Adding Your Phone Number to Your Website? Do it Correctly!

Many webmasters don’t realize there is a right and wrong way to add your phone number to your website. Google and other search engines look for consistency when it comes to your website and any local citations that you have acquired.

If you aren’t familiar with the term “local citation”, MOZ has provided a great explanation “Citations are defined as mentions of your business name and address on other webpages—even if there is no link to your website. An example of a citation might be an online yellow pages directory where your business is listed, but not linked to. Citations can also be found on local chamber of commerce pages, or on a local business association page that includes your business information, even if they are not linking at all to your website.”

Correct Phone Number Formats

In order for Google and other search engines to be able to correlate the power of a local citation with your website, consistency is the key. The following are the accepted formats for displaying your phone number on your website:

(555) 555-5555
555-555-5555
555 555 5555

Incorrect Phone Number Formats

The following are unacceptable formats and should be avoided at all costs. The reason being is that it’s not yet certain if Google and other search engines can understand these formats properly.