Where do we know that citations are needed?

[vladokan]

Hi, there,

I 've read much about citations and that there are very good for local SEO. I also watched the webinar about them in SEOMOZ. My question is where does the information that citation are needed and help in Google ranking? Is there a proof from Google or just it is found by seo specialists? I've never heard about it just 1-2 years ago so I am interested where this information comes from?

[danatanseo]

Hi Vladokan,

I hope I am understanding your question correctly. It sounds like you are wanting something that will show you what citations you already have, which ones you are missing and perhaps even which ones are there but not quite complete. As it turns out, SEOMoz just acquired a company that can help you do just that. If you go to http://www.getlisted.org and put in your information you can find out what citations you already have, which ones you should have (but don't) and which ones you might have partially complete that should have more information.

I am not sure how well this works (if at all) for international sites, so am interested to know what you discover for your own site and what suggestions some other members here might have.

Dana

[vladokan]

Hi, Dana,

thank you for linking this tool. I tried it - it is working for USA only or nearby country may be but I will also need this for some web sites - thank you again!

My question is about historically to say - from which sources we have learned about the importance of citation sources - does members of Google said that or somebody in the SEO community found it out?

[danatanseo]

Hi again,

Again I want to be sure I am understanding the question. Are you asking how to determine which citations are the most valuable and whether or not the value of those citations is determined by Google or by the SEO community? If so, I would answer that neither Google nor the SEO community determines which citations are the most valuable.I would say it's determined by the followers and subscribers of any particular source. For example, Yelp is extremely popular and many people go to Yelp to read restaurant reviews, find restaurants based on type of food, etc. Because so many people visit and use  Yelp, Google then looks upon a citation in Yelp as pretty necessary for certain types of businesses. If you are a restaurant and you have no presence in Yelp, it could cause Google to view your restaurant as less of an authoritative business.

That's a pretty long-winded answer on my part, lol. I hope it helps a little. Again, I might be misunderstanding your question so I apologize if my answer isn't helpful. Hopefully I am helping a little.

Dana

[vladokan]

Wow, well I think my definite question is not so meaningful after your two answers because at all the most important thing is that citations are truly very important, not where we have found the information about their importance.

Thank you again, Dana!

[danatanseo]

You are very welcome.