The acronym NAP is probably one you’ve heard of if you’ve been working with SEO, especially local SEO for a while. It’s one that has a big impact on any business that wants to rank high up on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Not only do you need to understand what NAP is but you also need to see how critical NAP consistency is here.
Understanding NAP
NAP stands for “Name, Address, Phone number.” It’s used in referring to this information and its consistency online in various places including your own website, search engines, and social media.
Why NAP is Important to Your Local SEO
Simply put, NAP is the key information that consumers are looking for in regards to your business. Not only do they want to know about your business’ products and services but they also want to know this information so they know how to get in contact with you. For this reason, NAP data is used by search engines like Google and Bing. This helps their algorithms determine which companies should be displayed whenever someone enters a search query. Additionally, NAP also impacts SEO especially locally.
Why NAP Consistency is Important
Your business’ NAP is utilized by the search engines within their algorithms so that they’re able to display the best possible results whenever someone enters a search query there. NAP consistency is critical to your website’s overall SEO because if this information isn’t consistent then you’ll lose validation immediately. This isn’t only true with search engines themselves but also with anyone who’s in search of information or products you can provide.
Understanding Local SEO
Local SEO occurs when you take the time to optimize your website and its content so that people in your community know your business exists. This involves creating relevant content and a great user experience. Unfortunately, this process can be somewhat complex but taking the time to do a good job here will generate more organic visitors from the search engines. NAP consistency is just one of the many factors that the search engines use in determining where you’ll be listed in their SERPs but it’s a very important one nonetheless.
The Importance of Good Local SEO
When someone uses a search engine to make a query they’ll typically click on one of the first 5 results that are listed. By taking the time to optimize your local SEO you’ll improve the likelihood that your business will be listed there. This means that more traffic will come your way because you’ll look more credible.
How NAP Citations Affect SERPs
Search engines look at your NAP consistency to ensure that they’re providing their users with information that’s accurate and related to their query. When your NAP data isn’t consistent between your various citations they’ll consider your information to be less valid. Unfortunately, when this happens it’ll have a negative impact on your SEO. This is why it’s so important to make sure that your NAP information is consistent throughout all of your citations.
Tips for Improving Your NAP Listing
Now that you know why you should be concerned about your NAP listing, it’s time to take some action to improve NAP consistency and improve your SEO. Fortunately, there are several things you can do here.
Utilize Your Company’s Whole Name
Make sure that your company’s name is an exact match in every citation.
Utilize Your Company’s Whole Address
Although you can use abbreviations the search engines want to see NAP consistency. This means that however you’ve chosen to write your business’ address on your website is how you should write it everywhere else (e.g. search engine registrations, social media profiles) online.
Include Your Area Code with Your Phone Number
Similar to your company’s address, it’s also important that you’re consistent with the way you write your phone number everywhere that it’s found online. This means that the way it’s written on your website is the way it should be written in every other citation as well.
The Bottom Line
Your business’ NAP data and its consistency online are important for your SEO. Fortunately, these are things that the Local SEO Tampa Company in Tampa Bay, FL can help you with. Enhance your marketing, contact them today.
