NAP is an acronym for Name, Address, and Phone Number. Even if they’ve never heard of your hearing practice before, keeping these three items constant and easy to find for consumers and Google helps build trust in your brand and website.
What is the significance of NAP?
NAP can determine whether a customer visits your hearing practice or not; if they can’t find an address to go to or a phone number to contact, they may choose to patronize your competitor instead.
If you haven’t changed outdated addresses, phone numbers, or names, you’re making it much more difficult for Google to figure out who you are, where you are, and how to contact you. As a result, NAP consistency is critical!
NAP and your local search ranking
Because the process of affecting your business’s ranking is consistent with NAP, any local business needs to rank high in organic search results. The consistency of the N.A.P influences the authenticity and quality of a website in the eyes of search engines.
Google considers consistency the ideal “match” and rewards you with a higher rating if you have it. The most crucial piece of information is a data match. So, if your website contains one phone number and an online directory has the same address but a different phone number, it confuses search engines, and they may penalize you as a result.
Sites that pay attention to this will generate the best and most important leads. With all of your online listings, you want to be as consistent as possible. There are a plethora of internet directories that are utilized for more than just broad public searches. If you’re going to put your name on something, make sure it’s consistent. The foundation is your Google My Business listing, and this will be your starting point.
What causes NAP data to be inaccurate?
It’s easy to think about NAP as something you do intentionally when trying to build citations. In reality, it’s something that happens rather naturally whether you’re doing anything like posting an article or a new web page.
As a result, it’s easy to be caught off guard and fall into the trap of ignoring NAP consistency simply because you’re focused on the work at hand rather than the NAP you’ve generated as a result of your current work.
Another explanation for the lack of NAP consistency is that not all NAP occurrences follow the same format. Consistency can be difficult to maintain because you may find yourself entering NAP data in various ways for a variety of reasons in a variety of different locations. This is especially true if one minute you’re filling out a social network profile and the next you’re inputting a directory entry.
Similarly, you won’t always be the one who writes the citation. It’s possible that a local reporter interviewed your hearing practice, and the name of your street was truncated, or the zip code was omitted from their article. They may use a colloquial variant of your company name for style reasons or not utilize ‘inc.’ beside your company name despite you having that in your NAP everywhere else.
How can you stay on top of your NAP?
- If you’re changing your phone number or address, double-check that you’ve updated it everywhere.
- Check for duplicate listings because Google won’t know which one to trust if more than one.
- Create a Google My Business page for your company and keep it updated.
- Examine all of your business listings and, if necessary, update them. Even if you signed up for a directory a long time ago and then forgot about it, it will still have an impact on your NAP consistency.
- Recheck your social media profiles. Google can read your address and phone number even if they aren’t publicly available on your social networking pages.
It’s tricky to keep on top of your NAP by yourself, but luckily we’re here to help. We not only ensure that your listing is accurate, but we also guarantee that it will remain accurate in the future. Understanding and paying attention to your NAP is the first step in maximizing your online presence. Please give us a call to set up an appointment!