I think that this is a good blog post. I am fairly new to the industry and appreciate well written posts that help me optimize my websites. Thank you for sharing Matt.

For those of you with Canuck clients, here's a link to our own mid-year recap for Canadian Citations -- http://www.canuckseo.com/index.php/2010/07/canadian-citations-mid-year-updates/;-)Jim

Greg,

I agree with you but I have found that citations have become less and less valuable over the last 6 months. The only real way I have been able to obtain real, measurable and quick results is through good anchor text. Unfortunately, it is real hard to get unless you pay for it, which can be quite shady.

Your thoughts?

Great post, we definitely try to use local citations for our own business and our clients whenever possible.

Again I hate the word citation because it is confusing with the HTML code for a citation.  Totally seperate from a reference, mention, or instance that helps your local listings.  The anchor text and links have a relation but they are not the causation.  So sure, get good links with good anchor text. But there are listings that rank well with no anchor text. So be careful in assuming that it is the link and anchor text that are the cause.

It's kind of like linking an increase of icecream sales with an increase in violent crimes.  The two mirror each other, but they are not caused by each other.  The cause is the increase of heat. So be careful when make a connection where there is none.

Other than yellow links.... it's a good post