Study: Industry Relevance Most Important for Local SEO Citations

Search engines continue to change the rules when it comes to local SEO, resulting in best practices that become less important practices and sometimes even obsolete. SEO is very much a “point-in-time” component of the local marketing space, and today, there appears to have been a clear shift as it relates to how search engines view citations.

Search engines look to be putting much more local SEO importance on industry specific content and websites. According to a new BrightLocal study, industry relevance was the most important factor in selecting a citation site to use. These industry sites “typically have deeper, more unique content which Google loves.”

Similarly, 86% of local SEO experts said quality is more important than quantity of citations (vs. just 64% in 2013). Quality relates to the relevance of a citation to a business and the domain authority of the site the citation is found.

BrightLocalChart

In its third edition, BrightLocal’s “Expert Citation Survey 2016” asked 21 local SEO experts 17 different citation related questions. The intention of the survey is to better understand the relevance of citations, the importance of them and the current best practices to build and improve citation efficacy.

There were some widely recognized takeaways from the survey such as the importance of accurate citations. However, only 5% said that a business address needs to be “100% consistent” across all citations. Address formatting was considered important, but there is definitely a growing trend that this is becoming less of an issue.

Based on the feedback from these local SEO experts, some conclusions can be made about search engines in general. Given the importance of relevance, the quality vs. quantity discussion and other data points, search engine algorithms appear to be more “intelligent” or discerning, and are increasingly interpreting citations to deliver a better, more relevant search experience for users.

For example, the study found that niche/industry directories offer the greatest authority for listings with a clearly defined presentation of NAP (structured citations). In related news, Advice Local recently launched a new niche citation service, helping businesses get listed on industry specific sites. Like the BrightLocal study, the press release said “niche citations strengthen the association between the business and the business category.”

The study is rich with insights and offers SEO practitioners a look into the constantly changing local SEO space. What did you see that was most surprising to you?

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