Why Citations?
SEO is a complex field, and it is important that you take a multifaceted approach to it. On-site SEO is something that you will need to put a lot of effort into but it also helps if you can get lots of off-site mentions too. Let's not miss the importance of Citations.
Why Citations?
Citations are useful because they help the search engines understand the quality of a page and also the authority that others place on it. In addition, they help the search engine to give context to your brand name. If your brand is often mentioned in the same breath as that of a national organization in your niche or as providing related services, then you will be linked to that company in the mind of the search engine as being related and most likely reputable too.
Citations are also important because they tend to be deep links. Acquiring a lot of links to your site's home page can be counter productive because it means that you might get flagged for unnatural looking link patterns. In contrast, if you acquire a lot of links to deeper pages, with the kind of varied anchor text that comes with that, then you are more likely to rank well.
Academic citations carry a lot of weight, because the search engines know that they cannot be bought easily and that the journals and papers are peer reviewed. Not all niches lend themselves to academic citations, of course, but for those that do they can be a boon to your rankings.
If you want your site to rank as well as possible, explore all the options - guest blogging, link building, sponsorship, article marketing, and yes, acquiring citations. By using as many different quality markers as possible you increase the chances of your site being viewed as an authority in your niche.
Don't forget the on site makers of quality such as fast page loading and responsive design. It all counts towards rankings, and you never know what your competitors will be doing to try to beat you in the SERPS. It could be that a small tweak or an extra mention on a high profile website is all it takes to tip the ranking scales in your favor in Google's view.
Make it a Great Day!
Jim Coffey II
http://bytoseo.com/wilmington-nc
Recent Comments
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I like citations, especially from my favourite authors. Thanks for reminding to use them more often.
Found your post very interesting Jim, learnt something new today thank you.