What NAP means
NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. In practice, a useful source-of-truth record should also include the website URL, business category, opening hours, and key profile details.
What consistency means
Consistency does not require every site to use identical punctuation or abbreviations. It means that listings should clearly refer to the same real-world business and should not contain materially conflicting identity or contact information.
Common problems
Moves, rebrands, tracking numbers, mergers, suite-number changes, practitioner profiles, and duplicate locations can all create inconsistent records. Start with business-critical platforms and the errors most likely to confuse customers.
Create a canonical record
Store the approved business name, complete address, primary phone, canonical domain, hours, categories, and short descriptions in one shared document. Agencies should preserve client approval of this record before large-scale submission work.