The Complete Guide to Correcting
Business Citations

Use professional tools like Moz Local, Semrush, or BrightLocal to automatically scan the web for every mention of your business name, address, and phone number.

Manually search for your business on the most influential directories: Google Business Profile, Yelp, Bing Places, Facebook, Apple Maps, TripAdvisor, and industry-specific sites.

Search variations of your business name — including common misspellings or abbreviations — to catch listings you may not know exist.

Build a master spreadsheet to track every citation you find. Columns should include: platform name, listing URL, current NAP data, and status (correct / needs update / duplicate).

Note any duplicate listings — these are particularly damaging because they split your authority and confuse both customers and search engines.

Flag listings that are unclaimed, as these are vulnerable to unauthorized edits and misinformation.

Choose one definitive format for your business name and stick to it everywhere. If your legal name is 'OAB Consulting Inc.', that's exactly how it should appear on every directory — not 'OAB Consulting', 'OAB Consulting Incorporated', or 'OAB Consulting, Inc.'

Standardize your address format: decide whether to spell out 'Street' or abbreviate to 'St.', include or exclude suite numbers consistently, and use the same ZIP+4 format everywhere.

Choose one phone number format and use it universally. Example: (844) 913-1166 — not 844-913-1166 or 8449131166.

If your business name includes a legal suffix (LLC, Inc., Co.), decide whether to include it and apply that decision consistently.

Maintain a single 'source of truth' document — a simple text file or Google Doc — containing your exact standardized NAP. Share it with anyone who manages your online presence.

Include your standardized website URL (with or without 'www'), business hours, and primary category/description so all listings are optimized consistently.

Update this reference document immediately whenever any business information changes — before updating any directories.

Tier 1 — Core Platforms (fix first): Google Business Profile, Bing Places for Business, Apple Maps, Facebook Business Page, Yelp. These are the most authoritative and most-visited directories.

Tier 2 — Data Aggregators (fix second): Infogroup/Data Axle, Neustar Localeze, Foursquare, and Acxiom. These aggregators feed data to hundreds of downstream directories — fixing them here cascades corrections across the web.

Tier 3 — Industry-Specific Directories: Identify the top 5–10 directories specific to your industry (e.g., Avvo for law firms, Healthgrades for medical practices, Houzz for contractors). These carry significant authority within your niche.

Tier 4 — General Directories: YellowPages, Superpages, Manta, Citysearch, and similar general business directories.

Begin with Tier 1 and Tier 2 citations — these have the highest impact on your local search visibility and should be corrected within the first week.

Schedule Tier 3 and 4 corrections over the following weeks to spread the workload without overwhelming your team.

Document your progress in the master spreadsheet, noting the date each correction was submitted and when it went live.

For every unclaimed listing you identified in the audit, go through the platform's verification process. Most require a phone call, postcard, or email verification to confirm you are the rightful business owner.

Claiming your listings prevents competitors or bad actors from editing your information and gives you full control over your business data.

Keep a record of the login credentials for every directory where you claim a listing — use a password manager to stay organized.

Update each citation to match your standardized NAP reference document exactly — character for character.

While you're in each listing, take the opportunity to fully optimize it: add high-quality photos, select the most accurate business categories, write a compelling business description, and add your website URL and business hours.

Remove or merge any duplicate listings. Most platforms have a process for reporting duplicates, or you can contact their support team directly.

For listings you cannot claim or edit directly, contact the directory's support team with proof of your correct business information.

Some directories — especially data aggregators — can take 4–12 weeks to propagate changes across their network. Be patient and track submission dates.

Set calendar reminders to revisit each listing 30, 60, and 90 days after submitting corrections to confirm the changes went live.

Take screenshots of corrected listings as documentation of your work.

Conduct a full citation audit at least twice per year (bi-annually). Set recurring calendar reminders in January and July to review your citation health.

After any significant business change — new address, new phone number, new business name, new website — immediately trigger a full audit and correction cycle.

Monitor your Google Business Profile weekly for unauthorized edits. Google allows anyone to 'suggest edits' to your listing, and these can go live without your approval.

Maintain your NAP reference document as the single source of truth. Update it first, then cascade changes to all directories.

When you add new services, update your hours, or change your business description, update all major directories simultaneously to maintain consistency.

Consider using a citation management service like Yext, Moz Local, or BrightLocal to automate ongoing monitoring and updates across hundreds of directories.

Respond to every customer review — positive and negative — on Google, Yelp, and other platforms. Active engagement signals to search engines that your business is legitimate and customer-focused.

Add new photos regularly and keep your business description fresh. Listings with recent activity tend to rank higher than stale, inactive ones.

Monitor and respond to Q&A sections on Google Business Profile to provide accurate information and prevent misinformation from taking hold.