What is NAP & How Does It Help Local SEO?

It's a simple abbreviation but can mean so much more and include more details than just those three things. It's how Google and other search engines will effectively 'profile' your business details. The accuracy of said data across various outlets on the web is critical to how "trustworthy" your business is.

Part of that trustworthiness is how accurate and identical that data is on all directory listings. That is, it has to match EXACTLY on every detail. Even down to the case of your business name. For example, bad consistency would be Irez Enterprise, IREZ ENTERPRISE, IrezEnterprise or Irez Enterprise Web Design Central Coast.

All your social profiles, including phone numbers, address and opening hours must also be identical.

First and most important part of your NAP data should be Google itself and can easily be added or updated via their free tool called Google My Business. GMB provides some fairly comprehensive details about your business and links it back to Google Maps also which further helps your Local SEO results. Whilst these details are obviously your first point of call, it's not the only place their search engine will look for your local business details.

As mentioned, Google will reference this data as part of it's algorithm to rank you in their search. It will use a combination of profiles such as Facebook and LinkedIn as well as the many business directory listings there are across the web. It will validate this data to ensure you are a reputable and legitimate business. The more accurate your results, the more it will trust your business location and rank you better in Local Search results.

There's no definitive answer here as each business will only be relevant in your appropriate niche and local area. There's obviously no point listing in the US directories when you're a business that operates in Australia only. That being said there are certainly many directories that operate world wide.

It is! But it is also a vital part of your business ranking and no doubt if you've read this far you're serious about improving your rank. We do offer the ability to outsource the job, freeing up your time to focus on the business while we focus on consistent NAP listings in areas that are relevant to you. It's a simple one off costand we even supply you with all the places we submit to on your behalf complete with some other details in your report.