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NAP – The most important part of local search

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NAP name address phone number
There’s a right way and a wrong way to list your name, address and phone number

Name, address, phone number (NAP) – Pretty hard to mess up, right? You’d be surprised.

NAP is one of the key signals Google looks at in determining whether or not to place your business on its map and how far up in the rankings you’ll go. They want to see that your NAP is exactly the same in Google + Local, your website, on Yelp and other places your business is listed around the Web. So consistency is an important thing to focus on.

Ways to avoid messing up your NAP

Name

  • Use your real DBA business name
  • Don’t keyword stuff (don’t put electric, electrical AND electricians in your name field)

Address

  • Don’t put directions in the address field (“just across the street from Moe’s Grub”)
  • Use standard formats and capitalize (201 E. Main St., Suite 2, not 201 e main st, ste 2)
  • List your real address, not a PO Box
  • Use the city you are located in (if you’re in Fletcher, don’t put Asheville in an attempt to attract more customers – it won’t work)
  • List your 5 digit zip code, not a 9 digit one

Phone

  • Use your real phone number
  • Don’t use vanity numbers (1-828-PRINTER)
  • Make sure your phone number is a local number
  • Don’t list a call center number
  • Don’t use an image for your phone number on your website; search engines can’t read text from images

These are just a few tips to help you rank high in Google local search results. Don’t want to implement all this yourself? Contact us – we’re here to help.

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