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 computes your business's canonical NAP on the Citations screen and presents it as one copyable block. When you fix directories, you paste exactly that text.

How Localghost surfaces NAP

The Citations screen discovers where your business appears online and measures the NAP status of each listing. This screen is read-only: the scan runs automatically once a week — you don't trigger it manually (it costs money to run, and needless repeats are prevented).

Each row shows:

• Platform and the real listing URL (never a fabricated/search link).
• Verdict: CONFIRMED / LIKELY / UNCERTAIN (with a confidence score).
• NAP status: consistent / inconsistent / unknown.
• Observed values: the name/address/phone seen on that directory — so you see exactly what doesn't match, e.g. "Address: different on this directory".

The metrics on top: how many listings were found, how many are confirmed, the NAP consistency rate (%), and how many listings have a mismatch (napIssues).

Fixing inconsistencies

1. On the Citations screen, filter to inconsistent listings.
2. For each, compare the "observed" value to your canonical NAP.
3. Go to that platform and update the info to match the canonical NAP exactly.
4. The next weekly scan picks up the fix; your consistency rate rises.

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 inconsistent filter.

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.