📋 Overview
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number — the three core data points used to verify your business identity across the web. When your Google Business Profile (GBP) and website show different NAP data, or when recent updates do not appear immediately in Search Atlas citation scans, it can affect your local SEO rankings and create confusion for customers. This article explains the most common causes and how to resolve them.
🔍 Why Your GBP and Website NAP May Not Match
Even small formatting differences count as mismatches. Search engines and citation tools compare NAP data character by character, so inconsistencies that look minor to a human eye can cause real SEO issues.
Common causes of NAP mismatches include:
- Phone number formatting: Your GBP may store your number as +1 (555) 123-4567 while your website displays 555-123-4567 or (555) 123-4567. These are treated as different values by citation scanners.
- Country code handling (+1): Some platforms automatically prepend +1 to US numbers pulled from GBP. If your website omits the country code, a mismatch is flagged even though the number is functionally identical.
- **Address abbreviations:**St. vs Street, Ave vs Avenue, or a missing suite number can all register as mismatches.
- Business name variations: Using LLC, Inc., or shortened names inconsistently across your GBP, website, and directories will trigger citation errors.
- Outdated website footer or contact page: A GBP update does not automatically update your website. Both must be edited separately.
✅ How to Audit and Fix Your NAP Data
- Log in to your Google Business Profile dashboard and note your exact business name, address, and phone number as they currently appear.
- Compare this data exactly — character by character — against what appears on your website's contact page, footer, and any schema markup.
- Correct any discrepancies directly in Google Business Profile (via your GBP dashboard) and update your website to match. Use one consistent format for your phone number across all locations, for example: (555) 123-4567 with no country code, or +1 (555) 123-4567 with the country code — choose one and apply it everywhere.
- Check all major directories (Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, etc.) and update any outdated or inconsistent NAP data there as well.
- Once all sources are corrected, allow time for Search Atlas to re-scan your citations and reflect the updated data. Citation scans do not update in real time — propagation can take time depending on the scan schedule.
⏱️ Why Citation Scans Take Time to Update
Citation scans are not performed in real time. After you make changes to your GBP or website NAP data, Search Atlas will reflect those changes on its next scheduled scan cycle. This is expected behavior and not an error. If a significant amount of time has passed and data still appears outdated, try triggering a manual re-scan from within the platform if that option is available for your project.
🛠️ When to Escalate
If you have corrected your NAP data across all sources and the mismatch persists in Search Atlas after a full scan cycle, escalate to the support team. When you do, have the following ready: your project name, the specific field showing the mismatch (name, address, or phone), the exact values shown in Search Atlas vs. your GBP, and an approximate timestamp of when you made your corrections.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.