The Power of Citations and Wordpress

13 years ago

Great story.

I like to think of citations (for those who don't know a listing of a business name and address on another site) as a local backlink even though a citation doesn't need to have a link to your site at all to work.

In other words it's a "link" that indicates to google the physical address of a business.

The more citations you have on sites related to the area or the business type (or in some other relevant way) the more likely it is google will rank the business high on google maps for that area and the business site too.

It's great fun when you start getting multiple listings all over google's search results.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

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Aryan

13 years ago

Just a noobish question: Can we list a citation in Google Places?

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Rus Sells 13 years ago

Aryan,

A citation is a reference to a business on a site other then your Google Places listing.

Usually directories but can also be any web page that has the business name with address.

No hyperlinking required.

Originally Posted by Aryan

Just a noobish question: Can we list a citation in Google Places?
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PaulintheSticks

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

I have a client who's site I changed out to Wordpress last spring. When I talked to him I told him he needed to get his business listed in some local directories for businesses, etc. etc.

I just now created his optimized GP listing and we are waiting for that to show, was just doing some keyword searches on the phrases we were targeting.

His main phrase has roughly 30 million competing pages and its not geo targeted.

When I performed the search tonight the results directly mentioning his name and business including his web sites occupied 5 of the 10 spots on the first page of Google.

4 were citations and the last his site. Now when his listing starts ranking he will domination 6 of the 10 first spots for his main keyword phrase!

Don't underestimate the power of Citations guys, I think they are more and more becoming the new back link for businesses with sites.

So what's the best way to get citations?

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Rus Sells 13 years ago

I guess tell your client to do it?

LOL

Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks

So what's the best way to get citations?
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- PaulintheSticks 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Rus Sells
  
  I guess tell your client to do it?
  
  LOL
  
  That's extremely helpful. Thanks Russ.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Rus Sells 13 years ago
  
  Paul, its true though! I told my client to get listings in directories.
  
  Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks
  
  That's extremely helpful. Thanks Russ.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  teaball 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Rus Sells
  
  Paul, its true though! I told my client to get listings in directories.
  
  I'm going to have to differ completely with you on having the biz owner/manager do the listings.
  
  It could be the worst mistake you could make in the long term for your SEO efforts and more importantly, for the business client.
  
  If you are going to do this local SEO thing, you need to know a heck of alot more than how to set up and verify GP's.
  
  My point made by an example- biz owner does the directory listing and inputs several categories, services, products that are their core business. Then repeats that, let's say, 5 times... 5 directories.
  
  Now he/she has 5 new backlinks. great but could be the wrong and eventually unhelpful and damaging for their serp's. Why? wrong terms, no research, no measurement, ... I could go on. Changing those is a real pain in the arse.
  
  My opinion is that directory listings and other backlinking actions ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY as a local SEO rep/consultant etc.
  
  If you don't know anything about SEO, I suggest you learn something before you go and hurt somebody's business (even though they probably won't ever figure it out).
  
  At least know some real basics and continue to learn. Backlinks are a critical part of local SEO, both onpage and offpage... for the long term. That is where the real value is in the SEO function is for your clients and and for your business and reputation.
  
  You want a book? Try the "Art of SEO" for starters.
  
  You can't fake it until you make it, in SEO ... and especially Local SEO.
  
  You gotta know something more than verifying a GP. Heck, I do that for free. google's own GP/GM tutorials are better than most of the discussions I hear on this forum at times...
  
  It's the rest of the my SEO knowledge at work, that cranks for my clients. It's a process, not a one time GP listing. Get real people!!!!!
  
  TB
  
  P.S. If your GP listing isn't in the first 7 places for even the most competitive KW's after 24-48 hours, you don't know what you could be doing for that customer. I'm dead serious. In the top 7 places.
  
  maybe Andrew Cavanaugh's WSO could help you to start... sorry I don't own it but I just noticed he's commented ... seems like a good source from many of his comments here.
  
  Internet marketing is a pain for the most part, but SEO is probably the most interesting and most fun in all of internet marketing. But the best reason to learn SEO is this : it will change much less and slower than the I.M. sales and ad markets online. And, it will always be needed ... always. It's like the "accounting function" of internet marketing. Nobody likes doing it but it has to be done so you don't fail as an online business. SEO is the only long term function within the entire Online Business industry that has a very secure future.
  
