Anyone that knows anything about SEO, your ranking authority is based on a variety of factors, the most important being links.  You’ve heard me say for years now that it’s not only quantity, it’s quality of links.

Published in 2008, MLBO refers to geographical and theme based links.  I never study PR, I don’t care about what the algos want, I simply conduct marketing on the Internet.  Therefore, when referencing geographical and theme based links, I’m saying to get a profile, post or something that references your company on a website that is somewhat related to your business.

A citation is like a link in terms of how the search engine values that citation.  The different is the citation does not actually link to the site itself, it merely references the site.  This is an example, and intentional citation, for one of my national clients.

Chicago Courier & Rush Delivery – Naparex

27 N. Wacker Dr. Suite 878

Chicago, IL  60606

http://www.naparex.com/chicago-courier.html

There are a couple of things to note on this citation that you need to know.  While there is a valid link to the Chicago page for this business, this citation is not about the link.  That link helps SEO purposes, not the LBL’s in Google.  The fact that the company name (with a keywords inserted, including inserted in the Google LBL) is present with the physical address, suite number and zip code.  This gives authority and confirmation to Google that there is in fact a business at this location.

The more citations you have, with or without links, the better your LBRs will be.

The point is Google is trying to create authority that you are in fact at the physical address that you claim you are at.  If you are listed, for example, on the local university site with your address, that domain has much more authority and trust than say www.localbusinessdirectory.com.  If you read MLBO, 18 months ago I discussed how to get a University to link to you and endorse your site.  I also said that this is paramount for Local Organic, prior to the LBR’s being listed in the mainstream results.  Funny isn’t it, each algo update our rankings improve and now after hard data, we, the experts, are saying this is likely the single, most relevant factor in ranking in the LBR.

It’s still just old skool Marketing.

It just makes so much sense to me, but why not others?  Why do these ‘experts’ keep chasing the algo!?!  Expose yourself to relevant sites, local and theme sites.  Don’t ever worry about the ‘nofollow’ links, put them up anyhow.  Don’t worry about pages with high PR.  Relevancy and trust are determined many more and different ways.  Create transparency for your business on the Internet.  Get your information out there.