Which Citation Sources Do You Implicity Trust?

[Snaptech_Marketing]

I'm wondering what other SEO's process for selecting citations is. A coworker and I were speaking about the trust level of certain citation sites, and I'd like to get a wider view as well. I haven't really seen this addressed in any other thread or even with a Google search.

How do you go about trusting particular citations? Do you have a process? Are there some you stay away from no matter what? I come across some that I feel are a bit sketchy, and try to stay away from those. Although, maybe they are more trustworthy than I give them credit for.

Thoughts?

[MattRoney]

I can definitely get behind our Moz Local partners. They are:

• Infogroup
• Acxiom
• Localeze
• Factual
• Foursquare
• Superpages
• Best of the Web
• Bing
• Citysearch
• Insiderpages

Otherwise, I can say from my agency days that when they look sketchy, they generally are.

[MiriamEllis]

This is a great question. Matt has given you the list of the partners we trust with our Moz Local tool. I'd like to add a bit more about this.

Once you've got the basic citations built (Google, Facebook, Yelp, the list Matt shared, etc.) you're going to want to start looking elsewhere, and there are 2 things that can really help you judge the relevance of a citation source that have nothing to do with PR or other metrics like that.

1. How well does that site rank for your keywords? If it ranks highly, it's a good bet you should be listed there, as long as that doesn't come with some ridiculous price tag.

2. Are your customers actually using that platform? If the source also supports reviews, look up your competitors in your city. See if people from that city are leaving reviews on the site. That's a quick way to see if it's being used.

Likely, you are going to find yourself wading into the niche directory space once you've moved beyond building standard, core citations, and my honored colleague Phil Rozek just happened to publish an amazingly good piece on this topic: http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2016/07/27/niche-local-citations-dont-get-enough-love/ It not only contains good advice, but also some good links to further reading on this topic of niche directories. I think that post is going to light up your day

Remember that for local businesses, both industry platforms and geographic platforms are possible citations sources. If you're a chimney sweep in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, relevant citations could include being listed on the National Chimney Sweep Guild site, and also on the local Tulsa Chamber of Commerce site, or on a local news site, etc. Think in both directions: industry & geography. Most local businesses can build many good citations this way, expanding their visibility as they go.

Hope this helps!