How do I create a Citation Builder campaign?

There are two ways to create a new Citation Builder campaign.

Click on 'Citation Builder' in the top menu (shown below within the red box) to open the Citation Builder overview page, which will display a list of all existing campaigns.

Next, click the green ‘New Campaign’ button (indicated below by the red box on the right) to set up a new campaign.

Alternatively, you can start creating a campaign from inside a Location Dashboard, provided that the Location does not yet have a campaign set up. Just click on 'Citation Builder' from the sidebar (shown below in the red box) to begin the process.

Give your campaign a name: Enter the campaign name so that it can be identified within your BrightLocal account.

Select white-label profile: Multiple white-label profiles can be set up at once. Here you can select your preferred white-label profile for this campaign, if applicable.  

Learn more about white-labeling reports here.

b. Business Details

All fields in this section will be populated from the Location's existing business details, however, it's a good idea to double-check everything before this information is published to multiple directories. If something doesn't seem right in this section, you can make the required edits, but they have to be done in the location settings. Simply click the “Update in Location settings” option, and you will be redirected to that page.

c. Alternative Business Details

We use the 'Alternative Business Details' to find any outdated or incorrect listings for your business. If you have an old business name, address, or phone number, we can use these details to locate any out-of-date listings that need to be updated.

Once all data has been entered completely and accurately, click the green ‘Done! Go to Step 2’ button.

We will then filter our citation database to find relevant sites for your business. Any existing listings on these sites are identified.

a. Submission Options:

Here you can select the type and quantity of submissions needed for your campaign.

Service-Area Business options: If your business doesn't have a physical store and instead you service clients at their location, you can indicate this by clicking 'Yes' to the 'Is this a service-area business?' option. You can then also switch on the toggle below to only show options that hide your address. 

Manual Submissions: Select the number of submissions you need from the dropdown menu — you can select package sizes of: 10, 15, 25, 30, 50, 75 or 100. The number of available, new listings will vary depending on the business category, location, and the number of correct listings that already exist. So if 50 is the maximum number of citations available, that reflects the number of relevant citations that we have in our database for this particular business.

Duplicate Removals: You can also request duplicate removal on the citation sites that you select for the campaign. Simply ensure that ‘Remove Harmful Duplicate Listings’ is selected, and our submissions team will then know to conduct a thorough search to identify and remove any possible duplicates. Whilst we will take all possible action to remove duplicates, we're often reliant on the site editors to complete the removal. Therefore, we can’t provide a 100% guarantee that all duplicates will be removed by the end of the campaign.

Data Aggregators/Networks: Adding aggregators/networks to your order is a powerful way of ensuring your listings are pushed out to the wider local search ecosystem, as well the specific directories that you select. Discover more about aggregators/networks here.

It's possible to just order aggregators/networks, or a combination of both aggregators/networks and manual submissions. Aggregators/networks are priced at $25 each, and a 20% discount is offered if five are purchased together in a bundle.

b.  Existing Citations

This section will show you the existing business citations that our tool has identified automatically.

When the business details are incorrect, the text is highlighted in red. If you believe that a specific citation has been identified incorrectly or has no connection to the business, you can easily move it to the ‘Available New Citations’ section by clicking the ‘X’ button on the right-hand side of the citation.

In some instances, we are unable to update the existing listing on the citation sites — for example, when the edits or updates are a paid feature. You won't be able to select these for the campaign and they will display an exclamation mark within a red triangle rather than a checkbox. To find out the specific issue involved, hover over this triangle and a corresponding message will be displayed.

c. Available New Citations 

This section shows a variety of citations where the business is not yet listed and displays the following information:

• The directory’s URL
• Its type (whether it's a niche or a general directory)
• Domain authority
• Citation value
• A notes section

The different symbols visible within the notes section provide more detailed citation information — whether it requires phone verification, allows you to add photos, if it's part of the Yext network, etc. Hovering above each symbol will let you see a more detailed description.

You can also filter the citations list based on the criteria that match your requirements.

