What is Citation Builder?

What are local Citations, and why are they important?

Citations are online business listings that contain practical information about a business. This can usually include (but not be limited to):

• Address
• Phone number
• Description
• List of services
• Opening hours
• Website link

Whilst citations are not links, they can contain a link to the business's website.

These listings can appear on many types of sites, including:

• Online directories
• Review sites
• Event sites
• News and blog sites — otherwise known as ‘citation sites’

As citations have local SEO value, they can improve ranking in local search engines such as Google Local / Maps. Search engines like Google compare the data displayed on citation sites with the business data it holds. When there is a high level of data confirmation, it builds confidence in the business's location and services offered — this can boost the business ranking in local search results.

How can Citation Builder help?

Citation Builder is a BrightLocal service that helps businesses take control of their data online to ensure it is complete, accurate, and widely displayed.

It allows a business (or agency working on behalf of a client) to:

1. Submit data to create new listings on websites they are not listed on
2. Where possible, claim listings that already exist (and update the data on those listings)
3. Remove harmful duplicate listings from sites

The following two types of submissions can be purchased through Citation Builder:

1. Manual submissions 

Your citations are manually created or updated by our team of citation submission professionals on the directories and sites we submit to. Each campaign is handled by one agent, and also overseen by a manager, who reviews and approves listings to ensure that the highest quality is maintained at all times. Existing listings are manually claimed (where possible), new listings are created and all email verifications are looked after.

Every month, we submit or update data for a total of over 130,000 sites for 2,000 businesses.

Within seven days of payment, all submissions are completed. You can select how many sites we manually submit to, and also handpick the sites that are used on a campaign to give you complete control.

Our extensive database contains over 1,500 directories, review sites, and events sites — this includes niche sites for 40 different industries and local sites for a significant number of towns, cities, and states.

To discover more about our pricing, please click here.

2. Data Aggregator submissions

We submit data to the Data Aggregators by API connection or via a custom dashboard.

Data Aggregators lease their data to other companies such as online directories, review sites, and mobile apps, which creates bulk business citations on a wide variety of sites. This data can then be updated in bulk through the Data Aggregators.

The aggregators are paid by us to submit data, and we then benefit from the broad network of sites that they distribute this data to.

There are five main aggregators in the US (which carry data about US-based businesses), three for Canada and two for other countries. 

You can submit to one, some, or all five data aggregators through our Citation Builder service.

To learn more about Data Aggregators and their associated costs, please click here.