Your practice information is probably scattered across the internet right now—and you might not even know it. Your name, address, and phone number are listed on Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, your local health directory, Facebook, and dozens of other places. On some of those sites, the information might be slightly wrong. On others, it might be out of date. On a few, it might be completely different from what you have on your website.
Patients notice this. When they search for your practice, they find conflicting information and get confused. Some call the wrong number. Some go to an old address. Some just move on to a competitor instead of figuring out which information is correct.
This is called NAP consistency, and it's quietly affecting how many patients can find you.
What NAP Actually Means
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone. That's it. Your practice name. Your street address. Your phone number. These three pieces of information need to be exactly the same everywhere on the internet. Same spelling. Same formatting. Same layout. Not almost the same—exactly the same.
Most practice owners understand this part immediately. What surprises them is this: you're already listed on dozens of directories you probably never created accounts for. Google has you listed automatically. So do Apple Maps, Yelp, Healthgrades, WebMD, Zocdoc, Facebook, and many others. Some of these listings came from public records. Some came from data brokers who collect business information and sell it to hundreds of sites. Some came from old accounts you created years ago and forgot about.
When your information ends up on all these different places through different sources, it becomes inconsistent almost automatically. One directory has your old address. Another has a typo in your phone number. A third still has your practice under a different name. Your phone number might be formatted as (555) 123-4567 on one site and 555-123-4567 on another. Small differences, but they add up.
Google cares about this more than most people realize. When Google searches the internet and finds your practice information in ten different places with ten different spellings, your phone number in four different formats, and your address with varying abbreviations, it sees a problem. The algorithm concludes that something doesn't add up. Something might be unreliable. And when Google is uncertain, your practice doesn't rank as high.
The numbers show this clearly. Businesses with inconsistent information rank 2 to 3 positions lower in local search results than competitors with consistent information. If you're in position 3, you might drop to position 5 or 6. That sounds small, but most patients click on one of the first three results they see. Drop a few spots and you've lost those patients before they even call.
The opposite is equally true: businesses with consistent information across all directories are 40% more likely to appear in that map section at the top of search results—where patients look first.
Beyond the rankings, inconsistency creates a trust problem for patients. Someone searches for your practice on Google and sees one address. They check Yelp and see a different one. They visit WebMD and find a different phone number. They're suddenly unsure what's correct. Did you move? Are you still open? They don't want to guess wrong, so they search for someone else instead.
This happens constantly. About 85% of people have found incorrect or conflicting information on business listings. When they encounter it, they often move on to a competitor rather than trying to figure out which information is right.
The Problem That Keeps Coming Back
NAP consistency is difficult to fix because you can't fix it once and leave it fixed.
You update your address on Google Business Profile. A month later, a data aggregator refreshes its information and overwrites your update with outdated data from another source. Your old address is back. You fix your phone number on Yelp. Then someone with an old business card creates a duplicate listing with the wrong number. You consolidate everything, and Google refreshes from a source you didn't know about. Suddenly old information is live again.
Directories change all the time. New data companies appear. Old ones merge or re-scan public records. Google itself periodically refreshes from various sources. Duplicate listings pop up from forgotten old accounts. This isn't a one-time project. It's an ongoing process that needs monitoring.
This is why successful practices don't just fix their information and forget about it. They check regularly. They catch problems quickly before they spread. They prevent duplicates from multiplying. They keep their information accurate across all platforms, month after month.
What to Do About It
Not every directory is equally important. Focus on the ones where patients actively search and where Google pays attention:
Google Business Profile is the foundation. Most local searches start here. Apple Maps matters because millions of people use iPhones and default to Apple Maps. Yelp is huge for local search. Healthgrades, Zocdoc, and WebMD are where patients specifically search for healthcare—people actively use these to research doctors and dentists. Vitals ranks well for healthcare searches. Facebook is worth including because many people search for local businesses there. Bing handles significant search volume.
If your information is consistent across these nine, you're already ahead of most practices. But dozens of smaller directories and citation sites also have your information because they automatically pulled it from other sources. If your original information was wrong, that mistake spread everywhere.
You can audit your own listings. Search for your practice name in Google and check the information panel. Is everything correct? Then visit each major directory one by one and search for your practice. Does the information match exactly? Same spelling, same formatting, same layout.
Write down everything that's different. Call your office and verify your actual current phone number. Check your records to confirm you haven't overlooked any office moves or changes. Ask your team if they created any accounts you don't remember.
This audit takes a couple hours. It won't find every place you're listed, but it'll show you the problem clearly. You can update the major directories yourself. You can claim listings you didn't create. You can fix information step by step. But you'll also realize quickly why continuous management matters. Sites keep changing. New listings appear. Old information sometimes returns.
When your practice information is consistent and complete across directories, patients find you more easily. When it's correct on Google, Yelp, and the other major sites where people actually search, you rank higher and build trust. When someone searches for a dentist in your area, they see your information presented the same way everywhere they look. That consistency makes you look professional and legitimate.
The opposite is costly. Inconsistent information confuses patients, damages your rankings, and makes you easier to miss when someone is searching for your services. Over time, that affects how many new patients contact you.
NAP consistency isn't flashy or exciting. It's just one of those foundational things that works silently in the background, making it easier or harder for patients to find you and trust you. Get it right, and it compounds over time. If managing this across 50+ directories yourself feels like too much, that's what we handle. We audit your practice across all the major platforms, identify every inconsistency, and show you exactly what's wrong. We give you a clear picture of where your information is broken and what needs to be fixed.
Get your free NAP audit. We'll check all the major directories, show you every inconsistency, and explain exactly how it's affecting whether patients can find you.