Platforms
NAP consistency
NAP consistency means a business's name, address, and phone number appear identically across every directory, listing, and citation.
Inconsistent NAP data creates duplicate and conflicting entities, which dilutes the signals a search engine associates with your business and can split your reviews across two listings.
The most common causes are a moved premises, a changed phone number, and a franchise or trading name used inconsistently.
In practice
Audit the top twenty citations for your category, fix the mismatches, and use one canonical format everywhere — including the suite number and the phone format.
Common questions
- Does NAP still matter?
- Less than a decade ago as a ranking factor, but still materially, and it matters a great deal for not splitting your review count across duplicate listings.