The finish line is not perfection; it is a profile that no one has to argue with.
Field notes · Rebuilding aggregator feeds · In the file
Worth remembering
What Actually Counts as a Citation?
Keep the record carefully maintained, revisit it before each campaign, and most local problems solve themselves. The worst outcome is not a wrong listing but two right-looking listings that disagree.
What Breaks First When a Business Moves?
The pattern across audits is that the effort scales badly if it is left until a rebrand forces it, at least in a competitive market. Verify what a competitor in a crowded metro market has claimed before deciding where to submit.
Is Volume Ever Worth Chasing?
Taken together, if a listing cannot be claimed, document it and move on rather than duplicating it. On balance, comparisons between competitors tend to suggest more than half of the problems trace back to a single unclaimed profile.
How Routinely Should the Data Be Checked?
Treat the name, address and phone number as a single source of truth, not as a field to be improvised per site. The data from most clean-up projects indicates the majority of profiles carry at least one contradiction.
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