Imagine someone finds your business on Google, visits your website and decides to call you, only to discover that the phone number listed there is no longer in use. Or they look up your address and find two different locations, perhaps your current address and an old one, and have no idea which one is correct.
To you, it may simply be information that was never updated. But for someone trying to contact your business, it creates a perfectly reasonable question: which information is actually correct?
Google faces the same problem. If it finds conflicting information about your business across different websites, it becomes harder to determine which details are reliable, and that can ultimately affect your visibility.
That is why it is important to keep your basic business information consistent across the different places where your company appears online.
What Is NAP?
In local SEO, the term NAP refers to three basic pieces of information about a business:
Name, Address, Phone.
These are the details that typically appear on your Google Business Profile, your website, Facebook, business directories, local guides and many other websites.
Google uses this information to help verify that your business exists, that it is legitimate and trustworthy, and that the information being shown to users is accurate.
When Google finds your name, address and phone number presented consistently across many different websites, it has greater confidence in that information. When it finds conflicting details, questions can arise: Is this the same business? Has it moved? Has the phone number changed?
You will not normally see a warning or a visible penalty because of this. Instead, inconsistencies can gradually make it more difficult to compete in local search results against businesses whose information is clear and consistent across the web.
Where Does Outdated Business Information Usually Appear?
Quite often, business owners do not even realise it is still there.
A company may have been online for years and, over time, its information may have been published across many different websites, including:
- Your Google Business Profile
- Your own website
- Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn
- Business directories such as Yelp, Cylex or Yellow Pages
- Industry-specific directories
- Local business guides
- News websites, associations or third-party pages that mentioned your business years ago
If you have ever changed your phone number, address or even your business name, there is a good chance that some outdated information is still circulating online.
And some of those results may still appear when someone searches for your company.
The Inconsistencies Worth Checking
There is no need to obsess over having every detail written in exactly the same way everywhere.
What matters is identifying differences that could confuse potential customers or make your business information unclear.
For example:
- An old phone number that still appears in a directory
- A previous address after moving to a new location
- Two different business names being used for the same company
- Different information on Google and your website
- Several old business listings or profiles created at different times
- Directories displaying information you no longer use
A single inconsistency is unlikely to change your visibility on its own. The problem becomes more significant when there are many conflicting references and no clear, up-to-date version of your business information.
How to Check Your Business Information
You can carry out an initial check yourself without using any special tools.
Start by searching Google for your business name together with the city where you operate.
Do not look only at your Google Business Profile. Check the other search results as well, including directories, social media profiles, old pages and third-party mentions.
Then make sure the most important details match the information you currently use:
- Business name
- Address, if customers visit you at a physical location
- Phone number
- Website
If you find outdated information, start by correcting the most important sources: your own website, your Google Business Profile, your main social media accounts and the directories with the greatest visibility.
You can then work through the remaining websites gradually.
It is also worth repeating this check from time to time, as old information can reappear or new listings may be created using details that no longer match the information your business currently uses.
A Simple Detail Many Businesses Overlook
NAP consistency is not the only factor that determines where your business appears on Google Maps, but it is one of the easier things to correct once you know where to look.
And unlike some SEO improvements that can take months to produce noticeable results, cleaning up your business information and making it consistent across the web is something you can start working on today.
Want to Know How Consistent Your Business Information Really Is?
Over time, your business details can end up appearing across far more websites and directories than you might expect.
At Smart Marketing, we can review your local online presence, identify outdated or inconsistent business information, and uncover other issues that may be affecting your visibility in local search.
If you would like to know where your business currently stands, request your free Local SEO audit and we’ll take a closer look