No Results From (Local) Citations At All

[wedreamseo]

The whole web is fully spammed with the "fact" that local citations are the number one ranking factor for local businesses.

 

Well freaking shoot me, I've done citations at the top 30 nation wide sites for ages and I've yet to see any gains in rankings at all

 

I can honestly say I've done this for 100+ sites, and never did I observe any gains.

 

Nowadays I still do it but for complete different reasons, namely link/IP/platform diversity.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think it can have benefits if you focus on truly local sites, eg the ones in your area, to give some true meaning to the name 'local', but Merchant Circle, Brownbook, etc. seem to be a huge waste of time if you want to actually rank higher in Google.

 

Anyway that are just my observations from doing it for the last 3 years.

 

 

[cf1905]

From personal experience, and with one of my sites ranking in the 7 pack, I feel citations will do very little to improve your overall position in the serps. It will however help you get into the 7 pack.

[DarthSCULPT]

I have a sneaking suspicion that REVIEWS help local ranking more than the same local citations everyone else uses. I see citations as helping people find you on maps.

[wedreamseo]

From personal experience, and with one of my sites ranking in the 7 pack, I feel citations will do very little to improve your overall position in the serps. It will however help you get into the 7 pack.

 

I never really track the local pack but just the normal results so maybe it has helped without me noticing it.

[wedreamseo]

I have a sneaking suspicion that REVIEWS help local ranking more than the same local citations everyone else uses. I see citations as helping people find you on maps.

 

Who knows, I can imagine that Google+ reviews would help, and perhaps at Yelp, but I would be surprised Google would track reviews on all the other citation sites.

[DarthSCULPT]

Who knows, I can imagine that Google+ reviews would help, and perhaps at Yelp...

 

That's all ya need for now.