What NAP means

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. In local SEO work, a NAP audit compares these details across a business’s own pages and third-party listings. Its immediate purpose is practical: can a customer identify and contact the correct business? A citation is a mention of the business; it may have a link or no link. Counting mentions, counting backlinks and correcting contact information are different tasks. This guide handles the correction record, not directory submission or link acquisition.

Match the business, not just the spelling

Choose a stable location identifier before comparing names. A renamed shop may still be the same business; two branches with the same name may be different locations. Google’s guidance asks businesses to use their real-world identity. Address visibility also depends on the business model: a service-area business should not expose a residential address merely to make listings match. Follow the linked policy for the applicable profile type rather than creating extra profiles to resolve a spelling difference.

Three correction cases

The three examples below deliberately finish in different states. The dates and listing URLs are fictional. Read the original, intended and confirmed columns together; a blank confirmation is an unresolved observation, not a successful correction. A phone formatting difference may represent the same number, while a changed digit can route a customer elsewhere. Resolve semantic differences before spending time on punctuation.

  • Storefront: a corrected phone number: The public number was rechecked after submission. Keep the observed result and verification date; a successful edit does not prove a ranking change.
  • Service-area business: hide a residential address: A visibility request was submitted but the public result has not been checked. Leave confirmation empty. Do not copy the residential address into a shared worksheet.
  • Second branch: an unresolved address discrepancy: Confirm the branch identity with its owner before requesting a change. Do not overwrite it with another branch’s address or treat an abbreviation as proof of an error.

Build an evidence record

Save the exact listing URL and the date you checked it. Preserve the original value even after submitting an edit so another reviewer can reconstruct the decision. Keep an owner-approved reference for each location in your own controlled records. The downloadable template uses stable English field identifiers for imports; the guide below explains them. Use one row per field, and retain separate rows for separate sources instead of collapsing every occurrence into one company-wide result.

  • Location: Stable identifier for the real business location, independent of its name.
  • Field: One field per row: compare like with like.
  • Original value: Preserve the observed value before making a correction.
  • Requested value: The approved intended value, not evidence of publication.
  • Confirmed value: Fill only after rechecking the public listing.
  • Observed: Date the original listing was checked.
  • Submitted: Date a correction was requested; not its approval date.
  • Verified: Date the confirmed public result was checked.
  • Status: Keep review, submission and verification separate.
  • Source: Exact listing URL, not just the directory homepage.
  • Next action: Record who should resolve the next uncertainty.

Request, recheck and close

Start with the discrepancy most likely to misdirect a customer. Verify the intended value with the responsible business contact, then use the source’s normal correction process. Record the request date without changing the row to verified. Reopen the public listing later and compare the displayed result with the approved value. If it differs or remains inaccessible, retain the uncertainty and a next action. CSV is available for quick editing; the workbook preserves text such as a leading plus sign. Import CSV columns as text and inspect the values before use.

CSV uses a protective apostrophe before formula-like values, including the example phone numbers. Text imports may retain it. Use XLSX or JSON when you need the exact original value. Downloaded files remain on your device; reloading this page does not delete them.

What this worksheet cannot establish

A completed register does not prove indexing, ranking improvement, ownership of a profile or a completed phone call. Keep traffic and customer outcomes in a separate measurement record with their own dates and definitions. The page works without JavaScript and does not contact directories. Downloads are local working files; nothing you edit in them is automatically saved to this site. Store access credentials and private addresses outside shared exports, and review unresolved rows when a business moves, changes number or closes a branch.