Legal Internet Marketing Blog

NAP (more clearly referenced as “Name, Address, Phone Number”) is one of the most important aspects of an Internet marketing campaign, particularly when it comes to local place listings on sites such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo (and at a more micro level, Acxiom, Localeze, and InfoUSA). When it comes to NAP, consistency is imperative, and knowing where to look for your listing information is key.

First of all, you need to decide how you want your business listing information to read. For example, if you want to use the word “Suite” instead of the # sign when referring to individual office numbers, be sure to use the same format on all listing sites. If your company or brand has a dba, you need to decide which name you want your company searched for on the Internet. And as far as telephone numbers are concerned, you need to make sure to not only use the same number for each office location you are planning on listing, but you need to use local numbers, not toll-free (and preferably not tracking numbers if at all possible).

When it comes to local place listings and NAPs, consistency can make all the difference in the world. For instance, while one may assume that claiming your company’s business listing on a site like Google Places would allow you to edit and update NAP information with ease, the world of local search listings is not that simplistic. User provided information is but one component of consistent listings, while the other (sometimes more influential components) often stem from other local listing, review, or business registry (such as Better Business Bureau) sites.

What this means for companies and brands is that, when distributing information to listing sites, is it very important to understand which sites pull information from other sites on the Internet, and which sites certain local listing sites, review sites, or aggregator sites distribute their information to. Put bluntly, you need to be able to get to the root of your listing information, and take control of that information at the source so as to help ensure consistency across multiple sites.

So, be sure that your company’s NAPs are consistent. This will help allow your marketing team to rest a little easier when it comes to local search and focus its efforts on other avenues meant to bring in new business.

At SLS Consulting, our legal Internet marketing team has been assisting lawyers and law firms in obtaining successful search engine results for over a decade. We make it our priority to ensure that our clients’ local listings are accurate, consistent, and effective. To learn more and to receive a free growth assessment, call us today at (323) 254-1510.

Time and time again, we’re approached with the same scenario. A client finds incorrect listing information on Google Places, or Manta, or some other local listing site, and then explains to us that he or she can’t figure out how to correct the errors. In short, they can’t get to the root of the problem, and the incorrect listing information never goes away. Ultimately, what’s happening with this client is exactly what he or she described – that is, they are not getting to the ROOT of the problem, mainly because, it isn’t what you would expect.

For anyone who’s ever attempted to correct listing information in Google Places, it’s no secret that the process can often be less than successful. Listings are claimed, information is corrected, and the incorrect information reappears again and again, often times supplanting the client’s “main” listing as the primary profile that Google then goes on to associate customer reviews with. Sound familiar? If you answered yes, you need only take a step back:

Doesn’t sound right, or fair, does it? But, the reality of local search is that Google, along with a host of other local listing directories, trusts information obtained from partner sites more so than they do the actual business owner or marketing representative trying to supply the local directory with accurate information.

So what can one do to help curb these local directory listing nightmare issues? Plainly stated, get to the root of the problem. Find the listing site that Google or Bing or Yahoo is pulling information from, and correct the inaccurate information at the source. Essentially, what you’re going to be doing is working backwards. Find the primary source of your listing nightmares, correct it, and move forward from there, correcting information in each listing that needs editing. In the end, you should find yourself right back where you started – one of the more popular listing sites (e.g. Google, Bing, etc.) where the majority of your web traffic is coming from. Hopefully, once you end up right where you originally started, you should be able to correct your business’s listing information once and for all.

Want to grow your law firm online? The SEO, design, social networking, and writing team at SLS Consulting can assist you with your legal Internet marketing plan to achieve high search engine rankings. With over 12 years of experience, we stay on top of the latest developments in SEO updates and marketing strategies, including Google Places listings. Call (323) 254-1510 today for a free growth assessment.