Standing for Name, Address and Phone number, NAP information is crucial for local SEO. In order to achieve optimal rankings across geographically relevant search terms for that website, NAP information is important as it helps Google associate the accuracy of the business’s location and contact details as well as its legitimacy.

The way in which a business or brand’s NAP information is presented online makes up part of the way that search engines, such as Google, rank websites. When a local search is carried out for a business, the search engine will prioritise those that demonstrate accurate NAP information wherever such details are mentioned. This is because businesses which throw up contradictory NAP information during a search engine’s scanning process will be deemed likely to create confusion, and subsequently a poor experience for users. 

NAP information can appear on a company’s website and Google My Business page, but it can also be used in citations on local and industry specific business directories. The more instances of that consistent NAP information that Google sees on the web from reliable sources, the more powerful those local SEO signals will be.

If a search engine such as Google scans for a business as part of a local search, and finds it to be correlated to several different items of NAP information, the search engine will not be able to pass on the correct information with a high chance of accuracy. This, in turn, will lead to this business being ranked lower than its competitors which have clear and easily located NAP details.

Best practice, therefore, is for websites to prominently present company name, address and telephone number, both onsite and offsite, in a clear and accessible manner to ensure that both search engine crawlers, as well as users, can locate this information easily.

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