Local citation.In plain English.

Citations on trusted directories like Bing Places, Apple Business, Yelp and trade directories help confirm your business is real and where it operates.

Bing says the more a business is mentioned across the web, the greater its popularity, and recommends listing on trusted websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Google's local ranking guidance counts how many websites link to a business and how many reviews it has, and Google builds profiles partly from crawled web content, so your citations also feed what Google knows about you.

Accurate listings on the sites that matter beat a long list of thin ones. A citation with an old phone number can spread the wrong details.

Example: an HVAC company's listings on Bing Places, Apple Business, Yelp and its trade association's directory all show the same name, address and phone number.