with keyword-stuffed variations is a spam tactic that violates Google's guidelines and can result in penalties.
Local SEO Local SEO Citation Building 2
Which of the following is an example of an 'unstructured citation'?