Local Citations Skill — NAP Consistency and Citation Building with Claude

When ChatGPT retrieves information about a local business, it’s drawing from the same citation ecosystem that local SEO practitioners have been building for years. When that ecosystem contains inconsistent data — old phone numbers on Yelp, a previous address on YellowPages, a business name variation on the BBB — AI platforms encounter conflicting information and lose confidence in what to recommend. Citation consistency isn’t just a ranking signal anymore; it’s an entity disambiguation problem that directly affects whether AI systems mention your business at all.

The local-citations skill equips Claude to audit NAP consistency across the entire citation ecosystem, identify missing citations by tier, prioritize corrections and new submissions, and connect citation work to both traditional ranking outcomes and emerging AI visibility.

What This Skill Does

The local-citations skill runs comprehensive citation audits using LocalSEOData’s citation_audit endpoint, checking 20+ major directories for presence and accuracy. It identifies NAP inconsistencies, flags missing citations by tier, and generates prioritized action plans that address the highest-leverage issues first.

Prompt: "Audit the citations for Main Street Dental at 847 Oak Ave, Portland OR, phone
503-555-1234. Show me every inconsistency and missing citation, prioritized by impact."

Skills fired: dispatch → local-citations + localseodata-tool
Data pulled: citation_audit, business_profile (NAP source of truth)

Output:
Inconsistencies found:
- Yelp: Phone listed as 503-555-1243 (digit transposition)
- YP.com: Address shows "847 Oak Avenue" (format variation)
- Bing Places: Not claimed, auto-generated listing with old phone
- BBB: Business name shows "Main St Dental" (abbreviation)

Missing Tier 1 (aggregators): Data Axle, Foursquare
Missing Tier 2 (major directories): Apple Maps not claimed, Facebook Business unclaimed

Priority action plan:
1. Submit corrections to Data Axle and Foursquare (propagates downstream)
2. Claim and correct Bing Places
3. Claim Apple Business Connect and Facebook Business
4. Correct Yelp phone number
5. Address YP.com format variation (lower priority)

Why Citations Matter for Local Rankings and AI Visibility

Citation signals affect local visibility through two mechanisms that are increasingly intertwined.

For traditional local ranking, citation consistency contributes to prominence scoring. Google uses citation data to validate business existence, location accuracy, and entity identity. Consistent NAP across authoritative sources confirms that the business is real, operates where it claims, and maintains stable contact information. Inconsistency creates doubt.

For AI visibility, citations provide the data layer AI platforms retrieve. When Perplexity searches for information about a local business, it’s finding and citing directory listings. When ChatGPT’s Browse mode looks up local businesses, it’s accessing Bing’s index of directory data. When Gemini or AI Overviews synthesize local recommendations, they draw on the same citation ecosystem.

Inconsistent NAP creates AI answer problems. If three sources show your phone number and two show a different one, AI systems face ambiguity. If your address varies across sources, AI systems can’t recommend you confidently — they might cite the wrong location or hedge their recommendation. Entity disambiguation depends on consistent signals.

The Knowledge Graph connection is direct: Google’s Knowledge Graph builds entity understanding from consistent signals across the web. A business with clean, consistent citations across authoritative sources has clear Knowledge Graph presence. That presence feeds Gemini and AI Overviews directly.

The Citation Tier System

Not all citations carry equal weight. A structured tier system prioritizes where to focus effort for maximum leverage.

Tier 1: Data Aggregators feed downstream directories at scale. The four primary aggregators — Neustar Localeze, Data Axle (formerly Infogroup), Foursquare, and GPS/navigation data providers — push data to hundreds of directories, apps, and platforms. Fixing NAP at the aggregator level propagates corrections across the ecosystem over weeks and months. This is the highest-leverage citation work: correct the source, and downstream citations correct themselves.

Tier 2: Major General Directories are consumer-facing platforms with direct traffic and high authority. This tier includes Yelp, Facebook Business, Apple Maps (Apple Business Connect), Bing Places, BBB, YP.com, and Superpages. These directories have their own audiences and often appear in search results for business name queries. Each requires direct management.

Tier 3: Local and Niche Directories include local chambers of commerce, city business directories, and industry-specific platforms. For a healthcare practice, Healthgrades and Vitals are Tier 3 priorities. For a law firm, Avvo and Martindale matter. For restaurants, TripAdvisor and OpenTable. Tier 3 adds citation breadth in relevant contexts.

