
Inconsistent name, address, and phone data quietly erodes local rankings. Here is how citations actually work in 2026, how to audit yours, and which sources matter by industry.
In This Article
[PILLAR SKELETON β HT-449. Expand each section to full depth per seo-program/blog-agent-prompt-national.md before publishing. National framing only; claim-safe; cite sources for every stat.]
Inconsistent name, address, and phone data quietly erodes local rankings. Here is how citations actually work in 2026, how to audit yours, and which sources matter by industry.
What citations are and how Google uses them
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NAP consistency: what actually matters
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How to run a citation audit
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Core citation sources every business needs
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Industry-specific citation sources
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Fixing duplicates and bad data
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Stephen Gardner is the founder of HuskyTail Digital Marketing and a 20+ year veteran of SEO and digital marketing. He specializes in AI-powered local SEO for Las Vegas businesses, helping them dominate Google Maps and organic search without the fluff.