  A couple of billionaires I know started doing what nobody else wanted to do, but could not live without ... they picked up garbage. Do/learn SEO, and work for a lifetime.
  
  SEO is a career move, not an income stream. Have fun.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  cougarfan 13 years ago
  
  Does anyone have a few sites that are good sites to get citations on? I would love to see feedback of sites that others have used.
  
  Thanks
  
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Bronwyn and Keith

13 years ago

He Rus

That seems to buck the trend of what a few people were saying about citations after the Google changes.

Thats great news as we always believed that citations were still massively important.

Thanks

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

I have a client who's site I changed out to Wordpress last spring. When I talked to him I told him he needed to get his business listed in some local directories for businesses, etc. etc.

I just now created his optimized GP listing and we are waiting for that to show, was just doing some keyword searches on the phrases we were targeting.

His main phrase has roughly 30 million competing pages and its not geo targeted.

When I performed the search tonight the results directly mentioning his name and business including his web sites occupied 5 of the 10 spots on the first page of Google.

4 were citations and the last his site. Now when his listing starts ranking he will domination 6 of the 10 first spots for his main keyword phrase!

Don't underestimate the power of Citations guys, I think they are more and more becoming the new back link for businesses with sites.

Thanks
1 reply

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

Hey guys,

I have another listing that has a brand new site that only has on site seo and its listing is also A post page one. The domain is less then a month old that seems to buck all the stuff being taught as well.

Originally Posted by bronke13

He Rus

That seems to buck the trend of what a few people were saying about citations after the Google changes.

Thats great news as we always believed that citations were still massively important.

Thanks

Bronwyn and Keith

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adriver38

13 years ago

Thats great Rus! Citations = gold for local businesses. Im really good with static sites but need to get up to speed on building wordpress sites. Im sure it wouldnt take too long Ive just kinda put it on the back burner, especially since Im still testing out the new Google Places algo in relation to onpage SEO. How important would you say your client having Wordpress was in all this?

Thanks
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Rus Sells

13 years ago

I would not be able to tell you how important wordpress is or isn't. I just use it a lot to make sites so it was only a natural thing for me to do.

Originally Posted by adriver38

Thats great Rus! Citations = gold for local businesses. Im really good with static sites but need to get up to speed on building wordpress sites. Im sure it wouldnt take too long Ive just kinda put it on the back burner, especially since Im still testing out the new Google Places algo in relation to onpage SEO. How important would you say your client having Wordpress was in all this?

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adriver38 13 years ago

I gotcha. I was just thinking that there was some magical Wordpress voodoo because of the thread title
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Bronwyn and Keith

13 years ago

Hi Rus

Thats even more interesting.

Too much speculation going on while Google is figuring out all of this stuff. Sure they are making changes and maybe its just to shake a few people up for a while. Who know. :confused:

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

Hey guys,

I have another listing that has a brand new site that only has on site seo and its listing is also A post page one. The domain is less then a month old that seems to buck all the stuff being taught as well.

Thanks

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k60mall

13 years ago

I agree Russ, more and more of sites like Yelp are showing up in the results.

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thomasmps 13 years ago

k60mall - when is your software going to be finished

thomas
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Lisa Gergets

13 years ago

So, say you had a WordPress site with a sidebar widget that listed the name, addy & phone number of the business...if that site has 5 pages, each showing that sidebar widget, is that 5 citations...or just one citation for the entire site?

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

Lisa,

The only place I have the company name and address is on the contact page.

Consider that most regular businesses will have the address in the footer of the home page and then on the contact page, and that's about it.

Originally Posted by Lisa Gergets

So, say you had a WordPress site with a sidebar widget that listed the name, addy & phone number of the business...if that site has 5 pages, each showing that sidebar widget, is that 5 citations...or just one citation for the entire site?

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Bronwyn and Keith

13 years ago

Hi Russ

So the thing that stands out to us is that you are using WP.

The secret sauce may be in how you configure your plugins???

Care to share?

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

Lisa,

The only place I have the company name and address is on the contact page.

Consider that most regular businesses will have the address in the footer of the home page and then on the contact page, and that's about it.

Thanks
1 reply

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

No special sauce plugins.

I only use All in One SEO Pack to configure the sites keywords and Title.

Truth be told the site has one measly PLR article on it and the rest of the pages are blank with zero content. The page titles are named after my keyword sub-sets.

Russ

Originally Posted by bronke13

Hi Russ

So the thing that stands out to us is that you are using WP.

