How to check a business's details match across directories

Why the usual way fails

The name, address and phone number of a business end up copied onto dozens of directories over the years, often by people who no longer work there. Checking them by hand means opening each site, searching for the business and comparing every field against the real details. Small differences are easy to miss, like "Street" versus "St" or an old area code. The data also lives in separate places, so you rarely see the whole picture in one view, and by the time you finish the list you have lost track of which entries were fine. Agencies feel this most, because the same tedious comparison has to be repeated for every new client before any real strategy work can start.

How Bretzel SEO helps

Bretzel SEO includes a module that checks how consistent a business's local information is across the main directories. It sits next to the Google Business Profile audit, so the listing and the citations are reviewed in the same project. The findings feed into the same prioritized action plan as the rest of the audit, which tells you which mismatch to fix first. You can then hand the client a PDF report instead of a spreadsheet of screenshots.

Step by step

1. Create a project for the client with their site, activity and area.
2. Run the audit with the Google Business Profile and local citations modules selected.
3. Open the citations results and note every directory where the name, address or phone number differs from the reference version.
4. Sort the fixes by priority in the action plan, starting with the directories that matter most locally.
5. Export the PDF report and walk the client through which listings need editing.
6. Run the check again a few weeks after the corrections to confirm the details now match everywhere.

Tips

• Write down the one correct version of the name, address and phone number before you look at any directory. Every comparison is then against a fixed reference, not against whatever the last site showed. Include the exact spelling of the street, the suite or floor, and the format of the phone number, since those are where most mismatches hide.
• Fix the Google Business Profile first, since Google's own guidance on local ranking is what the audit is built around. Then work outward to the directories.
• Watch your monthly allowance of combined profile and citation checks. The Free plan includes 2 a month and Starter includes 20, so a big cleanup across several clients may need Pro or Agency.
• Keep the report from before the cleanup. Showing the client the old mismatches next to the fixed listings makes the work visible, which helps when they ask what they paid for. It also gives you a baseline for the next quarterly check, when a new directory may have copied old details again.

Questions