A citation is your business showing up by name on someone else’s site: Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Facebook, the Better Business Bureau, Nextdoor, your chamber of commerce, and the industry directories specific to your trade. Each one is a small vote that your business exists, is located where it claims, and does what it says.
Citations matter for two reasons. First, consistency: every listing should carry the exact same name, address, and phone (see NAP). Second, coverage: being present in the listings that matter for your category and city signals legitimacy to Google. A roofer missing from the major directories looks less established than a competitor who is in all of them.
You build the core set once, roughly fifteen high-value listings for most local businesses, then keep them matched as details change. Tools can semi-automate the work, but the judgment of which directories matter for your trade is the valuable part.
Your business listed on the Wauwatosa chamber of commerce site, on Yelp, and in an HVAC-specific directory, all with identical contact details, is three citations working in your favor.
Go deeper: Why Your Milwaukee Business Isn’t Showing Up in Google Maps.
This is part of our Local SEO work.