NAP consistency

NAP Consistency

NAP = Name, Address, Phone. NAP consistency means: across every surface that names this agent (GBP, the Realtor Maps page, the brokerage roster, Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook, Yelp, the agent's own website), the three values are byte-for-byte the same.

Importance of NAP Consistency

Why this matters more than agents expect: AI citation systems cross-check identity claims against multiple independent surfaces before they're willing to name an agent. A page that claims "Jane Smith — 555-0100" is downweighted if Yelp says "555-0101" and Zillow says "Jane T. Smith" — the model doesn't know which is right, so the safest move is to cite neither.

Key NAP Rules

The two NAP rules that move the needle:

1. Pick one phone number. Not the brokerage line for some surfaces and the cell for others.
2. Match the full legal name to what's on the DRE license — that's the surface the most authoritative cross-checks (DRE lookups, brokerage rosters) use as ground truth.