NAP consistency

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone. In local SEO, NAP consistency means these three pieces of information are exactly identical across every listing of your business on the web (Google, directories, social media, your own site). It is the foundation of Google's trust in your business and of matching it to the right location.

Why it affects ranking

When Google decides whether a business is real and trustworthy, it compares signals across the web. If the same business shows a different address or phone in different places, Google can't be sure of two things:

• Are these the same business, or different ones?
• Which information is correct?

That uncertainty weakens the prominence and relevance signals — it lowers your ranking. Consistent NAP does the opposite: it strengthens Google's confidence in your business identity.

Define your canonical NAP

First, settle on one "correct" NAP and use it everywhere:

1. Name: the real business name on your Google Business Profile. Don't add keywords/city (e.g. not "Ali's Barber Downtown Men's Cuts", just "Ali's Barber").
2. Address: one spelling. "St." vs "Street", "No:12" vs "No 12" — pick one and use it everywhere.
3. Phone: one number in one format. A local landline where possible (a stronger local signal).

Localghost shows the name, address, phone and website from your Google profile on the Directory Scan screen, each with a copy button. When you fix directories, you paste exactly that text.

How Localghost surfaces NAP

The Directory Scan screen finds where your business appears online and checks each listing field by field. It doesn't change anything on other sites, and the scan runs on its own (there's no button to start one).

Each row shows:

• Platform and the real listing address (never a made-up or search link).
• Status: Confirmed or Likely (counted as your listings). Pages that mention you but may not be your listing sit on a separate Not sure tab and aren't counted.
• One mark per field: a green check matches your Google profile, a red cross differs, a dash means the page didn't show that field (not counted as different). Open the row to see what the listing says next to your Google profile.

On the right: Consistency (%) for the details we could read, with the counts of confirmed, likely, different and not-sure pages.

Fixing inconsistencies

1. On Directory Scan, open the Details differ tab.
2. Open each row and compare what the listing says to your Google profile.
3. Go to that platform (Open listing, or its Business owner page where there is one) and update the info to match exactly.
4. A later scan picks up the fix. If a listing isn't yours at all, choose Not mine: it leaves your list and your numbers.

SEO Audit uses this as a signal too: the SEO Audit scores directory count and NAP inconsistency in the "Visibility" category — the target is 20 active directories and zero inconsistencies. If there's a mismatch, the audit sends you straight to the Details differ tab.

Common mistakes

• Adding keywords/city to the name — against Google's guidelines and a source of inconsistency.
• Abbreviating the address differently on every platform — "St./Street", "Ave./Avenue" confusion.
• Multiple phone numbers — using different numbers for call tracking splits your NAP; keep the main number fixed.
• Leaving the old address after moving — old listings still pull Google toward the old location.

What's next

With the NAP foundation set, move to relevance's other big lever: choosing the right category. Then, for the full plan, the ranking techniques.