---
name: local-citation-cleanup
description: Use when duplicate, outdated or unclaimed listings exist across directories, especially after a move, an acquisition, or years of automated submissions.
---

# Local citation cleanup

Duplicate listings split signals and occasionally outrank the real one. Cleanup is mostly deletion and claiming rather than creation, and the correct sequence matters because aggregator data overwrites downstream fixes. This skill removes the noise in the order that makes it stay removed.

## What you need first

- All known and suspected listings including old addresses and phone numbers
- Access to the primary aggregators for the country
- The canonical NAP and the Google Business Profile

## Method

1. Search for duplicates using old phone numbers and old addresses in quotes, plus the business name with each previous suburb, since duplicates rarely use current details.
2. Check Google Maps for unclaimed or duplicate pins near the real one, including pins created by staff or by data providers, and claim before attempting removal.
3. Fix the aggregators before the directories, because directories refresh from aggregator feeds and any other order gets silently reverted.
4. Merge rather than delete where the platform allows it, so reviews and any accumulated authority move to the surviving listing instead of vanishing.
5. Deal with listings you cannot access by using the platform redressal or suggest-an-edit route, and log the submission date because these take weeks.
6. Re-audit at 60 and 120 days, since aggregator propagation is slow and resurrected duplicates are common.

## What this produces

A closed register of duplicates showing which were merged, removed or still pending, with the aggregator corrections made first.

## Where this goes wrong

- Deleting a duplicate that carried reviews instead of merging it, which destroys the reviews permanently
- Cleaning the visible directories while the aggregator still pushes the old record
- Creating a new listing to replace a bad one instead of claiming the bad one, which just adds another duplicate

---

From the QuQi skill library - https://www.quqi.io/skills/local-citation-cleanup