In this overview we explain how to understand the results of your completed Citation Builder Campaign. 

Contents

1) Campaign Summary
           a) Campaign Name
           b) Campaign Status
           c) Campaign ID
           d) Campaign Dates
           e) Campaign Credentials
           f) How is your Citation Builder campaign delivered?
2) Campaign Citation Summary Table
3) ‘Buy More Citations’ Button
4) ‘Actions’ Button
5) Directories Section
           a) Citation Site
           b) Types of Site
           c) Authority
           d) Date
           e) Status
           f) Replacement Citations
           g) Campaign Notes
           h) Actions
6) Campaign Terminology
7) Feedback Form

Below is the example of the Citation Builder report, that will appear on the BrightLocal dashboard for a specific location:

Here we explain what each section shows and how to understand the report data.

1) Campaign Summary

The very top of the Citation Builder report consists of two parts - the campaign summary and the citation summary table:

Within the Campaign Summary you can find the following information:

a) Campaign Name

 The most prominent feature is the name of the business this campaign has been created for: 

b) Campaign Status

Each Citation Builder campaign gets assigned a certain status, which depends  on a specific stage the campaign is at:

There are seven different statuses that you may see on your report:

Saved: This status means that the client has created a campaign but did not select the number of citations in step 2 during campaign set up. The client may go back and add more data or citations in the future.

Paid: This means that the purchase of the campaign has gone through and we are now doing the preliminary data checks.

In Progress: This means that our agents are currently working on the campaign and submitting the data to the directories, or that it is in the queue and will begin soon.

QA & Review: This means that we have completed the submission of the data to all of the citations and our senior managers are performing the quality check. Our senior managers make sure that correct information was submitted, detect and fix any errors or issues, and check whether any pending listings have gone live.

On Hold: This status means that we have found issues or data inconsistency in the campaign information and we need the client's confirmation on how to proceed further.

Confirmed: This status means that the client has selected the number of citations to be ordered, filled in the business details at step 3, but have yet paid for the campaign.

Finished: This status means the campaign is now complete with a minimum of 70% guaranteed live listings.

If any of these statuses have the word ‘extra’ next to it - it means that this is a follow-on campaign that has been renewed.

c) Campaign ID

 

Each campaign is assigned a specific ID number. If you need to get in touch with us ID number will help us find your campaign in our system a lot quicker.

If you renew the campaign or buy more citations we will add a different letter of the alphabet to it, to differentiate between them.

d) Campaign Dates

Campaign report always mentions the following dates:

Purchase Date: When the campaign was paid for.

Expected Submission Completion Date: When we expect to complete the submission of the business data to your selected directories.

Expected Campaign Completion Date: When we are expecting to complete the entire campaign. We aim to complete each campaign within 6 to 7 weeks.

e) Campaign Credentials

 When our submission agents start working on the Citation Builder campaign, one of the first things they’ll do is create a dedicated email account, which is then used for registration purposes on most citation sites.

When you click on the ‘Login/Password’ button a pop-up window will appear with login information:

Most directories will require both the email and password, however, some may use the username instead, so we have added that here too.

We also added the URL, where clients can access the mailbox using the same credentials.

We will use these credentials for the majority of the citation sites throughout the campaign. If a specific site requires a unique or specific email address (e.g. Bing will require a Microsoft email address) - we will add it to the notes section next to the citation in question.

These details will also be used as recovery information for unique credentials that we use for sites like Bing. So if you are locked out from the account - these can help you regain access.

f) How is your Citation Builder campaign delivered?

This is a link to a very helpful video that explains how our agents are working on the Citation Builder campaign, and what the duration of each campaign stage is.

 2) Campaign Citation Summary Table

Even though we list out every single citation site used in the campaign, we also summarize everything in this table:

It provides brief information about the campaign in numbers, simply because each citation site is different and some listings go live quicker than others. Therefore, it shows the client the progress of our work:

Ordered: Total number of citations ordered

To Do: How many are yet to be done/submitted (to do)

Submitted: How many have already been submitted to directories

Pending: How many are pending going live

Live: How many are live on the directories

Updated: How many directories have been updated on existing listings 

Existed: How many already existed without needing any updates

When the campaign is reordered a new row is added to this table, enabling you to see its progress.

3) ‘Buy More Citations’ Button

At the top right-hand side, there are two action buttons that clients can use.

