NAP consistency checker: find what diverges between your listings
Paste your name, address and phone exactly as each directory shows them. The tool tells you which ones contradict each other, and which are merely written differently.
Your reference NAP
The one on your Google Business Profile. It is the source of truth: everything else should line up with it.
What the other sites publish
Copy the values exactly as they appear, without tidying them up on the way. The gap is precisely what we are looking for.
NAP consistency
Then at least one other site, and the comparison appears here.
Fill in your reference NAP
Your reference NAP, to copy everywhere
Paste these three lines verbatim into every directory. The comma and the abbreviation matter.
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What is NAP in local SEO?
NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone: your business name, its postal address and its phone number. That trio is your establishment's identity card on the web, the one Google cross-checks between your website, your Google Business Profile listing, directories, social networks and review sites.
NAP consistency means those three facts are rigorously identical everywhere. Not roughly identical: identical. A “St” here, a “Street” there, an old number left behind on some directory, and Google is left deciding which version is the right one.
It is one of the few local search levers that needs no budget, no technical skill and no waiting. It needs discipline, which is exactly why most businesses let it slide.
Why NAP consistency matters to Google
In local search Google does not rank pages, it ranks entities. To recognise an entity it gathers everything it can find about it and checks that the pieces agree. Every citation that agrees reinforces its confidence; every citation that diverges dilutes it.
In the worst case Google concludes it is looking at two separate businesses and splits the trust between them. Neither then carries the weight a single one would have. That is the mechanism by which a perfectly legitimate business ends up behind a competitor with worse reviews.
The most common NAP consistency mistakes
They all look alike: nobody made them on purpose, they piled up over the years.
- 1
The old premises' phone number
A move, a line changed, and the old number survives on three directories nobody visits any more. Except Google.
- 2
The legal suffix that comes and goes
“Dawson Plumbing” on the Google listing, “Dawson Plumbing LLC” on the directory, “Dawson Plumbing Inc” somewhere else. Three spellings for one business.
- 3
Street abbreviations
“St” against “Street”, “Ave” against “Avenue”, “N” against “North”. Google usually reconciles them, but it is under no obligation to.
- 4
The call-tracking number
An advertising tracking number declared on a listing in place of the real one. It is the costliest divergence, because it is invisible to you.
- 5
The phantom address line
“Building C”, “2nd floor”, “Suite 210”: present here, missing there. Keep it or drop it, but do the same everywhere.
Where to check your NAP first
No need to comb through fifty directories. These carry most of what Google cross-checks about a local business.
Google Business Profile
The reference. Every other listing should line up with this one, never the other way round.
Yelp
Barely used by your customers, heavily read by search engines. A classic source of duplicate listings.
Often created by an employee who has since left, and never updated after the move.
Apple Maps
Feeds Siri and the iPhone. A wrong listing here costs you visits you will never see.
Bing Places
Small share, but it feeds other services, and its listings are widely syndicated.
Your own website
The footer and the contact page. That is where inconsistency is most common, and easiest to fix.
How to fix an inconsistent NAP
In this order. The reverse would have you copy a mistake onto twenty sites.
Freeze your reference version
Decide the exact spelling of the name, address and number, starting from your Google Business Profile listing. Write it down somewhere: that is what you will copy, to the letter.
Fix your own site first
Footer, contact page, legal notice, Schema.org markup. It is the source you fully control, and the one directories copy from.
Work through the directories one by one
Claim the listing where you can, correct it, then note the date. Some platforms take several weeks to publish the change.
Frequently asked questions
Is a difference in wording really a problem?
Less so than a contradiction, but it is not neutral. Google has to reconcile two different strings instead of reading one, and it does not always succeed. The tool separates the two cases: fix contradictions first, tidy the wording next time you are in the listing anyway.
Should I put my legal suffix in the name?
Google recommends the name your customers know you by, the one on your storefront. If you add the legal suffix, add it everywhere; if you leave it out, leave it out everywhere. The choice matters less than the consistency.
What about a call-tracking number?
Never declare it as a listing's primary number. Google Business Profile accepts a secondary number: that is where it belongs, if you insist on using one.
How long before a fix takes effect?
Anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the directory, plus more time before Google cross-checks the change. This is work whose effects are measured over a quarter, not a week.
What if I cannot edit a listing?
Almost every platform lets you claim an existing listing, usually by phone or by post. Failing that, reporting the information as wrong tends to get there in the end.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. The whole comparison runs in your browser, nothing is sent or kept. Close the tab and nothing remains.
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Fixing your NAP takes an evening. Watching it takes every month.
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