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How Many Citations Does a Small Business Need? [Case Study]
When it comes to building citations for small businesses, the results are mixed. While citations can sometimes boost organic rankings, they often have little to no impact on local pack rankings. Additionally, many citations fail to stay indexed by Google, which diminishes their long-term value.
How Many Citations Should a Small Business Build?
This question is common among small business owners and SEO professionals alike. To find the answer, a test was conducted where 50 citations were built at once for both a dentist and a handyman client. The goal was to see if a bulk submission of citations would lead to a noticeable improvement in rankings. The results were interesting, but not entirely encouraging.
For both the handyman and dentist, there was an initial increase in organic rankings following the submission of the citations.
However, there was no improvement in their local pack rankings, which is often the primary focus of citation building.
This suggests that while citations can impact organic results, they may not influence local rankings as much as previously thought.
What Happened to the Citations Over Time?
The real issue with citation building became apparent over time. A month after the citations were submitted, only 26 out of the 50 citations for the dentist remained indexed by Google. This number dwindled to just two after six months. The handyman client experienced a similar drop, with only two out of 50 citations remaining indexed after six months.
Are All Citations Worth the Investment?
Not all citations are created equal. While some generic citations, like those on Yelp, may not offer long-term benefits, industry-specific directories can be more valuable. For example, wedding planners benefit from being listed on sites like The Knot, and lawyers have specific legal directories that are worth the investment.
However, these valuable directories often require paid listings, which are not typically included in standard citation building packages.
How Many Citations Should You Build?
With all the testing we’ve done in the last few years on this, I have found that 10 to 20 citations is usually the maximum you can get Google to keep indexed. This may seem like a low bar, but it reflects the reality of citation building in today’s SEO landscape. Regular monitoring SEO efforts are necessary to ensure that your citations continue to provide value over time.
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Hi Joy,
You mentioned that you “found that 10 to 20 citations is usually the maximum you can get Google to keep indexed.”
Are you actively working on those citations to keep them indexed? Perhaps you’re actively soliciting reviews on them or building links or posting updates?
Not Joy here,
Nope, we were not actively working on the citations at all. We just created them and let Google decide if they were good enough to index or not.
Hi Joy,
You mentioned that you “found that 10 to 20 citations is usually the maximum you can get Google to keep indexed.”
Are you actively working on those citations to keep them indexed? Perhaps you’re actively soliciting reviews on them or building links or posting updates?
Not Joy here,
Nope, we were not actively working on the citations at all. We just created them and let Google decide if they were good enough to index or not.