The ‘Buy More Citations’ button allows the customer to reorder the campaign, so it can be updated if some of the information has changed, or if the client simply wants to add more citations to the existing list:

When this option is selected the user is then redirected to step 2 of the Citation Builder campaign setup.

 4) ‘Actions’ Button

The ‘Actions’ button is located right next to the ‘Buy More Citations’ and has a dropdown menu that offers the whole selection of functions:

 Edit Campaign Settings: This section will show what information was initially submitted for the specific campaign. These details can be edited, however, they will not be applied to the Citation Builder campaign unless it’s reordered.

View External Campaign: This function allows you to view the campaign on the external URL. More information about this can be found here.

Download PDF: This function allows you to download the report in PDF format.

Download CSV: Similar to the option above, but instead of PDF the report can be downloaded in CSV format.

5) Directories Section

 This section lists each citation that was ordered for the campaign, as well as a lot of other additional information.

 a) Citation Site

This is the site that was selected for the campaign at step 2 of the set up: 

 b) Type of Site

This specifies whether the site is a general directory or a niche site:

 

c) Authority

This information shows the Domain Authority of the chosen citation. This is an ‘SEO’ score of the website and it predicts the ability of the site to rank well in search engines:

d) Date

This is the date when our team submitted or updated the citation:

e) Status

This shows the current status of the citation.

There are five different status options that can appear on the report:

Live: This status means there was no existing listing for the business, so we created one which is now live on the directory. You can click the ‘Live’ icon to view the directory listing in a new tab.

Updated: This status means there was an existing listing on the directory for the business with incorrect details, so we have successfully updated this listing with the correct data.

Submitted: This status means we have submitted a brand new listing and we’re now waiting for the listing to go live. We check for live listings twice: the first check is made two weeks after initial submission and the second check is made four weeks after initial submission. You can also manually update the links yourself if they’ve gone live.

Pending: This status means that we have found an existing listing with incorrect data. We have contacted the directory, requested that they update it, and are waiting for the edits to be approved by the site moderators.

Existing: This status means we have found an existing listing and we’re unable to update it because of the site’s publishing policies. Alternatively, it can mean that the listing already had the correct NAP information, so we’ve made no attempt to update it. You can find more information in the notes section.

In some cases, we may encounter an issue that will prevent us from using a certain site.

If we are not able to submit the business data to one of the chosen sites, it will still appear on the Citation Builder report. However, no status will be assigned to it and we will display the following message instead: 

f) Replacement Citations

We always do our best to submit the business data to all citations that have been selected for the campaign. Unfortunately, sometimes it is not possible due to unforeseen circumstances that are out of our control.

When we are unable to submit to a site, we will submit you to an alternative replacement site with a similar Domain Authority to ensure you receive the correct number of submissions ordered.

The replacement citation will appear on the report and will have the word ‘Rep’ in front of it:

We will always leave detailed feedback as to why we were unable to submit to that site. This information will be available in the notes section, next to the citation:

 

g) Campaign Notes

Our submission agents will often leave notes next to some citations to provide feedback or additional information. Here is an example of the notes icon:

 

To view the notes you can either hover above the symbol or click on it to see the pop-up message:

 

These notes will contain information about the details that we have updated, additional/unique credentials, an issue that we have encountered, and so on.

 h) Actions

‘Actions’ is the very last column in the citation report and it is populated by blue double arrow symbols only for citations that are marked as ‘Pending Approval’ or ‘Submitted’:

 

This icon means that allows you to add in the link to the live listing yourself and update your campaign report. This can be used in several cases. For example, if you notice that submitted or pending listings have gone live before we check it, or if you have completed the phone verification and the listing is now live.

 All you need to do is click on the double arrow symbol to see a pop-up window:

 

Enter the listing’s URL to the field and click ‘Add URL’. The listing will be added to the report and the status of the listing will change to ‘Live’.

 This is a great functionality that allows you to edit your own report.

 6) Campaign Terminology

You will find the campaign terminology at the bottom of each Citation Builder campaign report. It explains the meaning of each listing status, as well as all the symbols:

This is very useful if you would like to share the report with someone else who has not seen this report before and does not know the meaning behind each symbol/status.

7) Feedback Form

The very last section, located below the ‘Campaign Terminology’ section is the feedback form:

 

This allows you to contact us about the specific campaign and ask us any questions that you may have about it.

The form is linked to the report, meaning your message will come through to us with campaign ID, making it quick and easy for us to help you.