Understanding and Implementing NAP
What is NAP? NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number. This is an important factor that Google and other search engines use to determine what results to show in local searches. NAP is the most critical element for local businesses wanting to rank well in local organic search results. You may be wondering what you can do with your NAP to boost your local search rankings. For starters, make sure your website has your full business name, full address, and phone number on every page. The NAP you put on your website is used to audit the internet for consistency of the same information.
Auditing Your NAP on Google
The easiest way to verify your NAP on Google is to search your phone number in the maps section:
This is what Google is using as your NAP when compared to other listings on the internet. If you have multiple results, you will have to claim and merge them into one listing.
The business name, address, and phone number should match your website’s NAP exactly. If there are any inconsistencies it must be corrected immediately to have a chance at great ranking results. Keep in mind we are only checking Google in this example.
Auditing Other NAP Results
A great free tool to check other search engines and local citations for NAP is getlisted.org. This nifty tool will complete a thorough audit of what NAPs are out in the internet world for your business. Simply insert your business name and zip code, and then hit “Check My Listings.”
It will generate a summary of how local citations and search engines report your NAP.
Going down the list of results, you can pick and choose citations to claim & update accordingly. This will take time and effort, but having a perfect NAP will set you in the right direction for great search engine rankings. Even after you have updated your NAP, you will need to continually audit it for accuracy.
NAP audits are just one part of search engine optimization. Learn what you else you need to know about SEO or have us manage it for you. Call 1-800-IMATRIX today to check the pulse of your practice’s SEO.
