The Importance of NAP Consistency for Auto Repair Shops

In today’s Ask a Kukui’an, we discuss NAPS. No, not the catching up on sleep kind but the website directory sort. Learn about the importance of NAP consistency below!

Today’s post features Nichole Larson, one of KUKUI’s marketing directors. Nichole works closely with our clients in maintaining their website’s conversion rate. Moreover, Nichole helps our clients in maintaining their presence across the web. As a Kukui marketer, Nichole has first-hand experience in how NAPS Consistency affects our client’s online presence. Whether you’re hoping to track your incoming leads from Yelp or Yellow Pages (YP), it’s essential that your business’ online identity screams confidence.



Q: What is NAP?

Nichole: NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. Your business’ NAP appears in online directories such as Yelp, Google My Business, or Yellow Pages. Your business’ NAP is important because Google and other search engines check to make sure your NAP records are consistent across the web.

Q: How does NAP affect SEO?

Nichole: Search engines are all about confidence. To build confidence, you need to make sure search engines understand who you are and where you are (NAP consistency).

If your local listings don’t match, you are portraying that you don’t know who you are/where you are, therefore losing confidence. Search engines are highly sophisticated so even the slightest variation, such as a missing apostrophe, is detected and noted.

Any inconsistencies can have a negative effect on SEO. For more information, I recommend Moz’s article on Local Search Ranking Factors.

Q: Do my Kukui tracking numbers on my website affect NAP?

Nichole: As someone who works very closely with our client’s websites and conversion, I can honestly say—No. Here at Kukui, our tracking number implementation process is designed to have no effect on NAP and SEO.

We use DNI (Dynamic Number Insertion) to report your tracking numbers to Google and other search engines, while also informing them which is your shop’s main phone number.

Search Engine Journal (SEJ), a known online publication for marketing experts, did a great write up on DNI and SEO. In the article, SEJ highlights that the use of DNI is mainstream and, if used correctly, doesn’t hurt SEO in the slightest bit.

Many corporations, including most dealerships, use tracking numbers. If search engines ever change their stance on tracking numbers, we will too. We will always do what’s best for our clients.

Q: How can I check my NAP consistency?

Nichole: Google your business name and city. Do the names, addresses, and phone numbers match? If not, you will want to get those listings changed.



There are many ways you can go about editing your online NAPs. It’s best to refer to the website’s how-to as most online directories have a specific way of editing these business’ information. Often, you will be required to verify your information and claim the page directory.

Q: Can I track my Google Plus Page?

Nichole: Technically, yes, however, Google Plus (now Google My Business) is indexed for NAP. By tracking your page, you are will no longer have NAP consistency and it may affect your SEO.

Q: How can I fix NAP Consistency?

Nichole: There are companies that can help you change your local listings such as Yext, Moz Local, Bright Local, and more. See how they compare!



Q: Is there any way to check and see if NAP’s are set up properly?

Nichole: Absolutely! One of the easiest ways is to simply Google yourself locally. For our clients, we also utilize our Marketing Success Platform to track conversion. This is the most precise way for us to check a client’s search engine success because of features built in place to track ROI from numerous sources.