In today’s society, companies have found that one easy way to win business over their competitors is by providing an easy customer journey. After all, consumers don’t want to work hard to get the things that they need. One simple way for companies to improve upon their customers’ journeys is by making it simple to find and interact with their business. That is why NAP consistency can be so important.
What are NAPs?
The NAP acronym refers to a business’s “Name, Address, and Phone”. NAP consistency refers to the NAP listings across the range of online directories, social platforms, or any other website.
Sometimes, the information can lose consistency between different websites. Facebook.com may have a business at one address or ZIP code, while Bing.com may have a different address or ZIP code. Google may have a business listed under the correct phone number, but Yellow Pages may have a different phone number. It can even affect a business name. It is extremely common for different websites and hosts to have a company under various (but similar) names.
Why is NAP Consistency Important?
By ensuring that NAP listings are consistent across all platforms, companies can remove a significant amount of confusion from the customer journey. Consider the frustration that would follow if a consumer found 5 different phone numbers listed across the web and isn’t sure which to use to reach the business they are interested in. This could put a bad taste in their mouth and encourage them to look elsewhere.
What’s more, having an inconsistent NAP across the board also hurts SEO (Search Engine Optimization) score and prevents businesses from ranking as high on the search engine results page. To put it simply, search engines don’t trust businesses with inconsistencies. It reduces the reliability of a business in the eyes of the search engines, and therefore earns them a ranking lower than companies that maintain NAP consistency.
NAP Consistency Is Key
NAP listings are often referred to as “citations”. Each citation is simply an instance of a business appearing on different webpages. Ideally, a business’ NAP needs to be consistent throughout all the webpages it’s listed on. Unfortunately, it’s likely there are several online directories which will have the wrong information. Chasing those down and trying to correct the information can be a very tedious and painstaking process for most companies. However, there are a variety of tools that can be used to track incorrect or missing citations and correct them over time.
Let Media Venue Help!
If your business is struggling with NAP consistency, Media Venue can help. We specialize in correcting inconsistent and missing NAP listings all across the web. We scour the web to find every incorrect NAP listing. In addition, we can even find every place your NAP is missing. From there, we can help to update incorrect NAP information and create new NAP listings when necessary.
That way, when customers are searching for your business online, it is easy for them to find you. It may even help sway them to choose your business over the competition. Contact us today to learn more about our Citation Management services. Enhance your marketing investment with Media Venue!
