What’s the difference between structured and unstructured citations? Learn how both impact local SEO, visibility, and trust—plus how to optimize them.
What are citations in local SEO?
Local business citations are online references to your company’s name, address, phone number, and other relevant details on third-party platforms. Building and earning citations enables your business to develop a digital footprint that is trusted by search engines like Google, scraped and cited by AIs like ChatGPT, and discovered by human internet users looking for local business information.
There are two main types of local citations:
- Structured citations: Your business’s listings on formal local business directories and indexes like Google Business Profile, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and the like
- Unstructured citations: Mentions of your business information on any online publication other than a formal local business index, such as local news sites, social media, and press releases
A complete local search marketing strategy builds and earns both structured and unstructured citations so that the business achieves a prominent online presence.
The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.
What are structured citations?
Structured citations for businesses are standardized listings that appear on third-party websites, such as online directories. They generally include the business name, address, and phone number (NAP) and can include additional information, such as a website, hours of operation, or niche.
Indexes and directories like Google Business Profile, Yelp, Apple Business Connect, YP.com, and TripAdvisor exist to publish formal local business listings online. On all of these major directories, your business can create a free listing, validate your ownership of the listing, and then manage and improve your listing over time via edits.
Best practices for structured citation management include:
- Maintain consistency and accuracy of your NAP information and hours of operation across all your listings on all platforms, so that search engines and searchers encounter correct, useful online information about your business
- Ensure that the website page you link to from your listings features matching NAP so that search engines and searchers see trustworthy, consistent information about your business when moving from your listings to your website
- Fill out as many fields as possible on each listing to create an informative experience that engages searchers and persuades them that your business can be trusted to provide the goods and services they need
You have a diverse array of options when choosing where to list your business. Choices include:
- General local business indexes like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Apple Business Connect, which are open to any business that serves customers face to face, regardless of its industry or location
- Industry-specific local business indexes like TripAdvisor for the hospitality sector, FindLaw for lawyers, or ZocDoc for medical professionals
- Geography-specific local business indexes like your local chamber of commerce or a city’s online community hub if it features a directory of local businesses
- Data aggregators like Data Axle, Foursquare, and Neustar, which are like local business listing information warehouses that push local business data out to a variety of directories
What you need to know about structured citations
When local business directories first began emerging in the early 2000s, they were often treated like a numbers game: the more, the better. Local businesses purchased services that listed them on hundreds or thousands of directory listings in hopes that it would boost their search engine rankings.
Today, the local SEO industry best practice is to get each of your business locations listed on the major general platforms and any prominent industry or geographic directories, but not to pursue inclusion on indexes that:
- Don’t rank well on Google for your core search phrases
- Aren’t seen or used by humans
Aggregators are a gray area. Many citation-building services include them as part of their packages, but there is little recent data to indicate that they deliver meaningful results in the modern era. If you purchase a citation-building service and aggregator submissions are included, that’s fine, but it’s more important to devote resources to ensuring that your business information is consistent and accurate on the major directories:
- Google Business Profile
- Yelp
- Apple Business Connect
- Bing Places
- YP.com
In short, don’t chase after building large numbers of structured citations. Instead, develop an engaging presence on the major platforms used by the bulk of internet users and where research indicates data is being picked up by AIs like ChatGPT.
What are unstructured citations?
Unstructured citations are defined as any mention of your partial or complete business information on any third-party publisher, including:
- Blogs
- Online news sites
- Social media mentions
- Video and podcast transcripts or links
- Press releases
- Forum discussions
- Websites of any kind
The above screenshot shows a San Francisco Bay Area Puerto Rican restaurant getting cited by a San Francisco newspaper. Citations can consist of just the name of the business, or they can also include its address, phone number, or other contact information. Unstructured citations may or may not contain links to the business. Qualifying as an unstructured citation merely requires a business to be cited in some way on any online publication other than a formal directory.
