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Hi Mnkpso, In addition to the resources mentioned by our members here, I recommend that you check the blog at NGSmarketing.com. Blogger and local search pro Nyagoslav Zhekov write frequently about citations and I consider him to be one of the world's few authorities on this subject. If you want to learn about citation building, his blog is a great place to visit.

Hi Mnkpso, So glad you found my answer helpful. Yes, deletion of duplicate listings is very important because the existence of them detracts from you sending a single, strong, correct signal to search engines like Google. If you have just one physical address and phone number, you want only one listing in each of the major indexes and directories. Cleaning up duplicates will definitely be an important part in your efforts to achieve high rankings. It can be hard work, but stick with it!

I would say yes it does, simply because displaying outliers on the map is difficult.

My pleasure:)!

Hi Mnkpso, In order to determine the exact cause of your particular experience, you need to have someone be able to audit your website and local listings. As I mentioned above, you could either share the details of your business here in the forum and get community feedback, or, if privacy is an issue, hire a Local SEO to consult with you in private. There are many things that can contribute to ranking changes. You need to find out what is causing what you, specifically, are experiencing, as it isn't possible to diagnose something like this without a proper investigation of your business. There are too many variables to give a one-size-fits-all-answer, and for the health of your business, you should be sure you are getting a proper diagnosis of your issues. It's very important.

Hi Mnkpso, Marcus has done an awesome job responding to you. I will add just a few things here. When I have clients who are completely new to Local SEO, I have them read these 2 pieces I wrote to describe both the technical and mental basics of Local SEO: The Zen of Local SEO The Rudiments of Local SEO For the most complete description of the factors that make up local rankings, I point to: Local Search Ranking Factors 2012 *Note that this last survey was conducted a year ago and that significant changes have taken place since then, but the basic factors are pretty much the same. And, because a major key to success in Local is keeping on top of the news, I would recommend these blogs and fora in addition to the two mentioned by Marcus: http://www.blumenthals.com/blog http://www.ngsmarketing.com/blog/ http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/ There are other super Local SEO bloggers out there, too. Hope these tips are helpful!

First of all, very sorry to hear about your drop in rankings, MNK.  I'm sure that's been pretty stressful.  It's difficult to say what's going on without getting a few more details, so could you provide a few please, such as a link to your Google+ Local page and what keywords you have dropped in rankings for?

Moz has getListed.org  ( https://getlisted.org/ ). If you input your business name and zip code you can see where and how you are listed and claim your site/make corrections as needed.

The "dance" results you are seeing can also be contributed to where you are checking the positions from, platform (o/s, computer type, laptop, mobile etc), the country/city you are in when checking, whether you are signed in to Google etc. Clear cookies/cache/ip address each rank check and try to replicate the same variables at all times, this might give you more stable feedback. All the best :).