The secret sauce may be in how you configure your plugins???

Care to share?

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

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Bronwyn and Keith

13 years ago

Hey Rus

Thats awesome.

Almost defies logic based on some of the thought going around at the moment.

So it got tons of backlinks then????

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

No special sauce plugins.

I only use All in One SEO Pack to configure the sites keywords and Title.

Truth be told the site has one measly PLR article on it and the rest of the pages are blank with zero content. The page titles are named after my keyword sub-sets.

Russ

Thanks
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adriver38 13 years ago

Someone needs to conduct an experiment for Google Places Listings, one with Wordpress and one with a static website and do everything the same but see if theres any major differences with ranking time. I guess there are a ton of variables so it be hard to have it be 100% accurate. Guess I'll just have to try both and see what works better
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Rus Sells

13 years ago

The blog has zero back linking, no promotion at all.

The GP listing has less then 5 citations created, and just note: citations were NOT created until the GP listing ranked 1A.

= )

Originally Posted by bronke13

Hey Rus

Thats awesome.

Almost defies logic based on some of the thought going around at the moment.

So it got tons of backlinks then????

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

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Bronwyn and Keith

13 years ago

Hi Rus

Thats amazing.

Do you think it is an anomaly or something that could work across most sites/GP listings?

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

The blog has zero back linking, no promotion at all.

The GP listing has less then 5 citations created, and just note: citations were NOT created until the GP listing ranked 1A.

= )

Thanks
1 reply

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Rus Sells 13 years ago

I am researching my next GP listing but I am confident I can reproduce it again.

Originally Posted by bronke13

Hi Rus

Thats amazing.

Do you think it is an anomaly or something that could work across most sites/GP listings?

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith
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- Bronwyn and Keith 13 years ago
  
  Hi Rus
  
  Excellent. Sounds like a 2 page $1Million WSO if its that simple.
  
  BTW - sent you a PM.
  
  Regards
  
  Bronwyn and Keith
  
  Originally Posted by Rus Sells
  
  I am researching my next GP listing but I am confident I can reproduce it again.
  
  Thanks
  
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SirThomas

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

No special sauce plugins.

I only use All in One SEO Pack to configure the sites keywords and Title.

Truth be told the site has one measly PLR article on it and the rest of the pages are blank with zero content. The page titles are named after my keyword sub-sets.

Russ

Russ, when setting your pages and naming them after your keywords, do you add "location" to your page titles?

like:

Plumbing Seattle ----------- Plumbing Contractor Seattle--------- 24-hr Plumbing Seattle

Thomas

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

Yeah, for each sub set keywords I create a page.

Seattle Plumber is my main phrase.

Then as an example

24 hour Seattle Plumbing = a page

or...

Atlanta Roofing Contractor = main phrase = main url = home page.

Atlanta roofing repair contractor = page

Atlanta roofing 24 hour emergence service contractor = page

Atlanta residential roofing contractor = page

Atlanta flat roofing contractor = page

I basically create a page on the blog for the main phrase and the modifier combined.

so on do forth.

Originally Posted by SirThomas

Russ, when setting your pages and naming them after your keywords, do you add "location" to your page titles?

like:

Plumbing Seattle ----------- Plumbing Contractor Seattle--------- 24-hr Plumbing Seattle

Thomas

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Bronwyn and Keith

13 years ago

Hey Rus

There goes your $2 Million WSO - you've just "given" it all away....LOL

Anyway, thanks for sharing the info makes sense.

All the best

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

Yeah, for each sub set keywords I create a page.

Seattle Plumber is my main phrase.

Then as an example

24 hour Seattle Plumbing = a page

or...

Atlanta Roofing Contractor = main phrase = main url = home page.

Atlanta roofing repair contractor = page

Atlanta roofing 24 hour emergence service contractor = page

Atlanta residential roofing contractor = page

Atlanta flat roofing contractor = page

I basically create a page on the blog for the main phrase and the modifier combined.

so on do forth.

Thanks
1 reply

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

I don't give away ALL my secrets!

Originally Posted by bronke13

Hey Rus

There goes your $2 Million WSO - you've just "given" it all away....LOL

Anyway, thanks for sharing the info makes sense.

All the best

Bronwyn and Keith

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Bronwyn and Keith 13 years ago

Hey Rus

We know you still have a few secrets up your sleeve.