While structured citations are table stakes in any local search marketing campaign, unstructured citations have come to the fore in 2025 as a key local business PR tactic. Why? Because they not only build out a broad online presence for your business when people search for it by name, but they’re also now getting picked up by AI platforms and features like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews.
What you need to know about unstructured citations in 2025
The sky’s the limit when it comes to options for earning unstructured citations. We’ll cover multiple possibilities later in this article, but for now, it can help to think of them as an excellent way to grow your business as an online entity.
You want the web filled with references to your company to reinforce that it’s a legitimate business that is talked about and trusted by multiple sources. Structured citations go beyond promoting your basic contact information; they create multiple contexts that real people can relate to when searching for nearby brands.
How structured and unstructured citations support local rankings
For the past two decades, local businesses have pursued two types of crucial online visibility:
- Local SEO rankings: Inclusion in Google’s local pack results and the linked local finder view, as well as the related but distinct Google Maps results
- Localized organic rankings: The organic search engine results pages (SERPs) that Google fills with information about nearby businesses when a searcher’s query is perceived to have a local intent, like “cafe near me” or “dentist chicago”
In 2025, a third goal must be added to this important list:
- AI inclusion: Getting scraped and cited by AI applications like ChatGPT when user prompts indicate they are looking for information about local businesses
Citations play a key role in all three scenarios.
Structured citations, local directories, and Google
Build high-quality structured citations (like the Yelp listings shown above) to enjoy these Google-related benefits:
Google real estate for branded queries
When potential customers do a branded search for a local business (like this restaurant query for “Sol Food San Rafael”), the structured citations you’ve built on directories like Yelp and TripAdvisor ensure that you have partial control over information that’s taking up a large portion of Google’s SERP real estate.
The control isn’t total. While third-party directory sites (like Yelp) and aggregators (like Data Axle) let you submit information about your business, they ultimately have total control over how they display this data, and some entities (like Google Business Profile) even let the public edit your listings. But partial control is always better than none at all, and your structured citations ensure that customers will encounter lots of useful information about your business when they run branded searches.
Brand validity in the eyes of consumers and Google Quality Raters
Creating and claiming your structured citations across the major directories enables you to create a more consistent and trustworthy online experience for potential customers. Keep your listings updated with accurate NAP (name, address, phone number), current hours of operation, recent photos, and other relevant data so that searchers aren’t inconvenienced by inaccurate, outdated information. Seeing that your business is listed with consistent core details across multiple platforms helps consumers trust that a local business is legitimate.
The same dynamic is in place when it comes to Google. The Google Quality Raters are a workforce trained to evaluate whether Google is delivering relevant results to searchers. Their training includes learning to look for signals of high or low quality related to local businesses. Having accurate NAP details in addition to other information across your structured citations is a good way to demonstrate to the Quality Raters that your business is legitimate. If you can pair citation consistency with a good reputation (in the form of good ratings and online reviews), Google has good reason to believe that it’s returning a relevant result when it shows your business to searchers.
It’s important to note that, in the past, NAP consistency was considered a top local pack ranking factor. This is because local SEOs believed that Google was highly dependent on third-party sources to validate the accuracy of local business data.
This industry take is evolving over time, and many local SEOs view Google as less-dependent on third-party platforms these days, meaning that NAP consistency is less frequently cited as a local search ranking factor. Nevertheless, NAP consistency remains important for creating a trustworthy experience for real-world consumers because it prevents them from encountering incorrect and confusing business information.
Don’t worry about abbreviations (like “rd.” vs. “road or “st.” vs. “street”) when pursuing NAP consistency. Both Google and the public understand that these variants represent the same entity. When it comes to suite numbers, Google has never appeared to consider them as a core part of NAP, meaning that they aren’t thought of as a consistency factor, but they are definitely important to customers. If you have a suite number, include it on all your Google Business Profiles and other structured citations to help people locate your premises in the real world.
