Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Local SEO: Can you add citations too fast?
-
Should you spread adding citations out over several weeks or can you add them all at once?
-
Bob,
William and Chris have both provided great insight on this. Review velocity has certainly come up as a possible trigger for filters, but so far, citation velocity has not been investigated or pointed out as an issue by anyone I know in the Local SEO community.
Does this mean it couldn't become an issue in future? I wonder about this. In the 10 years I've been working on the web, I have watched the rise and fall of directory submissions as a powerful tactic in traditional SEO. I am not sure if velocity had anything to do with that, actually, or if it was simply the Google decided that these types of links were not a great signal of relevance.
Obviously, right now, directory-type listings are the core tactic of Local SEM, and it's hard for me to imagine that changing any time soon, though Google appears to be trusting social signals more and more as relevance indicators. But as to the specifics of velocity, your guess is as good as anyone's as to whether Google will, at some point, create a filter that relates to this. We'll all have to wait and see.
-
In my experience, no.
Whitespark says on their FAQ page, "We don't currently throttle our citation building because we know how Google merges data with their Places index in chunks. We have tested building hundreds of citations in one day vs spreading them out over time and have not found a difference. We don't believe citation velocity is currently something that Google is considering."
-
Hey Bob,
It's not something you hear much about and certainly not something I've considered in doing work for many local clients, but I think I hear what you're saying. Typically, I'd go to UBL.org, choose a package for the client, let the citations start flying, and be glad that it getting done as quickly as possible-- without even thinking about velocity.
I went over to David Mihm's 2012 local search ranking factors, and looked specifically for info on that and interestingly, that's not mentioned as a factor (which might be why I'd never given it a thought.)
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is getting views to an infographic through Imgur beneficial to SEO?
I'm considering posting infographics to Imgur in addition to hosting them on my site in an effort to leverage Reddit a bit more this year. My concern is that, if all goes well, we'll get a ton of views through Reddit to Imgur, maybe a couple clickthroughs to the site, and links to (probably) the Imgur page. I don't see that Imgur gives your profile a followed link, so how would any of this help SEO. I assume it would, because respected guys like John Dougherty espouse the benefits of Reddit, but I can't see how and I need to justify the effort to my department head.
Image & Video Optimization | | MattHolden1 -
Can you get rich snippets for Youtube hosted videos?
My website has several videos, mostly product reviews and tutorials. I'd like for these videos to show in the SERPs with rich snippets, but I am hosting them through Youtube. What is your experience with Youtube hosted videos? Do they generate rich snippets? Or will Google always rank the Youtube video over your web page?
Image & Video Optimization | | TMI.com1 -
How can I get around creating multiple Gmail accounts with the same phone number?
You know how, when you setup a Gmail account, Google asks you for a phone number to verify the account? I've run into a problem where Google is not letting me create anymore accounts with the same phone number. I set up an account for every new client we take on so that we have complete control of the inbox for verification purposes. Is there a way to get around this verification issue? We tried an app called Burner Phone but found out Google won't call the number because it's not supported by any major providers (e.g. Verizon, AT&T, etc.). Any suggestions? Thanks for your help!
Image & Video Optimization | | copyjack0 -
Local SEO: Links with the citations so should I slow down?
Hello, There seems to be some nofollow and dofollow links building as I add structured citations. Is this a reason to slow down the building citation process if you want the links to count? Do they help organic SEO?
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Google categories for local limousine service
I manage the Google places page for a SAB (local limousine company). The question is, should I add "taxi" and "airport shuttle service" as categories? I have listed only "limousine" and "car service' for now and I want to play it safe although those 2 are related to limo service. Sometimes people refer to limo service as "taxi service" or they are inquiring about prices for shuttle service to the airport and they end up booking the service quite often. Does Google look to our website to find these words in the content? Google Analytics show lots of people are finding us through those two keywords as well although you cannot find the word “taxi" on our website. The interesting thing is that when searching for "taxi + my zip code" the company shows up 4th on maps results and when searching for "shuttle service + my zip code”, the company shows up 2nd on local results and also 2nd in organic results. Is this enough to make me add these 2 categories? Second question is about the area served, does it make a difference (in rankings) if I choose “Distance from one location"over"List of areas served"? What happens is the red pin would be in a different location. If I choose "Distance from one location" the pin would be right in the center of the city (which I think it shouldn't matter anymore that much since the proximity to the centroid is not a ranking factor anymore). If “list of area” served is selected, (the city name will be chosen) then the pin would be about 5 miles West of the city center. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you!
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Local Citation Sites
After searching through many local citation site I find that most only apply to the US. Are there any really good ones in Canada?
Image & Video Optimization | | casper4340 -
Local SEO: How to optimize for multiple cities on website
Hi, I couldn't find any reference to this, so if the answer is already here, I would appreciate a link to the answer. That said, my question is this: When a local business services a large geographic area, I wanted to know how to optimize for the multiple towns? I already have the main city in my title tags, but there are at least 40 areas that surround this town. Should I have a "Services Area" page, and place all the towns there, or should they all be in the footer? I saw this one guy - in the same niche who put all the towns in his meta keyword section - but I think that's incorrect, especially since Google doesn't look at that particular meta tag. Any help would be appreciated.
Image & Video Optimization | | jayestovall1 -
SEO benefits of linking logo to homepage?
Hello All, It will be helpful if anyone can list the benefits of linking the company logo (on every page of the website) to the home page, and how important it is in terms of internal linking / SEO factors. Thank you.
Image & Video Optimization | | NortonSupportSEO0
