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APIEndpoint 35 of 40Audits / Citations / NAP Consistency

Citation Audit API

The citation audit API for the new local SEO stack.

Citation audits used to mean paying BrightLocal ($39/mo), Whitespark ($24–$49/mo), or Yext ($199+/yr per location), waiting for a crawl, and exporting CSVs. This is one POST call. Your agent gets a NAP consistency score (0–100), which directories have mismatches, exactly what fields are wrong, and a count of missing citations. All in structured JSON in 8–15 seconds.

Start Free — 50 CreditsView Docs

POST /v1/audit/citation · 50 credits / call

POST /v1/audit/citationscomposite · ~10s
Citation audit · NAP across 50+ sourcesabcplumbing.com · Austin TX

Local pack rank

#2+1

Up from #3 last week

Review velocity

12/mo-3

Down 20% MoM

NAP consistency

94%+2%

3 mismatches fixed

Profile complete

78%0

Missing 3 categories

Top fix: add 3 missing service categories to profile.

▌ Ask your agent

These prompts are the new citation-intelligence workflow.

Connect Local SEO Data as an MCP server once (60 seconds, below). Then your agent audits NAP on schedule. Replace bracketed business names with your own.

Pre-pitch citation audit

Run a citation audit for [Joe's Pizza in Brooklyn, NY]. Show me their NAP consistency score, which directories have wrong phone numbers, and how many citation sources are missing the business entirely.

Multi-location NAP consistency

Audit citations for all 12 client locations. Flag any location below an 85 consistency score or with more than 2 directories showing a wrong address.

Citation cleanup workflow

Pull a citation audit for [my business]. List every directory where the phone number doesn't match our canonical phone. Draft a priority list — which ones to fix first based on search-traffic impact.

Competitive citation analysis

Compare citation consistency for [my business] vs my top 3 local competitors. Who has the cleanest NAP across directories. What are they getting right that I'm missing.

▌ Real response

What you get back

Live response from POST /v1/audit/citation for a sample Brooklyn pizzeria.

response · application/json~8–15s · 50 credits
{
  "status": "success",
  "credits_used": 50,
  "business_name": "Joe's Pizza",
  "location": "Brooklyn, NY",
  "citation_score": 88,
  "total_directories": 52,
  "consistent": 46,
  "inconsistent": 4,
  "not_found": 2,
  "missing_citations": 2,
  "issues": [
    {
      "directory": "Yelp",
      "field": "phone",
      "expected": "(212) 366-1182",
      "found": "(212) 366-1183",
      "impact": "high"
    },
    {
      "directory": "Yellow Pages",
      "field": "address",
      "expected": "7 Carmine St, New York, NY 10014",
      "found": "7 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014",
      "impact": "medium"
    },
    {
      "directory": "Citysearch",
      "field": "phone",
      "expected": "(212) 366-1182",
      "found": "(212) 366-0000",
      "impact": "high"
    },
    {
      "directory": "BBB",
      "field": "business_name",
      "expected": "Joe's Pizza",
      "found": "Joes Pizza",
      "impact": "low"
    }
  ],
  "not_found_directories": ["Foursquare", "Nextdoor"],
  "high_impact_directories": ["Google Business Profile", "Yelp", "Google Maps", "Apple Maps"]
}
▌ Returns

The citation metrics that matter for local rankings

Citation consistency score

0–100 score measuring NAP accuracy across directories

Composite score reflecting how many directories have matching NAP data. Higher scores mean cleaner citations and stronger local ranking signals.

Per-directory breakdown

Exact mismatches for each inconsistent directory

See which directories have wrong phone, wrong address, or wrong business name. Includes the expected canonical value and what each directory actually shows.

Missing citations

Directories where the business isn't listed at all

Count of major citation sources where your business isn't claimed or listed. Signal for citation building — where should you add yourself next.

Impact scoring

High, medium, and low impact flags per issue

Not all mismatches are equal. A wrong phone on Google Maps is high impact; a typo in business name on a minor directory is low. Prioritize fixes by search-traffic consequence.

Citation coverage

Which major directories are claiming your business

Breakdown of total directories checked vs. claimed vs. missed. Guides citation-building strategy — where are the biggest gaps.

▌ Built for

What AI-native operators ship with this

Pre-pitch prospect audits

Before a sales call with a prospect, pull their citation audit. Walk in knowing their score, which directories have stale data, which are missing them entirely. Diagnosis beats guesswork. Closing rate goes up.

→ For consultants

Monthly multi-location citation tracking

Agencies cron a monthly citation audit across all client locations. Flag locations falling below a 90 score. Automatically surface new citation opportunities. Built once in Claude, runs on schedule, no dashboard required.