Direct discovery via local business indexes
While Google is a dominant force in local search, many consumers still use local business indexes like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook, FindLaw, ZocDoc, Angi, Nextdoor, and Bing Places to discover nearby companies. If a community you serve is very engaged with Yelp, for example, getting listed on this platform is a must to ensure discoverability.
Conversational AI inclusion
Mediums like ChatGPT are sourcing tons of information from local business directories. The above example shows how reviews from TripAdvisor are excerpted in response to a prompt asking about the best Puerto Rican restaurants in Marin County. In order to earn this inclusion, the business in question had to build a TripAdvisor listing (and earn reviews on it). Structured citations play an important role in your AI marketing plan.
Unstructured citations, topical relevance, and local authority
All local businesses must strive to establish their legitimacy as real-world entities that deserve to be featured in online environments like Google SERPs and AI outputs. When a business earns an unstructured citation from someone like a blogger, it acts like a vote for entity validity. In this example, Google noticed this California lifestyle blogger writing about Sol Food restaurant and considered this unstructured citation worthy of being featured high in the SERPs for branded searches:
For non-branded searches (like “where can I get good Puerto Rican food near San Francisco?”), unstructured citations like the ones shown below establish topical relevance:
Google sees the above social media mentions as important enough to highlight in their “Discussions and forums” search feature.
Meanwhile, staff interviews via local newspapers, hyperlocal blogs, podcasts, and video channels can build amazing local authority. The more a local business is featured in this type of media, the better its chances of being seen as a relevant expert in its field by Google.
Additionally, conversational AI is highly dependent on unstructured citations. The above ChatGPT conversation reveals AI pulling information from a local lifestyle magazine and a local food blog (as well as from a structured citation on Dun & Bradstreet).
Citations support all three of Google’s local ranking pillars
Google’s own documentation on how to improve your local rankings defines how they order results. Taken together, structured and unstructured citations are applicable to Google’s three local ranking pillars:
- Relevance: The structured citation you create when you build your Google Business Profile is essential to Google determining for which searches your business is a relevant result. Fill out as many GBP fields as possible to convince Google that you are a relevant answer for a maximum number of queries.
- Distance: Structured citations automatically define your location because they feature your physical address and/or service area. Unstructured citations can also include this data. Google wants to show local searchers results that are in closest proximity to their location at the time they search. By firmly establishing your location across a variety of both structured and unstructured citations, you are confirming for Google that you are a nearby business to searchers in specific locales.
- Prominence: The more you are cited and linked to by relevant local and industry publishers (like hyperlocal bloggers, online local news, industry video channels, etc.), the more convinced Google becomes of your prominence in your field. Reviews also play a role in Google’s calculations of prominence, and a local business should seek both third-party reviews on local business indexes and first-party reviews on your own website.
A combination of both structured and unstructured citations will ensure that your local business is sending Google the exact kinds of signals it claims influence its local ranking algorithm.
How to build structured citations the right way
Your business model, budget, and resources will determine which approach to building structured citations is the best fit for your local business. There is no one right answer. Instead, consider the options below to find a good fit for your needs.
Option 1: Build and manage all structured citations manually
In this scenario, you take on the full work of building out the set of citations on your preferred platforms, manually keeping them updated with fresh content, monitoring them for spam, and editing them if your business information changes over time.
Getting listed on the major business indexes (Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook, etc.) is free. However, if you want to submit to the three primary US data aggregators (Data Axle, Neustar Localeze, and Foursquare) so that these large entities can push your data out across a large number of indexes, only Data Axle is free (and only if you have ten or fewer business locations). Both Neustar and Foursquare charge annual fees. You aren’t required to use data aggregators. You can directly build citations manually, but some local businesses choose to pay the aggregators to enjoy the benefits of the wide data distribution they provide and ease of updating information.
