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Whether they have DoFollow links or NoFollow links, citation sites with links through to local business websites are invaluable to local SEO.

In a study we did with 325 local search professionals, we found that link building through citations was the #1 local link building tactic. Of course, this isn’t the only way to build links, but it is a quick and straightforward way to get links for all types of local businesses.

Backlinks remain one of most important factors that influence both organic search ranking and local-search/maps ranking. If you’d like to see what the experts say about local link building check out our Expert Local Link Building Survey 2018.

Citation sites that provide backlinks

Knowing that many SEOs like to build links through their citation-building actions, we wanted to put together a useful resource to show which citation sites provide either DoFollow links or NoFollow links.

In March 2018, our Citations team delved into our extensive citation database to create a comprehensive list of local citation sites with DoFollow or NoFollow links.

– Jump to the Top Citation Sites with DoFollow Links – 

– Jump to the Top Citations Sites with NoFollow Links – 

To make this resource even more useful we’ve added further information about each citation site so you can make quick, informed decisions:

• Domain Authority – both tables are ordered by Moz’s Domain Authority score, which is a score of the ranking-power of each site
• Industry – while most citation sites are open to all local businesses, we’ve also included some popular niche sites that cater to certain industries such as legal and hospitality
• Active Sites – every site in the table is ‘active’; this means that they currently accept new business listings, (correct as of March 2018)
• Global and Local – we looked into citation sites that operate internationally, as well as sites specific to the US, UK, Canada, and Australia

Both tables can be downloaded as CSV files – see the links below each table to download these.

We plan to regularly update the below lists to keep them up-to-date and useful for our customers. If you have any thoughts or questions on any of the sites in our list, let us know.

What are DoFollow links?

DoFollow links are links that Google and other search engines are able to follow to reach a linked website. This passes on authority, or ‘link juice’, from the source through to the destination website. The more reputable links that you have pointing to your website, the more likely a search engine will believe it to be a high-value (‘authoritative’) site.

Links are DoFollow by default, so do not require additional HTML attributes in order to follow. Including DoFollow links on your site allows you to pass on authority to the websites that you link to.

However, including DoFollow links in forums and comment sections of websites can attract spammers attempting to improve the visibility of their own sites.

Citation sites that include DoFollow links are considered to have extra value because they contain a DoFollow backlink. These combine SEO benefits from well-respected sites with potential clickthroughs from consumers looking for a local business.

What is a NoFollow link?

NoFollow links contain HTML tags that stop search engines following links to pass on link juice. Links that contain NoFollow attributes stop Google from seeing a link as an endorsement of the linked page. These have become increasingly important due to penalties that can apply to paid links.

Although they won’t carry the link juice back to your site, in Local SEO NoFollow links are still important. Any link from a citation site provides much more exposure (and ease of access) to audiences searching for products and services like yours.

To create a NoFollow tag, the code rel=”nofollow” should be included in hyperlinks.

Do NoFollow links help SEO?

There is a constant debate about the SEO value of NoFollow links. In the past, SEOs believed that NoFollow links were ignored by Google and therefore had no value. However, now studies suggest that Google can acknowledge NoFollow links, and attribute some value to the website they link to.

If we look beyond pure SEO value, NoFollow links have other benefits to their destination pages. Links placed on large sites with lots of users or on very relevant sites can generate valuable website visits.

Build Citations the easy way using BrightLocal

Building citations can take a lot of time, effort and stress. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We have an experienced team of professional citation builders who deliver over 60,000 citations every month for our SEO and SMB customers. Our manual citation service costs just US$3 per submission, and ensures that your business is appearing in all the right business listings sites and local directories.

We can also submit your business data to local data aggregators in the US. These aggregators will distribute your data out to their network of directories, mobile apps and mapping services. Our aggregator service is high quality and low cost; we submit to all 4 US aggregators for just $55/year.

See how our prices compare with other citation building services.