→ For agencies

Citation cleanup and NAP standardization

A client is ranking poorly despite good reviews. Pull their citation audit — you find the root cause: Yelp has the old phone number, Yellow Pages has a shortened address. Agent prioritizes fixes by search-impact, you execute, rankings improve.

→ Citation Audit API

Competitive citation benchmarking

Pull citation audits for your top 5 competitors monthly. Track whose consistency is rising, whose is slipping. Know which citations are claiming features you're missing. Use that for your own citation-building roadmap.

→ Competitor Gap API
▌ vs. the alternatives

Why not just use BrightLocal, Whitespark, or Yext?

Dashboard-era citation tools (BrightLocal, Whitespark, Yext, Moz Local, Synup) charge $14–$199+ per month per location and are built for humans logging in and exporting CSVs. For agent workflows, multi-location audits, or bulk citation intelligence, they're too slow and too expensive. Here's how the options stack up.

ApproachCost per auditSetupCoverageAgent-ready
Manual audit (Google + Yelp only)1–2 hours labor per auditNone2 directoriesNo
BrightLocal Citation Tracker$39+ /mo (~$1.30 per audit at 30/mo)Dashboard login50+ directoriesCSV export only
Whitespark Local Citation Finder$24–$49 /mo (~$0.80–1.60 per audit at 30/mo)Dashboard + verificationVaries by planManual export
Moz Local$14+ /mo (~$0.47 per audit at 30/mo)Dashboard setup50+ directoriesLimited API
Yext$199+ /yr per location (~$16.50/mo)Setup + verification80+ networksAPI available
Synup$199–$799 /mo (~$6.60–26.60 per audit)Integration + training80+ directoriesLimited
Local SEO Data Citation Audit API$0.25 per auditAPI key + 1-line MCP config50+ directoriesNative MCP, agent-first
▌ Connect in 60 seconds

Use it from your agent

Two integration surfaces: MCP for clients that speak MCP, REST API for everything else.

Direct MCP integration

Drop-in support in Claude Desktop, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, and any MCP-aware client.

Add to your client's MCP config (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localseodata": {
      "url": "https://mcp.localseodata.com",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer sk_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

REST API

For Perplexity Computer, ChatGPT Custom GPTs, custom agents, and any platform that calls REST endpoints directly.

Base URL:

api.localseodata.com

See the docs for endpoint reference and auth.

▌ Quickstart

Your first call in three lines

One call, three syntaxes. Pass business name, full address, and phone number. The endpoint returns a NAP consistency score (0–100), directory-by-directory mismatches, impact ratings, and a count of missing citations. Address should be the complete street address; phone should include area code and formatting. Pair with [Google Business Profile API](/google-business-profile-api) to fetch canonical NAP data, then audit against directory sources.

terminal · curl
POST /v1/audit/citation
curl -X POST https://api.localseodata.com/v1/audit/citation \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "business_name": "Joe'"'"'s Pizza",
    "address": "7 Carmine St, New York, NY 10014",
    "phone": "(212) 366-1182"
  }'
Full endpoint reference → · Get an API key →
▌ Pricing for this endpoint

$0.25 per citation audit

Pay-as-you-go starts at $5. Monthly plans from $19. Funds never expire. No seat fees, ever.

Free tier
50
credits on signup (0.2 audits + buffer)
Starter · $19/mo
~76
audits/mo at this rate
Per-call cost
$0.25
per citation audit
▌ FAQ