If you click the ‘Filter’ button on the top right (shown above within the red box), it will display the available filter options. Select the ones you require, and then you'll see the list of citations that exclude, for example, sites that are in the Yext network or sites that require phone verification.

Once you've selected the citations you would like us to create and update, you can then either proceed to Step 3 or save the campaign and come back to it later.

The saved campaign will be then stored in the Citation Builder section of your dashboard:

a. Business Details

The next section contains business information:

If you've turned on the toggle in step 2 to say that you want to hide your business address because you're a service-area business, then you'll see a button at the top of this section asking if you want to publish the location address. Simply select 'No'. 

Business Location Info: This will be automatically pre-populated with data entered in Step 1, as well as in the ‘Location Manager’ section of the dashboard. You just need to check the existing information and add any details that might be missing.

Business Location Contact Info: Here, you need to add the information that potential customers can use to contact the business directly. While this data is optional, it will still be published on the citations that were selected for the campaign. Only enter a mobile number in this section if it is different from the 'Business telephone number' in the section above. Please do not enter the same telephone number for 'Mobile telephone number', 'Business fax number', and 'Business telephone number'. 

b. About the Business

This section contains additional content that is accepted by various directories — this is potentially important as it can make your listings really stand out.

Business categories, descriptions, and working hours are mandatory fields — these are all marked with an asterisk. The number of employees, year of formation, services, and payment methods are optional fields, although it can prove very useful to complete these.

Business category is populated from Location Manager and must be edited on the Location Manager page. The field will be dark gray, as shown below:

c. Business Images

A logo and selection of images can be added here, which will then be published on citation sites. We recommend taking advantage of this option, as it will definitely make your listing look more complete.

Images can either be uploaded as files (maximum size: 2MB) or in URL format. Please ensure that any files added are not too small.

Images can only be added through the Location Manager. To add them, click on 'Edit in Location Manager' and follow these instructions. 

d. Social Media Links

You can also provide links to your social media pages, which we can publish on the listings for you, enabling potential customers to see more content about your business.

e. Campaign Notes

This field allows you to leave a comment or instruction about the campaign to our submissions team. For example, you can use this section to provide login details for your existing listings, any special instructions, or additional information that is relevant to this campaign and can be helpful. Rest assured that we will closely follow your instructions here.

As this is a required field, simply enter 'NA' if you don't have any special instructions for us.

If you selected the option to say you are a service-area business at the start, a checkbox will appear below the Campaign Notes box that you can use to confirm that you don't want your address to be published. 

This additional confirmation checkbox creates a separate instruction for us to hide the address. Here we just want you to confirm if you would like us to hide the address or leave it visible (some businesses operate a hybrid model and prefer for addresses to be shown).

f. Receive Email Alerts

Within this section, you have the option of adding your email address so that we can send you a reminder when the campaign has been completed. If you don’t want to receive email notifications, simply select ‘No’.

g. Campaign Details and Cost

At this stage, you can do two things:

• Buy more credits (if needed)
• Change your order (if you have changed your mind about any selected citations)

Clicking on the ‘Buy More Credits’ button will open a popup window that allows you to purchase one of our credit packages:

Clicking the ‘Change Order’ button will take you back to Step 2, where you can make updates to your order.

Terms & Conditions: The final section of Step 3 contains our T&Cs, which you must accept before proceeding any further:

You then have several options, as follows. You can:

• Save the report and come back to it later
• Return to Step 2
• Pay for the campaign (either using credits, or a credit card)

Choosing ‘Confirm and Pay (Credits)’ will automatically deduct the required number of credits from your existing credit balance.

‘Confirm and Pay’ will open a popup window, where you will be asked to enter your card details:

Once payment has been made for the campaign, it will go to our submissions team, who will check the data and reach out to you with any questions.

You will see your campaign immediately in the ‘Citation Builder’ tab of your account. 

If you agreed to receive email notifications at Step 3, we will send you an email to keep you updated about:

• When the submission stage has been completed
• When the whole campaign has finished

That's it! You're ready to create Citation Builder campaigns.