Local SEO: How many consistent citations needed to rank

[BobGW]

Hello,

Can you guys analyze this site and see how many (quality, consistent) citations they'll need to rank 1st (in local results) for the two following local terms:

weight loss salt lake city

hypnosis salt lake city

website:

The Brain Trainer LLC

www.expandingpotentials.net

Thank you

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bob,

If there's NAP consistency issues that you've discovered, they are almost certainly harming the business' ability to rank well locally. If the client has a very small budget, perhaps the best thing to do would be to offer her an hour or two of consulting to teach her how to find citations and correct them on her own. If a business owner doesn't have budget, they have to be able to invest time if they want to have some ability to compete, right? So, offering to train her to discover and correct her citations wouldn't require much of your consulting time and would really empower her to take control of her presence on the web. That would be my thinking on this.

[BobGW]

Thanks Mariam,

I didn't know you'd have to do a full analysis to give me a number. Sorry about that. As I continued to look at her citations, they're all over the map - 2 addresses, 2 business names, 1 phone number.

We haven't started the on-site optimization. I don't know if I can help her on her budget. What do you do when someone has a low budget and has citations all over the map? I don't know how to quote her, or if it would be worth it. I was not planning on charging her a lot since I'm still learning about local SEO.

Any advice is appreciated.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bob,

Within the space of the forum, I can't offer to do a full analysis of all of your client's competitors, which is what you'd need to do in order to begin getting a picture of the competitiveness of the citation building going on in her city and industry. It can be good to do this type of research for your clients, but I don't really think you can hit on an exact number, because the situation isn't static. More importantly, perhaps, remember that number of citations does not equal where a business ranks. It's only part of the picture.

I took a quick look at the website you've linked to and it does not seem very well optimized for Local SEO - and this is such a BIG part of the ranking picture.

So, my advice here is to use a tool like GetListed.org to be sure your client's core basic citations are built in the 10-20 basic places. Then, look at articles like this one, http://www.leanmarketing.ca/lean-top-50-best-local-citation-sources-in-the-usa/, for additional citation building ideas. Look at the competitors' citation profiles to see if there are additional opportunities you've missed. And, don't forget to look for hyperlocal sites and professional sites that will not be listed on these top 50, top 100-type articles because they are too niche-focused.

But be sure you're covering your other bases, as well, including great on-page local optimization, review acquisition, content development, social, etc. Local rankings stem from a variety of factors and you've got to be on top of them all. Hope this helps.