Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Do Citation Count As Backlinks / Referring Domains
-
I listed clients listed on about 200+ local citation sites and was NAP complaint. However, when I run a backlink checker using MOZ, SEMRUSH, etc it only show 8 -12 and none of them are the citations. Anyone have any pointers?
-
Thanks Miriam. I kind of figured that and I do citations primarily so customers can find my clients. I just wanted to make sure that I was delivering as much as possible to our clients. Again, thanks!
-
Hi Max,
For a tool like Moz OSE, it's a matter of depth that is likely preventing us from crawling through directories' millions of pages to find just one link on your particular listing on such a site. This does not meant that the links in your citations do not count as links - just that a crawl may not find them. Also, important to mention that the key point of building citations is not links - it's about ensuring that your business NAP is available and consistent on a variety of platforms. This makes you accessible to your customers and also strengthens search engines' 'belief' in the validity of your data.
-
Hey there
Yes they do if links were built. Keep in mind that these crawlers from these services can only crawl so much and retain so much information. So, while you may not be seeing them in those tools, that doesn't mean they aren't there. You may also want to do an inventory check and make sure those listings and citations still exist, and if they are still relevant and not considered spammy at this point.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Unsolved strange backlinks being from neustar/localeze
I have a client that I used Moz Local services for, and I'm seeing lots of urls such as https://www.omegalab.neustarlocaleze.biz/directory/us/?after=2020-09-05T01:52:28.343352Z&count=50 being shown as follow backlinks in other software. Anyone else seeing this and think it might be an issue?
Local Listings | | JustinMurray1 -
Does Google prioritise local domains?
I'm in Australia targeting Australian traffic. I often see US domains in the Google SERPS and wonder if that indicates an opportunity for local (Australian) domains to rank?
Local Listings | | Lazeh0 -
Is it more beneficial to use Yext rather than doing the citations manually?
Our company wanted to experiment on whether it truly is more beneficial to use Yext for citations rather than to do them ourselves. The thought process here, is that when we manually do the citations, some of our listings would increase in quality. The problem we have been running into, is that Yext has exclusive deals with nearly half of the sources we were previously listed under. Is there a way around this, or is Yext truly worth the cost?
Local Listings | | rburnett1 -
Google listing only appears when I move / zoom in or out of the map
Hi everyone, We are having an issue with this local business. The Google listing isn't immediately appearing on the map. You have to move the map or zoom in and out for the listing to appear. I find this really odd as our competitors - with no reviews and way further in proximity - are appearing with no issues. The listing is only about 4km where I'm doing the search, while competitors with no reviews are about 20km away. We are ranking in the top 5 organically for the search term I used (pool renovations brisbane), but nowhere in local unless the map is moved. When the listing appears, sometimes the pin also looks grey instead of red, while others are red (if that makes sense). On top of this, their organic rankings have also been on a downward trend since June. I'm currently doing a backlink audit to see if it's contributing to the issue. If anyone also has other ideas, could you please let me know? Thanks.
Local Listings | | nhhernandez1 -
What is the ideal length of a business description for citations?
I am trying to write a business description for building citations. What is the ideal length or word count for this? I am using Yext to help get them listed, did a lot of searching for an answer and was unable to come up with a definite answer. Any help would be great! The business I am working on for this is James River Church, they have 2 locations. So I am trying to write a unique description for both locations.
Local Listings | | chris.oursbourn0 -
Best Local Citation Building Services
Hi, have any of you ever used a local citation building service? Are some better than others, any recommendations? Any bad experiences or companies to avoid? I'm fairly new to the process and it looks like there's a lot of snake oil salesmen in this vertical, so any and all insight you could give me would be great! Thank you in advance, I look forward to hearing feedback from all of you!
Local Listings | | maxcarnage0 -
Reliability of http://www.scamanalyst.net/
Hi - has anyone used scamanalyst.net as a research tool? If so, do you have any thoughts on how reliable the site information is? My thought is to use in conjunction with Open Site Explorer (in the process of tidying up a clients' questionable site links). Thanks so much.
Local Listings | | E2E0 -
How can I manually build local citations for a client?
Note: I am not interested in paying for services to build citations for me. I am managing building a client's citations. On many sites I am asked to create an account and verify my information. I have tried to create accounts using my client's email address and specified password so that they can manage their citations down the road should their NAP change. However, many sites require further verification such as security questions or a phone code. It isn't practical or effective to ask a client to confirm and verify all of these accounts. What is the most effective way to manually build local citations for a client? How can I get around the issue of email and phone verification?
Local Listings | | BlairKuhnen0