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

I don't give away ALL my secrets!
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www_retireonme_com

13 years ago

Going to bump this, I would like to know that as well. I understand the citations, but this multiple effect, would be great info.

To the Top!

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Lisa Gergets

13 years ago

Is there a way to see exactly how many citations a GP has? Because I still think that if you have a sidebar with the store info, it's going to count as a citation for each page or post, because they are "coming from" a different url.

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adriver38 13 years ago

Ive used this in the past (before GP update) and it gave me all the citations for any Places listing. I think it should still work now as well:

Local Citation Finder | Whitespark SEO Tools
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Rus Sells

13 years ago

Try Google'n the business address or name and address and you should get some results on where the GP listing has citations. Older GP listings will have the citations google has found noted in the listing itself, but it takes google a little while to show citation in the gp list if its newer.

Originally Posted by Lisa Gergets

Is there a way to see exactly how many citations a GP has? Because I still think that if you have a sidebar with the store info, it's going to count as a citation for each page or post, because they are "coming from" a different url.

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alpine1

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Lisa Gergets

Is there a way to see exactly how many citations a GP has? Because I still think that if you have a sidebar with the store info, it's going to count as a citation for each page or post, because they are "coming from" a different url.

Hey Lisa: Do you have knowledge of this WP widget/plugin that would list the citations of ones site/ clients site? The Google crawlers would see those links and as long as they are follow links ,would follow them to the site listing the business.
any thoughts?

Thanks

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localdominator

13 years ago

Citations are very important, however there is a measure of quality to them and not just the volume that gets your ranked in GP. If your listing has citations from what Google deems "high quality" sources, it is true that it does not require very many at all. I had a programmer create a custom program that finds all that info for any industry/keyword term and then I use the list that is specific to that individual client. This has given me front page every time (Hasn't failed yet). My clients do/don't have websites, blogs, or other sites. It hasn't seemed to matter at all as far as their GP is concerned. I have seen some very useful strategies using WP plugins to do similar things though. Good job.

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

My opinion is that directory listings and other backlinking actions ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY as a local SEO rep/consultant etc.

Yeah but the client I mention here is not paying for anything other then the listing and wordpress site and has not contracted for me to do ANY monthly maintenance so yeah, get your own citations, here's how.

I don't disagree with you at all, but its only my responsibility if I am being paid for it.

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teaball

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

Yeah but the client I mention here is not paying for anything other then the listing and wordpress site and has not contracted for me to do ANY monthly maintenance so yeah, get your own citations, here's how.

I don't disagree with you at all, but its only my responsibility if I am being paid for it.

Then I would have to assume too much about your presentation of what you can do for them etc. to make any comment. Their listing will eventually drop because this local SEO is maturing and the effects from an uncrowded field is that a new verified listing shoots to the top of the box. it will sag with time against better optimized listings, and so will an SEO's rep.

just my opinion, but I've seen this before many times in decades of business.

One of my clients has a listing against 3 huge corporate chains, each with a location within spitting distance. He's #1 and can't be budged. Organics dominate pg 1-3 , 18 listings out of 30.

All I did was onpage and offpage SEO tweaks over the course of a month. The thing is, although it was optimized for one specific KW term, his listing is 1st page organics and GP/GM #1,2, or 3 for several high searched KW's.

good luck

TB

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teaball

13 years ago

Russ
I explain what the basics of SEO are, and then show them that it has to be done over time, not as a one shot, one time thing.

I often say, "Getting to the top is pretty easy right now, but staying there is hard and takes time and commitment." hence, I have them asking 'How much per month?' right after that thought sinks in.

TB

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

Teaball,

I don't disagree with you at all on any point.

The thing about this listing is that the citations were already present before a places listing was created for him. Even so, its strange because this business owner created "citations" with different business information on several sites. "He moved" but they are all seeming to count for him.

This particular listing was just an experiment for him and he surely does not even need a listing, he's renowned world wide for his trade and gets work from being a leader in his industry.

It has been almost a year now since converting his site to Wordpress and it's only gotten stronger in the rankings and his listing is coming up on 4 months and is still holding strong so we'll see if it stays or starts to drop.

Originally Posted by teaball

Russ
I explain what the basics of SEO are, and then show them that it has to be done over time, not as a one shot, one time thing.

I often say, "Getting to the top is pretty easy right now, but staying there is hard and takes time and commitment." hence, I have them asking 'How much per month?' right after that thought sinks in.

TB

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The Power of Citations and Wordpress

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