The definition
NAP is name, address and phone. NAP consistency means those three facts appear in exactly the same form across your site, your Google Business Profile, every directory, every social profile and every citation.
Identically, not approximately. “Suite 200” and “Ste 200” are two different strings to a machine reconciling records at scale, and so are “Co.” and “Company”.
Why inconsistency costs you
An engine encountering conflicting records has to decide which is right, or decline to be confident at all. Declining is safer for the engine and worse for you: the safest response to uncertainty is to recommend a business it is sure about.
Inconsistency also splits signal. Reviews, links and mentions attached to a slightly different record may not consolidate onto yours.
The common misunderstanding
That it is a one-time cleanup. NAP degrades continuously, aggregators republish stale records, staff update a profile with a slightly different name, new directories scrape old data. Treat it as a recurring check, not a project.
Check it yourself
Search your phone number in quotes. Then search your street address in quotes. Every result is a record someone holds about you, read them for variations you did not authorise.
Pay particular attention to results carrying an old number or a previous address. Those are the ones actively contradicting your current facts.
See where you actually stand
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