Business Citation Implementation Guide
Document type: Technical Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
Version: 1.0 Date: 06 Jun 2025
1 Purpose
This SOP describes the required process for creating, auditing and maintaining business citations (Name-Address-Phone + URL, hereafter “NAP”) to support local search-engine optimisation (SEO). It ensures that all citations are accurate, consistent and compliant with Google Business Profile (GBP) best practices.
2 Scope
Applies to:
Internal marketing teams
External SEO vendors under contract
All operating units that publish or maintain company location data
3 Definitions
Term Definition
Citation A public, crawlable reference that includes the organisation’s exact NAP details and website URL.
Authoritative Source Directory or portal with Domain Authority ≥ 40 (Moz) or equivalent trust metric, relevant to the organisation’s industry or locality.
Link Velocity Rate at which new citations/backlinks appear for the domain. Must remain within normalised industry ranges to avoid algorithmic flags.
4 Prerequisites
Confirm a single, canonical NAP string in the corporate style guide.
Obtain a high-resolution logo (≥ 400 × 400 px) and approved 120-word boilerplate description.
Provision access to Moz Pro, BrightLocal or equivalent citation-tracking tool.
5 Quality Criteria
Accuracy – NAP fields must match the canonical string exactly (character-for-character, spacing and punctuation included).
Relevance – Source must be either (a) a recognised national directory, (b) a sector-specific portal, or (c) a government / chamber-of-commerce site.
Uniqueness – Each citation must contain a custom 75- to 150-word description; verbatim duplication across listings is prohibited.
Pace – Create or update no more than two (2) new citations per seven-day window for each physical location.
Compliance – No automated bulk submissions to sites with DA < 20 or obvious spam signals (thin content, excessive ads, captchas disabled).
6 Procedure
6.1 Planning
Step Action Owner
1 Export existing citation inventory from tracking tool. SEO Analyst
2 Identify gaps vs. top three map-pack competitors (citation count & authority). SEO Analyst
3 Prioritise targets: high-authority sector sites ► trusted local directories ► secondary industry blogs. SEO Manager
6.2 Data Preparation
Open the canonical NAP file (master-nap.csv).
For each location, populate the Citation Data Sheet with:
Location ID
NAP string
Geo-tagged URL (homepage or store-locator subpage)
Unique 75-120 word summary (include 1–2 natural-language keywords)
6.3 Submission Workflow
Manual Entry
Navigate to target directory.
Complete mandatory fields.
Paste NAP exactly as in master record.
Upload logo (JPEG, 40–100 KB).
Verification
If directory sends confirmation email, respond within 24 h.
Record live URL in Citation Log.
Review
Peer QA verifies spelling, URL and category tags.
Mark status as “Verified”.
6.4 Scheduling
Add each verified citation to the “Link Velocity Tracker”.
Ensure total weekly additions ≤ 2 to satisfy §5 Quality Criterion 4.
7 Maintenance & Change Control
7.1 Quarterly Audit
Run BrightLocal scan.
Flag mismatches (> 1 character deviation) or duplicates.
Submit correction or suppression requests within five business days.
7.2 Event-Driven Updates
Trigger Event Required Action
Address change Update GBP immediately, then audit all live citations.
Phone number change Same-day edits to top-10 authority listings, remaining within 14 days.
Rebrand Phase-out plan approved by Legal; redirect old profiles as allowed.
8 Monitoring & Metrics
Metric Source Target
Map-pack position for primary keyword Local rank tracker Top 3
GBP phone calls MoM GBP Insights +10 %
Duplicate citation count BrightLocal 0
NAP mismatch count BrightLocal 0
Generate monthly KPI report. Escalate deviations > 10 % from target to SEO Manager.
9 Risk Mitigation
Risk Impact Control
Bulk low-quality submissions Algorithmic penalty Enforce manual review and DA thresholds.
Inconsistent NAP after relocation Rank loss; customer confusion Mandatory post-move audit within 30 days.
Neglected citations Data drift over time Quarterly audits (see §7.1).
10 Appendix A — Citation Creation Checklist
Canonical NAP confirmed
Directory vetted (DA, industry relevance)
Custom description drafted
Logo optimised and uploaded
Citation logged with live URL
Peer QA complete
Velocity tracker updated