The document discusses the importance of having accurate Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) information listed on a business's Google My Business page and other online directories. It explains that incorrect or outdated NAP data can negatively impact a business's search engine rankings and prevent customers from easily finding the business. It also describes how NAP data is shared across different data providers and directories, highlighting the need for consistency. The document encourages businesses to carefully enter and maintain their accurate NAP information.

1. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
Importance
of
Accurate
Google
Local
Page
Listing
and
the
Importance
of
NAP
Get your business on Google for free
by
The Silent Seller –Rob Metras
October 2014 The Silent Seller

2. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
Importance
of
Accurate
Google
Local
Page
Listing
and
the
Importance
of
NAP
In
this
time
and
age
people
rely
more
and
more
on
the
internet
to
search
for
people
as
well
as
locate
stores,
business
place
or
anything
remotely
related
to
businesses
they
deal
with.
And
for
this
purpose
it
is
vital
for
businesses
to
understand
the
importance
of
feeding
accurate
information
about
their
local
business
so
that
consumers
are
driven
to
the
right
location
and
so
the
business
gets
proper
listing
on
search
engines.
Google
My
Business
is
a
feature
offered
by
Google
which
is
aimed
at
small
local
businesses
to
help
customers
locate
their
exact
location
and
other
important
information
such
as
their
phone
number,
online
store,
reviews
of
their
business
etc.
Google
My
Business
feature
specially
benefits
small
businesses,
boutiques,
food
outlets
etc
so
when
shoppers
search
directly
for
them
or
rather
similar,
their
information
shows
up
for
the
customers
so
they
can
reach
them
with
ease.
One
thing
that
every
business
must
consider
and
take
very
seriously
is
the
bad
affect
of
entering
wrong
or
old
information
about
your
business
on
data
providing
websites.
If
incorrect
information
is
fed
into
a
data
providing
platform
your
business
will
not
only
miss
out
on
new
customers
but
also
have
a
bad
reputation
in
the
market.
What
is
NAP
and
its
Importance
NAP
means
Name,
Address
and
Phone
Number
which
is
the
most
important
factor
for
SEO
and
a
well
ranked
business
as
far
as
online
business
is
concerned.
It
helps
in
tracking
businesses
and
enhancing
SEO
search
of
markets
and
businesses.
Many
local
businesses
don’t
understand
that
if
feeding
correct
NAP
data
can
help
them
increase
traffic
to
their
business
then
feeding
erroneous
data
can
cause
the
business
heaps
of
trouble
for
a
long
time.
October 2014 The Silent Seller

3. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
How
to
Use
NAP
Search
engines
such
as
Google
and
Bing
will
list
reliable
and
valid
business
on
the
internet
by
scanning
and
gathering
information
from
everywhere
throughout
the
web
even
Google+
page.
It
is
important
that
the
Name,
Address
and
Phone
Number
you
enter
on
your
main
website
is
the
same
as
the
one
on
other
data
providing
platforms
such
as
Localeze,
Infogroup,
Whitepages
etc.
The
most
essential
part
to
learn
here
is
that
if
your
information
mismatches
in
any
of
the
platforms
then
it
will
hamper
your
listings
on
the
search
engine.
Directory
submission
service
provider
such
as
Axciom
and
Localeze
can
help
businesses
obtain
exposure
and
consistency
across
many
directories.
These
service
providers
are
also
responsible
to
pass
on
accurate
information
fed
by
the
business.
Remember,
even
a
tiny
error
such
as
misuse
of
period
or
hyphen
can
manipulate
your
listings
on
the
search
engine
so
make
sure
to
feed
in
correct
information
that
is
up
to
date
on
your
website
and
also
on
data
providing
websites
with
a
format
that
you’d
like
displayed
all
across
the
web.
Many
businesses
use
micro-­‐formats
and
take
help
from
service
provider
such
as
October 2014 The Silent Seller
schema.org
who
assists
businesses
in
adding
data
to
the
HTML
pages
so
they
are
tracked
and
recognized
by
most
important
search
engines
resulting
in
strong
listings.
To
learn
more
on
how
you
can
format
your
NAP
you
can
visit
schema.org
and
enhance
your
business
listings.
Along
with
providing
accurate
information
it
is
also
imperative
that
your
business’
web
presence
remain
consistent.
If
you
do
not
have
a
consistent
web
presence,
in
that
case
Google
may
not
be
capable
to
gage
reviews
or
feedback
from
other
websites
about
your
business.
Reviews
of
your
business
and
consistency
makes
a
place
for
your
business
on
Google
listings,
so
if
you
mess
up
even
slightly,
your
Google
listing
will
be
drastically
affected.
Citations
and
its
Importance
in
the
SEO
World
Citations
are
published
or
unpublished
reference
that
helps
people
locate
the
source
of
information.
Google
uses
automated
programming
rather
than
manually
collecting
business
data
to
rank
them
on
the
search
engine.
How
does
Google
rank
your
business?
By
tracking
and
scanning
mentions
of
your

4. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
business
name,
your
name,
phone
number,
website
URL
and
remotely
anything
to
do
with
your
business.
Google
then
compares
or
cross
checks
that
information
with
other
data
providing
companies
and
directories
to
check
the
accuracy
of
the
record.
So
in
simple
words,
Google
ranks
your
business
on
the
basis
of
citations
of
your
business
information
on
the
web,
the
consistency
and
accuracy
of
the
information.
Factors
That
Affect
Your
Businesses’
Ranking
Business
data
providers
such
as
Localeze
and
business
data
receivers
such
as
October 2014 The Silent Seller
Yellowpages,
GPS
navigation
system,
mobile
applications
etc
go
through
complicated
but
automated
procedures
to
keep
the
barter
going.
To get an idea of the complexity of these relationships below I use a diagram
developed by David Mihm Inc and SEO Moz. I would also refer you to their excellent article on
accurate local listings.
The
traditional
method
as
to
how
data
is
provided
to
data
receives
is
automatically
but
it
is
NOT
on
a
real-­‐time
basis.
All
data
providers
and
receivers
have
their
own
time
management
system
but
most
data
providers
take
at
least
one
month
to
transfer
business
data
to
a
system
from
the
time
the
business
information
is
initially
fed
into
the
data
providing
source.

5. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
Now,
the
real
problem
arises
when
a
business
owner
feeds
in
incorrect
information
and
the
wrong
information
is
passed
on
to
several
data
platforms.
However,
this
situation
can
be
avoided
if
accurate
NAP
is
fed
into
the
system
initially.
You
need
to
understand
that
anytime
you
share
your
business
information
on
data
providing
platforms
such
as
Localeze
they
transfer
your
business
data
to
several
other
web
platforms
and
just
in
case
you
enter
an
incorrect
phone
number
or
name
it’s
a
dead
end
and
even
if
you
decide
to
go
on
after
a
few
days
to
edit
the
information,
your
business
will
be
registered
as
another
listing
on
that
platform
without
you
having
to
realise
it.
The
annoying
part
is
that
most
data
collecting
websites
don’t
usually
replace
the
business
data
with
the
edited
version
but
will
create
a
duplicate
listing
with
mismatched
information
which
will
result
as
multiple
listings.
October 2014 The Silent Seller

6. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
There
will
be
multiple
problems
in
queue
when
this
situation
occurs:
1. Data
providing
platforms
transfer
data
like
virus
and
it
is
likely
that
each
online
platform
may
receive
different
set
of
listing.
2. If
incorrect
information
is
fed,
it
will
get
extremely
difficult
to
clean
up
or
track
the
source
of
the
goof-­‐up.
Nyagoslav
Zhekov
has
explained
a
scenario
of
data
mismatch
and
a
perfect
example
of
bad
NAP
in
an
article
at
Whitespark.ca
which
will
help
you
understand
what
serious
rut
you
could
be
under
if
you
feed
incorrect
information
about
your
business
to
a
data
providing
source.
Where
should
you
feed
your
business
NAP?
To
get
local
listings,
it
is
wise
to
enter
your
NAP
in
local
and
reliable
directories
such
as
Yelp,
Citysearch,
411.com,
Foursquare.
So,
if
you
want
strong
local
listing
on
the
internet
make
sure
to
follow
the
most
effective
rule,
the
rule
of
accurate
NAP.
Good
luck!
October 2014 The Silent Seller

7. Accurate NAP for Google My Business
For
further
assistance
and
help
with
your
business
,marketing
needs
feel
free
to
contact
The
Silent
Seller
T
226-­‐444-­‐
3820
or
visit
us
on
the
web
at
http://www.thesilentseller.com.
To
find
us
on
Facebook
go
to
https://facebook.com/TheSilentSeller
October 2014 The Silent Seller