NAP Consistency

NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone. Consistency means those details are written identically everywhere they appear — your site, Google Business Profile, directories. Inconsistencies reduce confidence in local rankings.

Variations accumulate without anyone deciding to create them: an old suite number, a former phone line, "Street" against "St", a slightly different trading name. Each makes it fractionally harder to be sure two listings describe the same business.

The Google Business Profile is the anchor. Everything else should match it exactly, including formatting.

Why it matters

One of the few local ranking factors entirely within your control, and among the most commonly neglected — especially after a move or a number change.

Related terms

Entity SEOEntity SEO is the work of making search engines and AI systems confidently understand what your business is, distinct from similarly named things — th…Local PackThe local pack is the map and three business listings shown for searches with local intent. It appears above organic results and takes a large share o…Knowledge GraphA knowledge graph is a structured database of entities and the relationships between them. Google's powers knowledge panels and much of its understand…

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GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)Entity SEOKnowledge GraphsameAsSchema Markup (Structured Data)Speakablellms.txtInformation GainE-E-A-TTopical AuthorityInternal LinkingCrawl BudgetCanonical URLIndex BloatLocal PackFeatured SnippetKeyword Research

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