As part of all SEO packages, we provide our clients with citation building services. This is done through Whitespark.
Citation Building Package Inclusions:
- Basic SEO Package: 10 citations/month
- Enhanced SEO Package: 15 citations/month
- Aggressive SEO Package: 20 citations/month
Note: Each client will eventually max out in the number of citations they can build through Whitespark. This is because the number of directories is finite, so eventually, Whitespark will have created citations for all of them.
How to Build Citations Through Whitespark
Step One. Complete the Citation Building Questionnaire
SEO team: Make a copy of the citation building questionnaire template, rename with the client’s name, and send to CSM.
CSMs: The SEO team will send a questionnaire for you to send to your client. You can fill in as much information as you’d like before sending to your client to make their job a little easier. Just be sure to double-check with them on anything you’re unsure about.
If your client asks for info about citation building, you can send them any or all of the following information:
A local citation is any online mention of your business that includes your business name, address, and phone number. In addition, a citation may include a number of other elements such as hours of operation, images, videos, business descriptions, and more. The questionnaire below covers all of these elements.
Citations can occur on local business directories, websites, and social platforms. In addition to helping users discover your business, citations can help improve local search engine rankings. When search engines encounter accurate data about your business via high-quality citations, they deem your business to be more trustworthy, which can strengthen the chance of ranking in search results.
We will be creating citations for your business on a variety of important local business data platforms and websites and actively managing these citations to ensure data accuracy. To represent your business as fully and accurately as possible, we ask that you fill out [this questionnaire]. This is the first step in the citation building process.
Step Two. Submit the Questionnaire
CSMs: Send the completed questionnaire to the SEO team. The SEO team will review it and ensure that all the information is accurate, and then submit it to Whitespark.
SEO team: Once you get the completed questionnaire from your CSM, review the info to make sure it’s complete & accurate.
Then, upload it to Whitespark by doing the following:
- Login to https://whitespark.ca/
- Click “Your Account” in the top right and scroll to find the “Citation Building Service” section
- Click “Place a New Order”
- Select your country
- We want to build 10/15/20 generic citations and zero local citations
- Basic clients: 10 generic citations at $40
- Enhanced clients: 15 generic citations at $60
- Aggressive clients: 20 generic citations at $80
- Confirm that the order total is correct (do not include any package add-ons)
- Continue to Payment
- Enter payment details & click “Process Payment”
- Once you confirm the payment, you’ll get an email shortly after with an option to download and submit your intake form
- Paste the information from the questionnaire into the intake form & then upload the form
Step Three. Send a Follow Up Email to Your Client
CSMs: You can copy and paste the information below to send to your client:
Thanks for completing our citation building questionnaire! We will now start building citations for your business.
You may receive some calls or emails from some of the sites we submitted to asking if you’d like “premium listings” or trying to upsell an offer to you. This is an unavoidable side effect of citation building. We do not recommend paying for any of these services What we’ve already submitted for you will suffice!
How quickly can you expect to see results? After citations are submitted, they “go live” on sites at various rates. Some listings will go live the same day, others could take months. Each site is unique. Most clients start to see benefits in 2-3 months as Google discovers these new listings. Keep in mind that rankings are based on hundreds of factors, and your mileage may vary depending on your location, your competition, and other SEO factors.