Citations are online references to a business from a third-party website, such as a business directory. They’ll usually include the name of the website, its address, and its contact details.
These citations are regarded as crucially important for local SEO. Google crawls though local business directories to locate businesses that appear to be reputable and trustworthy, giving them a better page rank when compared to their competitors that do not exist on such directories.
These citations are also taken into account when Google creates and refreshes its Local Pack, as well as Google Local Finder, which both direct search queries to relevant local websites and businesses. In order to make use of citations, the details shared in directories must be identical to those shared on a business’ Google My Business (GMB) listing.