Imagine you ask three people for directions. One says “left,” one says “right,” and the third says “straight ahead.” Who do you trust? No one.
That’s exactly how Google treats your company data. If your company is listed on Facebook as “Main Street 1,” in the commercial register as “Main St. 1,” and on your website as “Main Street 1a,” the result is data chaos. In technical jargon, these entries are called “citations.” If they are inconsistent, Google loses confidence in the accuracy of your data—and downgrades you in the local ranking.
Here’s how to check your data health in 10 minutes:
1. The “ego-googling” test
Search for “your company name + city.” Look at the first two pages. Do the phone number and address match everywhere? Pay attention to old entries in business directories that you may have created years ago and forgotten about.
2. Check the spelling (NAP)
NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone. Decide on one spelling.
- Don’t mix: “Müller GmbH” vs. “Müller Handwerk GmbH.”
- Don’t mix: “+49 123…” vs. “0123…”. Consistency is a sign of professionalism.
3. Find duplicates
Often, there are multiple entries for a company on Google Maps (e.g., due to relocations or employees who have created profiles on their own initiative). These duplicates compete with each other and dilute your ratings. Google offers features to merge them.
4. Old employee profiles
Do former employees have profiles on Xing or LinkedIn with your company address but incorrect contact details? This can also confuse search engines. Ask them to update their profiles.
5. Check opening hours
Do the times on Facebook match those on Google? Discrepancies here are a common annoyance for customers and a warning sign for algorithms.
The problem:
The internet never forgets Manually changing an incorrect entry on 40 platforms takes hours. And often, the old data reappears through data aggregators.
The solution:
A central cockpit With our listing management, you can control all data centrally. Change the opening hours once with us, and we will push the information to all relevant portals in real time.