Pros of manual citation building: You have direct control of your listings and don’t need to pay a third party. Manual citation building can be a workable solution for very small businesses with limited budgets.
Cons of manual citation building: This is a labor-intensive, tedious activity, and it requires some degree of skill, attention to detail, and time. It is burdensome to manually update an entire set of local business listings when business data (like addresses, phone numbers, or hours of operation) changes. Manual citation building does not scale well for multi-location businesses. It is simply too time-consuming.
Option 2: Pay for a one-and-done structured citation build, and then pay as needed to update
In this scenario, you can pay an agency or SaaS brand a one-time fee to build your citations. If their data partnerships are standard, they’ll create your listings on the major directories and then hand over control of your listings going forward.
Pros of one-and-done citation building: You’ll avoid the hassle of needing to know how to build a citation correctly on each platform, and you’ll only pay a one-time fee—at least at first.
Cons of one-and-done citation building: Multi-location enterprises will quickly discover that any manual approach to ongoing listing management does not scale. If you have to pay a provider to update your listings every time something like your contact information or hours of operation change, this can become costly.
Option 3: Invest in local business listings distribution and management software
In this scenario, you pay a local business listing SaaS brand to automate the creation of your listings and provide you with a dashboard for centralized listing management. Popular offerings of this kind include Semrush Listing Management, BrightLocal Listings Management, and Yext. With these solutions, you invest in an ongoing service that can include a variety of benefits, including:
- Listing development
- Simplified listing edits and updates
- Aggregator submissions
- Duplicate listing removal or suppression
- Review alerts
- Review responses
- Sentiment analysis
- Analytics
Pros of local business listing software: The scalability of this approach is the best fit for multi-location enterprises or any local business that wishes to lift the burden of manual management. Local business listing SaaS provides an organized, dedicated environment for managing your location data on an ongoing basis in a single space, as opposed to dealing with the diverse interfaces of multiple indexes.
Cons of local business listing software: The more locations you need to list, the greater your investment will need to be. However, most major local SEO SaaS brands offer some form of bulk discount to larger enterprises.
Pro tip: Your locality and industry will inform the best structured citation sources for your business. Most brands will get listed in major directories like Google, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places for Business, and Yelp. However, most citation-building services won’t automatically cover industry- or geo-specific citations (like a city business directory [geo-specific] or platforms like FindLaw for lawyers or ZocDoc for doctors [industry-specific]). You will either have to pay extra for the creation of these citations or identify and build them yourself.
What to avoid in structured citation development
There are multiple local business listing SaaS products on the market that are not worth your investment. Be wary of:
- Any service that promises ranking results; legitimate brands do not guarantee search engine rankings, review removal, or specific results on Google
- Any service that offers mass submissions to low-level directories; if the list of directories a service submits to is primarily made up of platforms you have never seen in Google’s SERPs, never heard of, or never used, it is probably not a good offering
In addition to steering clear of shady citation-building services, the most important pitfall to avoid is local business listing neglect. If you are not actively maintaining your listings over time, your business will experience the following negative outcomes:
- Your business data accuracy across the web will decay over time. Some platforms allow public editing of your listings, meaning that people can pollute your data with misinformation. Many platforms get targeted by spammers who make malicious edits to local business listings. Meanwhile, your data may naturally change over time (as in the case of moving to a new location or changing your hours of operation). All of these events can cause your listings to become inaccurate over time, misleading potential customers and creating mismatches in your NAP.
- Your reputation will suffer. Customers inconvenienced by arriving at your location after hours due to outdated open hours will take to reviews to complain about their negative experience with your brand. As your average star rating decreases on a platform like Google Business Profile, your rankings in Google’s local packs and Maps will likewise suffer.
- You will miss out on local search marketing opportunities. Unless you are making full, ongoing use of your local business listings on the major directories, you will throw away the opportunity to maximize consumer engagement via features like images, videos, reviews and review responses, Q&A, posts, updates, menus, product listings, and more.
