What is Google My Business NAP Consistency?

If you maintain your local business at Google My Business, and you also list your business at any local business listing directories such as, Facebook, Instagram, TripAdvisor, Yelp, then you will need to maintain NAP consistency.

What Does NAP Stand For and How Does It help Local SEO?

NAP stands for Name, Address and Phone Number that you maintain on Google My Business. Google pulls your GMB profiles’ NAP and website (if any). Then, it compares it with the NAP that you list at your website, social media, and other online directories. If all of these information are consistent, then Google can put together all the relevant information in the research result, including reviews from the web, social media links, etc. Your business will get a better chance of rank higher if your NAP is consistent.

Let me show an example of inconsistent NAP that needs to be corrected:

The top right side shows the information box (known as Google Knowledge Panel). The business name shows Daiichi Modern Art Gallery Malaysia (Galeri Seni Lukis Moden Dai Ichi). The business name contains both English and Malay names. Whereas, the company’s facebook business name is just Daiichi Modern Art Gallery Malaysia. Therefore, it is better to use a same business name across all the listings.

How to Maintain GMB NAP Consistency?

I suggest you to keep a master copy of your business name, address and phone number somewhere. Then, you can use copy and paste method the NAP into all your social media and other directory listings. For me, I use Google My Business info as my “master” info record, and copy and paste across my other listings. For example, some times you may put street address as No. 155A, No 155A, No. 155-A, or even just 155. I would suggest you to stick to only one type across all listings with exact punctuations, space characters and sequence. Also, if you pay enough attention to your GMB profile, Google may remove the “No” and “-” in final address shown on Google Map. What I did was I also followed the same by removing the No and dash ‘-‘ in my addresses.

If you make any significant changes to your business profile such as change in address, phone, website or even company name, you need to make updates to all your local listings.