The skill prioritizes in tier order: aggregators first, then major directories, then niche/local sources. Aggregator fixes have compound effect; major directory corrections address high-visibility inconsistencies; niche directories add vertical relevance.

How Claude Audits Your Citation Landscape

The citation_audit endpoint checks 20+ major directories for the target business, comparing found citations against the correct NAP provided in the prompt or pulled from GBP data.

The audit returns three categories of findings:

Consistent citations match the correct NAP exactly (or within acceptable variation like “Street” vs “St”). These need no action.

Inconsistent citations have errors: wrong phone number, old address, name variations that affect entity recognition, incorrect categories. Each inconsistency includes specifics: which field is wrong, what the incorrect value is, what it should be.

Missing citations are directories where no listing exists. Missing Tier 1 sources are high priority; missing Tier 2 sources are medium priority; missing Tier 3 sources are lower priority but may matter for specific verticals.

The skill interprets these findings and generates a prioritized action plan. Aggregator corrections come first because they propagate. Direct corrections to high-traffic directories (Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps) follow. Citation building for missing sources completes the plan.

Citation Cleanup: Fixing What’s Wrong

Correction workflows vary by directory type.

Aggregator submissions are typically done through direct submission portals or through services that handle aggregator submissions. The correction propagates to downstream directories over 2-4 months. This is the highest-value cleanup work.

Claimable directories (Yelp, Facebook, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places) allow business owners to claim listings and update information directly. Each platform has its own verification process. Once claimed, corrections are immediate.

Non-claimable directories (auto-generated listings, scraped data, old directories) are harder to correct. Some accept email requests. Some require form submissions. Some only update through aggregator data propagation. The skill identifies which directories fall into which category.

Duplicate listings are a specific problem: multiple listings for the same business on a single platform, often with inconsistent information. Duplicates confuse search engines and AI systems. The cleanup process involves identifying the duplicate, determining which listing to keep, requesting removal of the other, and consolidating reviews and data.

Building Missing Citations

For missing citations, the workflow moves from audit to submission.

LocalSEOData’s citation_audit endpoint identifies what’s missing. BrightLocal and Whitespark execute the submission workflow: managing the individual directory submissions, tracking status, and maintaining the citations over time.

The skill connects to brightlocal-tool and whitespark-tool for integrated workflows. A prompt like “Build the missing Tier 2 citations identified in the audit using BrightLocal” routes the submission task to the appropriate tool.

Citation building should be paced. Submitting to 50 directories in a single week can trigger spam detection or quality flags. The skill recommends spreading new citation submissions over 2-4 weeks for natural velocity.

For existing citations that just need claiming, the process is faster: claim through each platform’s verification system, correct any errors, and the citation is live.

Vertical-Specific Citation Sources

Industry-specific directories deserve attention alongside general directories because they attract targeted, high-intent traffic.

Healthcare: Healthgrades, Vitals, WebMD, Zocdoc, RateMDs, CareDash. These platforms rank well for healthcare-related searches and attract patients specifically researching providers.

Legal: Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, FindLaw, Justia, Lawyers.com. Legal directories have strong domain authority and drive referral traffic.

Home Services: Angi (formerly Angie’s List), HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Houzz, Porch. Home service directories capture consumers actively searching for contractors and service providers.

Restaurants: TripAdvisor, OpenTable, Zomato, Yelp (especially strong in restaurants). Restaurant discovery platforms drive reservations and visits.

Automotive: DealerRater, CarGurus, Cars.com, Edmunds. Auto industry directories attract buyers researching vehicles and dealers.

The local-citations skill knows these vertical-specific sources and incorporates them into audit and building recommendations based on business category.

Get Started

Install LocalSEOSkills and configure your LocalSEOData MCP connection. Run your first citation audit:

Run a citation audit for [Business Name] at [Address], phone [Phone Number]. Show me
every inconsistency and every missing tier 1 and 2 citation, prioritized by impact.

Claude will return a complete inconsistency report and missing citation list with prioritized action steps. For ongoing management, run citation audits quarterly to catch drift before it compounds, and immediately after any business move, phone change, or name change.

Learn More

To learn what this skill can do for your local SEO workflow, see the skill overview.