Watch a crime drama on television and you’ll see that the culprits never want to leave their fingerprints behind.
For a small business owner, it’s exactly the opposite!
You want to leave your “digital fingerprint” so Google and other search engines can find it on as many websites as possible – especially the higher quality websites.
The question is: Exactly what is your digital fingerprint?
Answer: It’s your NAP, or name, address, and phone number. (You could toss in your web address to that as well.)
Sounds simple, right? But there’s a catch. What if your NAP is inconsistent all over the Internet? That adds an element of confusion to the process. Can Google be certain that Joe’s Widgets, Inc. is the same company as Joe’s Widgets?
In crime fighting, if the fingerprints are different, they cops don’t have a match. In search engine optimization, if your NAP is all over the place, it won’t benefit your small business as much as when it’s rock solid consistent.
Typically, your NAP is found in what are classified as “citations.” These are usually directory listings – local, state, country, industry, etc.
Do you know how your business is being listed across the cybersphere? Do some searches – by your business name, telephone number, and address – and see what it reveals. You can also get some free reports from the services listed in this guest post Megan Totka wrote for us. There are really only three possibilities:
- You don’t have any citations,
- Your citations are consistent, or
- Your citations are inconsistent.
As Megan’s guest post explains, there are both paid and free services that will help you establish your consistent citations. It is well worth the time to explore which is best for you. Not only will the effort help you rank better on the search engines, you might find major mistakes. I know businesses that have changed locations but have discovered that directories are still listing their old location.
Here’s the bottom line: Establish a good, strong, and consistent NAP and then be sure you’re leaving your digital fingerprint in all the right places across the Internet.
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