Structured citations should never be thought of as one-and-done assets. Good local search marketing requires ongoing maintenance and creative use of these valuable listings.
How to earn unstructured citations that build authority
Creativity and traditional PR skills are your best assets when it comes to earning unstructured citations that grow local business authority over time. While different approaches are a prime fit for different industries and geos, consider this your seed list of ideas.
Digital PR and local news outreach
Get to know local reporters who cover interesting business stories in the communities you serve. Identify newsworthy aspects of your local business and its activities, such as contributing to community welfare, leading local initiatives, and offering unique expertise on hot topics.
Sponsorships, events, or partnerships with local orgs
Search Google for phrases like “our sponsors,” “sponsorships,” and “sponsor,” + your city name to turn up pages like this one that offer valuable unstructured citation opportunities. Sponsor events, teams, and local programs. Offer a local scholarship. Host or participate in local events, like seminars, celebrations, marathons, and workshops to get cited for your involvement. Partner with local organizations like local business associations or charities that list their members.
Advertise locally
If local houses of worship, schools, radio stations, charities, or organizations publish online resources that include advertising space, consider paying for inclusion. This will increase brand discoverability and hopefully drive new customers to your door, who will then cite you socially and review you online.
Guest appearances and features
Get interviewed on blogs, podcasts, and video channels that are relevant to your industry or locale. Offer to contribute expert content to local and industry publications. All these efforts create excellent unstructured citations that will be readily picked up by both search engines and AI scrapers. Don’t overlook the value of private guest appearances. Being a guest behind a paywall or in an environment like a private Discord server can contribute to brand discovery, which will then feed social media mentions and reviews.
Participate in local awards contests
If your community’s newspaper, tourism publications, or online lifestyle magazines give out awards (like “best dentists in Orange County” or “best family fun in Boise”), be sure your business is submitted for inclusion. Publishers will promote the awards they give out, landing you an unstructured citation you can be proud of.
Practice social media sociability
While it’s seldom a good choice to toot your own horn in social communities that forbid self-promotion, being active in environments like subreddits that pertain to your city or industry can help you become known and liked.
Being sociable in these spaces can create a loyal following of customers who will come to your defense and promote your brand when it’s mentioned in social discussions. Google prominently features social media content (like the above subreddit example) in the organic SERPs. Active social media listening and being liked in your community can help these prominent mentions feature more good than bad press about your brand.
Maintaining unstructured citations
Just like structured citations, unstructured citations need to be maintained over time for accuracy. If your business experiences a significant change, such as moving to a new address or assuming new management, it’s time to do an audit.
Look up your brand on Google, as well as your core search phrases. Create a list of the unstructured citations that rank within the first few pages of the results. These are the entries that are most likely to be seen by the public. Reach out to the publishers to ask if they will update your information to reduce the risk of misdirected consumers.
Structured vs. unstructured: Which matters more for SEO?
A professional local search marketing strategy understands that both structured and unstructured citations are vital to local SEO, playing different but complimentary roles.
Structured citations create your essential local visibility baseline in third-party local business directories, mapping applications, and local search features in the SERPs, like Google local packs. They are a major entry point for real-world consumers to find your business.
Unstructured citations build your authority, reputation, and trust signals across the web. How you are cited and reviewed differentiates you from competitors, and this gives both search engines and conversational AI plenty of information to show their users.
Any advanced local search marketing plan requires both types of citations: structured citations to establish a valid presence, and unstructured citations to make that presence prominent. The combination of useful tools like local business listing software and creative community outreach can make the work of citation development not just rewarding, but even fun.
Next steps for local citation building
While the basics of building structured citations can be understood fairly quickly, the creative aspects of unstructured citation development tend to require more thought and inspiration. Get some fresh ideas for filling an emotion-driven gap in your community by reading Nostalgia: your untapped local marketing opportunity, with tons of tips for thriving in environments like Reddit
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