Universal business listing
A universal business listing is one master record of a business (name, address, phone, hours, categories) kept once and sent to many directories.
The phrase describes the idea behind data aggregators and listing syndication: instead of filling in every directory by hand, one canonical record is distributed to many of them. It saves time, but the copies only stay correct while someone keeps the master record and its distribution current.
Whatever tool or service you use, the test is the same: open the live listings and check that each one shows the same name, address and phone as your Google Business Profile. A universal record that never reached a directory, or reached it with an old phone number, is not a citation.
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