Local citation checker
A prioritised audit of the 14 directories that actually matter. We confirm your Google profile and every listing your site already links to, then hand you a pre-filled search and submit link for the rest — no guessing, no invented results.
- 14 directories
- Ranked by priority
- Direct submit links
How local citations actually work
Citations are corroboration. Google finds your business claiming to be at a particular address on a particular phone number, then looks for independent sources saying the same thing. The more credible sources agree, the more confident it becomes — and confidence feeds directly into whether you appear in the Map Pack.
This is also where a great deal of local SEO money is wasted. Citation building is easy to sell in bulk and easy to appear to deliver, which is why packages promising hundreds of listings exist. In practice the returns fall off a cliff after the first ten or so, and sloppy bulk submissions create the inconsistencies that cause the problem in the first place.
Consistency beats volume, every time
Fifty listings with four different phone numbers between them are worse than eight listings that agree perfectly. Each inconsistent citation is another contradictory data point Google has to reconcile. Check your NAP first, then build.
The top five carry most of the weight
Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, and a complete Facebook Page cover the large majority of citation value for a local service business. Apple in particular is routinely ignored, despite every iPhone using Siri or Apple Maps reading it.
Industry and local directories outperform generic ones
Your chamber of commerce, your trade association, your licensing body, and local business groups produce citations that are both relevant and genuinely hard for competitors to replicate. They are worth more than another generic aggregator listing.
Claim, do not just create
Many directories already hold an unclaimed, auto-generated listing for your business with outdated details scraped from somewhere else. Claiming and correcting those is usually higher-value work than creating new ones.
A note on how this tool reports results
Most citation checkers present a confident tick or cross for every directory. Many of those results are inferred rather than observed, because the large directories block automated lookups. This tool reports four states instead: listed when we found your name in the directory, linked when your own site links to a profile there, missing when the directory answered and you were not in it, and verify yourself when the directory refused to answer. You get fewer confident-looking rows and considerably more truthful ones.
Frequently asked questions
What is a local citation?+
A citation is any online mention of your business name, address, and phone number — a Yelp profile, a BBB listing, a chamber of commerce directory entry. Google cross-references them to confirm your business is real, is where you say it is, and is reachable on the number you publish. Volume matters less than consistency and quality.
Why does the tool ask me to verify some directories myself?+
Because those directories refuse automated requests outright. We tested this: Yellow Pages and Manta return HTTP 403 to a normal Chrome user agent as readily as to a bot, and MapQuest returns an empty JavaScript shell. Yelp, Facebook, the BBB, Angi, Thumbtack, Nextdoor, Bing and Apple behave the same way. We could guess, but a guess dressed up as a result is worse than no result — so we mark them honestly and hand you a pre-filled search link. Each takes about ten seconds.
How does it know I am already listed somewhere?+
Two ways. If you supply your website, we look for links from your site to a profile on each directory — a link to your Yelp page proves the listing exists. For directories that permit it, we also search them directly and look for your business name in the results. Google is confirmed properly through the Places API.
How many citations do I actually need?+
Far fewer than most agencies sell. The critical and high-priority listings in this tool — Google, Bing, Apple, Yelp, Facebook — cover the overwhelming majority of the value. After the top ten or so, additional directories deliver very little, and low-quality bulk submissions can create the NAP inconsistencies that hurt you.
Should I pay a service to build citations?+
Usually not, at least not before the basics are right. Bulk citation services frequently submit slightly different data to each directory, which creates exactly the inconsistency problem you were trying to solve. Claim the top listings yourself with identical details, then reassess.
Next steps
Make sure the details you submit are consistent, then run the full audit to see everything else affecting your local ranking.