NAP data, explained
Name, address, phone. The internet keeps copies of yours, and half of them are wrong right now. Press Fix it and watch what Google wants to see.
This is not a page. It is one business, listed all over the internet. That is where NAP lives.
The idea
NAP means name, address, phone.
The three facts about your business that the internet keeps copies of. Your website has one. Google has one. Yelp, Apple Maps, and Facebook each have one. You probably did not write half of them.
Why does matching matter?
Google checks your homework.
Before Google shows you on the map, it compares your copies. When they all agree, you look real. When they disagree, Google trusts you less and shows you less.
Customers dial what they find.
A wrong phone number on Yelp is not a small thing. It is a customer calling someone who is not you.
It is free ranking.
Fixing your listings costs nothing but an afternoon. It is one of the few free things that actually moves your map ranking.
Watch for inconsistencies in your name, address, and phone.
A misspelling, a missing suite number, or a different phone number confuses machines into thinking your business is not the same entity. Below is one business listed in five places. Spot the drift.
This is the mess most businesses have. Press Fix it.
Your website
The source of truthName
Mesa Plumbing Company
Address
123 Real Street, Suite B, Mesa, AZ 85201
Phone
(555) 555-0199
Name
Mesa Plumbing Co.
Address
123 Real Street, Mesa, AZ 85201
Phone
(555) 555-0199
- The name got shortened
- The suite went missing
Yelp
Name
Mesa Plumbing Company LLC
Address
48 Old Shop Road, Mesa, AZ 85204
Phone
(555) 555-0142
- LLC tacked onto the name
- The address you moved out of in 2022
- A phone number you stopped using
Apple Maps
Name
Mesa Plumbing
Address
123 Real St Ste B, Mesa, AZ 85201
Phone
(555) 555-0199
- The name got cut short
- St and Ste spelled differently than everywhere else
Name
Mesa Plumbing Company
Address
123 Real Street, Suite B, Mesa, AZ 85201
Phone
(555) 555-0177
- A tracking number left over from an old ad campaign
The four classic ways NAP breaks.
The LLC problem
Your legal name is Mesa Plumbing Company LLC. Your sign says Mesa Plumbing. Pick one public version and use it everywhere. Save the LLC for contracts.
The suite problem
Suite B, Ste B, #B, and Unit B are four different addresses to a computer. Pick one spelling. Copy and paste it forever.
The tracking number problem
You should have one primary business number, even if you use call tracking software. Tracking numbers pasted onto listings quietly break your NAP. There is a right way to track calls without breaking it. Ask your web person to do it carefully.
The move problem
When you move, your old address does not die. It lives on in directories you forgot existed. Hunt it down, or it haunts your ranking for years.
How to fix yours, in four steps.
- Write down your one true NAP. Character for character. That is the law now.
- Find the copies. Search your business name, your phone number, and your old address. Everything that shows up is a copy.
- Fix the big four first: Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, and Facebook. Then Bing and the rest.
- Check again twice a year. Directories drift. Set a reminder.
Or hand it to us. This is the least fun afternoon in marketing.
Your listings are the internet's rumor mill about your business. Keep the story straight. Back to the Learning Center
Want your listings hunted down and fixed for you? That is a thing we do. Or keep learning in the Learning Center.
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