Common questions

What is the Citation Audit API?+
A REST endpoint that audits Name-Address-Phone (NAP) consistency across 50+ online business directories and returns a 0–100 citation score, directory-by-directory mismatches, impact flags, and a count of missing citations. One call replaces the manual process of logging into BrightLocal, running a crawl, and exporting CSVs. It's the data layer underneath multi-location NAP compliance, citation cleanup workflows, pre-pitch audits, and competitive citation benchmarking.
What citation sources are covered?+
The Citation Audit API checks 50+ directories including Google Business Profile, Google Maps, Yelp, Yellow Pages, BBB, Apple Maps, Foursquare, Citysearch, Facebook, Bing Places, Nextdoor, and many regional and vertical-specific directories (legal directories, medical directories, etc.). Coverage spans enough sources to catch most NAP drift. The response includes which directories claim your business and which have mismatches.
How is the citation score calculated?+
The 0–100 citation score is a ratio of consistent directories to total directories found. A business listed correctly on 46 out of 52 directories scores 88. Score factors in only directories where a match is found; directories where the business isn't listed don't lower the score, but are flagged separately as a citation-building opportunity. If you're running production client work, you need to know the methodology — we disclose it.
How does this compare to BrightLocal, Whitespark, and Yext?+
BrightLocal, Whitespark, Yext, Moz Local, and Synup are dashboard-era citation tools designed for humans to log in and view reports. They cost $14–$199+ per month. The Citation Audit API is designed for agents — your Claude prompt calls this endpoint, gets JSON, and acts on the result without a dashboard. Cost comparison: if you run 100 audits per month, BrightLocal costs you $39–90/month; the Citation Audit API costs $25 total. If you're building agent workflows, this is the right tool. If you want a dashboard for your team to review, those tools are better.
Why does NAP consistency matter for local rankings?+
Google uses citation signals — consistency of business information across online directories — to verify your business identity and build confidence in your data. When all sources agree on your NAP, Google trusts your information more, strengthens your Prominence ranking signal, and ranks you higher in local pack results. When sources conflict, Google's confidence drops, your Prominence signal weakens, and your rankings fall. Citation consistency carries an estimated 35% weight within Google's Prominence factor. Inconsistent NAP doesn't just fail to help; it actively harms rankings you would otherwise hold.
Where does this data come from?+
We operate first-party crawling infrastructure for citation sources. Unlike some endpoints that rely purely on third-party providers, we actively discover and verify business listings across 50+ directories. Citation data refreshes within approximately 7–14 days of changes being made to a directory listing (different directories update at different rates). For exact details on data provenance for your production use case, see the Citation Audit docs.
How fresh is the citation data?+
Citation data across directories typically refreshes within 7–14 days of a listing being claimed, updated, or corrected. Some high-volume directories (Google, Yelp) refresh faster; others (regional or vertical-specific directories) may take longer. Full audits take 8–15 seconds because we're checking across 50+ sources in parallel. Because citation consistency matters for rankings, run audits monthly for client locations, quarterly for competitive baselines.
Can I use this for businesses I don't own?+
Yes — and this is the core use case for consultants and agencies. Pull a citation audit for a prospect before a sales call. You walk in knowing their score, which directories have stale data, which are missing them entirely. The API accepts any business name, address, and phone number, so you can audit competitors, prospects, or your own clients. This is standard practice in the industry — citation audits are how local SEO operators do discovery.
Can my AI agent use this directly?+
Yes. Two integration paths. MCP: add Local SEO Data to your claude_desktop_config.json and your Claude agent calls this endpoint from any prompt. REST: any agent that can make HTTPS calls — ChatGPT Custom GPTs, Perplexity Computer, custom Python agents — hits api.localseodata.com directly with the Bearer token. You don't write integration code. You write the prompt.
What does it cost vs BrightLocal, Whitespark, or Yext?+
BrightLocal costs $39–90/mo ($1.30–3/audit at 30 audits/mo). Whitespark costs $24–49/mo ($0.80–1.60/audit). Yext costs $199+/yr per location ($16.50+/mo). Moz Local costs $14+/mo (~$0.47/audit). Citation Audit API costs $0.25 per audit. For a 30-location agency doing monthly audits: BrightLocal costs $1,170–1,080/year; Citation Audit API costs $90/year. For per-call consumption: BrightLocal's lowest tier is still $39/mo whether you audit 1 location or 30; this API scales linearly with actual usage.
How does this work for multi-location businesses?+
Each call audits one business location (one business name + address + phone combination). For multi-location clients, batch as many calls as you need — the API has no per-location cap beyond your credit balance. Agencies typically cron a monthly audit across every client location using a single Claude agent. The agent batches all locations in one run, surfaces locations with scores below a threshold, and flags any new citation opportunities. Most efficient for agencies: one monthly agent run across all locations, agent surfaces only what needs attention.
Can the API detect duplicate listings?+
The Citation Audit API focuses on NAP consistency across directories. It does not currently detect duplicate listings (two or more claims of the same business under different names or addresses on one platform). For duplicate detection, pair this with Google Business Profile API to pull the canonical profile and look for secondary profiles or misnamed listings. Future versions of Citation Audit may include duplicate detection.
What changed in 2026 that made Citation Audit APIs necessary?+
Two things: MCP (Model Context Protocol) became standard, making it practical for agents to call specialized APIs without bespoke integration code. Second, citation management shifted from a dashboard tool for humans to a signal for agents — agencies and consultants now need to pull citation audits as part of prospect discovery, client monitoring, and multi-location compliance workflows. The dashboard era is winding down; the agent era needs APIs optimized for that shape of work. Citation Audit is a native 2026 category.
▌ Related endpoints

Often used in the same agent prompt

POST /v1/business/profile
Google Business Profile API

Pull canonical NAP to compare against citation sources.

POST /v1/business/listings
Business Listings API

Find all businesses in a category and location to identify citation opportunities.

POST /v1/audit/profile-health
Business Profile Health API

Profile completeness score and optimization recommendations.

POST /v1/audit/local
Local Audit API

Composite: rankings + reviews + profile + citations.

Run your first citation audit in 60 seconds.

50 free credits on signup. Your first NAP audit happens through Claude, not curl.

Start FreeRead the docs
▌ MADE FOR THE NEW LOCAL SEO STACK