Why Nap Consistency is Crucial for Local SEO
What’s NAP & Why Is This Important For Local SEO?
NAP is the abbreviation of Name, Address, and Phone number. The NAP data can be viewed in several places like Yelp pages, Google Searches, business directories, etc. This NAP data shows up in different places so it is important that it’s consistent.
For instance, your company name is ABC Company and its address is 123 Main Street, Suite 45. Contact number is 1-234-567-8900. On the site, it may be given as:
ABC Company
123 Main Street, Suite 45
Phone: 1-234-567-8900
But, on the other site, like Yelp, the business is given as:
A.B.C. Company
123 Main Street #45
Phone: 1-234-567-8900
While Yahoo business directory may have:
ABC Co.
45-123 Main Street
Phone: 1-234-567-8900
Actually, it is difficult for the search engines to determine whether such businesses are same or not so they try to rank the business correctly. Such situation might be much more confusing if the business has different locations, in case you’ve toll-free number and local number as well, or some other changes.
Where is NAP Data Listed?
Your NAP data and other business related data appears on the sites which you have submitted this too. This also shows on many other sites on the internet. There’re a large number of different business directories and business data sites there. Many of these sites and directories import or copy that data from various sites. It means that, in case you have a problem of inconsistency in the NAP on one site then many other websites might follow this error. It might mean that your piece of information can appear in many forms in several different places on the internet.
It actually puzzles Google and this may also be complicated for the users. Actually, because there’re various directories which scrub each other looking for the business related information, this also becomes tough to correct the NAP consistency problems.
Improving NAP Consistency Problems
For instance, suppose that there is a directory A as well as directory B. Both of these directories consist of NAP information that is inconsistent for the business. If directory A consists of correct information while the other directory has incorrect information. So, you can fix the problems and make variations on the directory B. But it may happen that you might not know that directory B acquires information from directory C. If you try to alter B in order to match directory A then directory B scans C and it reveals that there’s the list on directory C which does not show on directory B (as you have changed it). This automatically makes a new list on directory B which matches directory C. Hence you’ve right information on directories A as well as B, but you also have 2 listings on directory B which are not correct, as well as inconsistent information on directory C.
If it sounds confusing then it is. This is also tough to correct due to the complex situation. In case your site is not ranking high where you want it to be in the local search then you will need to take the assistance of our web development team Coventry in order to analyze the situation, decide the best action, and do the correct adjustments in order to enhance your ranking.
