Local Citations and NAP Consistency for GEO

Your website says "Founded 2015." Your LinkedIn says "2014." Your Yelp profile shows a different phone number than Google Business Profile. Your address has "Street" on some platforms and "St." on others.

These seem like minor details. They're not. AI engines verify your business by cross-referencing data across dozens of sources. When they find conflicts—even seemingly trivial ones—they reduce trust. And reduced trust means reduced recommendations.

This guide covers the complete citation strategy for AI visibility: which platforms actually matter, how to audit and fix inconsistencies, and how to maintain NAP consistency over time. Because in AI search, consistency isn't a detail—it's the foundation.

NAP Consistency: How AI Engines Verify Your Business

AI engines don't take your word for it. Before recommending a business, they verify your existence and legitimacy by cross-referencing data from multiple sources. NAP consistency is how you pass that verification.

Here's what happens every time someone asks AI for a local business recommendation. The AI runs through this verification sequence—and if your data fails at any step, you don't get recommended:

The gap between these two outcomes often comes down to small details—"Street" vs "St." or a missing suite number. What seems trivial to us creates real verification problems for AI.

The Local Citation Landscape: What AI Actually Accesses

Not all citations are equal. AI platforms source data from specific directories—understanding which ones matter most helps you prioritize where to build and maintain citations.

This matrix shows which data sources each AI platform actually pulls from. Here's how to read it: "Primary" means that's the main source for that platform. "Yes" or "Some" means it's used but not the primary source. A dash (—) means that platform doesn't use that source at all. Focus your efforts on sources that appear across multiple columns—those give you the broadest coverage:

Priority Platforms: Where to Build Citations First

With hundreds of potential directories, prioritization is essential. Focus first on platforms AI actually accesses, then expand to industry-specific sources.

Work from top to bottom—complete all Tier 1 platforms before moving to Tier 2. The funnel shape shows priority: wider at top means most important. The number tells you how many platforms are in each tier. Don't get overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once:

The NAP Audit Process: Finding and Fixing Inconsistencies

Before building new citations, audit existing ones. A single inconsistency can undermine everything else. Here's the systematic process for finding and fixing NAP problems.

This audit typically takes 2-4 hours spread across a few days. Steps 1-3 are hands-on work you can do yourself (about an hour). Step 4 requires a tool subscription if you want comprehensive coverage. Steps 5-6 happen over 2-4 weeks as your changes propagate through the system:

Create your own version of this template before you start auditing. The "note" column is where you document your formatting decisions—these become your rules for every platform. Once you've made these decisions, stick to them everywhere:

Common NAP Variations That Confuse AI Engines

Small variations that seem trivial to humans create verification problems for AI. Here are the most common issues—and how to standardize them.

Citation Building Strategy: Quality Over Quantity

The old citation game was about volume—get listed everywhere. The AI era demands quality. Twenty perfectly consistent citations outperform a hundred inconsistent ones.

These five principles guide every citation you build or update. They're not sequential steps—apply all five to each platform. Think of them as a quality checklist rather than a process:

"sameAs": [
  "https://www.yelp.com/biz/your-business",
  "https://www.facebook.com/yourbusiness",
  "https://foursquare.com/v/your-business/id",
  "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourbusiness",
  "https://www.tripadvisor.com/your-business",
  "https://www.bbb.org/your-business"
]

Industry-Specific Directories for Maximum AI Impact

General directories establish baseline visibility. Industry-specific directories signal expertise and authority to AI engines looking for specialized recommendations.

Find your industry below and focus on those specific directories first. If your business spans multiple industries (say, a medical spa that's both healthcare and beauty), check each relevant section:

Citation Monitoring: Preventing NAP Drift

NAP consistency isn't a one-time fix. Directories change, data aggregators update, and user-generated listings can introduce errors. Ongoing monitoring prevents "NAP drift" from undermining your AI visibility.

Set calendar reminders for each of these check-ins. The "Trigger" row (highlighted) is the most important one—any time your business information changes, you need to update all platforms within 48 hours or risk creating new inconsistencies:

Google Alerts (left column) help you catch the drift causes shown on the right. Set up the alerts first, and they'll automatically notify you when new listings appear or existing ones change: