What Is a NAP Audit (and How to Run One)

A NAP audit is a systematic review of your business’s Name, Address, and Phone Number across every directory, citation, and platform where your practice appears online. The goal is identifying inconsistencies — different phone numbers, abbreviated vs. spelled-out street names, old addresses that never got updated — that send conflicting signals to search engines and confuse patients. For healthcare practices, NAP audits are not a one-time cleanup. They’re a recurring maintenance task, especially after any practice change: new location, new phone number, rebranding, or adding a provider.

What a NAP Audit Checks

Name

Is the practice name identical across all platforms? “Atlanta Dental Group” vs. “Atlanta Dental Grp” vs. “Atlanta Dental Group LLC” — each variation is a citation mismatch. Pick one canonical form and enforce it everywhere.

Address

Is the street address formatted identically everywhere? Suite numbers in the right field, correct abbreviations (Drive vs. Dr.), ZIP code consistent. One wrong field on one major aggregator can cascade to dozens of directories.

Phone

Is the same primary phone number listed everywhere — in the same format? “(404) 555-0100” vs. “404-555-0100” vs. “4045550100” — technically different strings that can create citation mismatches in automated systems.

Website URL

Not technically NAP, but consistently part of a citation audit. Old URLs, www vs. non-www inconsistency, and http vs. https mismatches all create citation conflicts.

Hours

Outdated hours on directory listings actively mislead patients and erode trust. Check that hours match your GBP and website across all platforms.

How to Run a NAP Audit

Manual Audit

Search your practice name + city on Google, check GBP, Healthgrades, Yelp, Vitals, Bing Places, Apple Maps, and your top 5–10 healthcare directories manually. Time-consuming but free.

Best for: practices with 1–2 locations, annual check

Tool-Based Audit

BrightLocal, Semrush Listing Management, or Moz Local scan 50–200+ directories simultaneously and return a consistency score with specific errors flagged.

Best for: multi-location practices, post-migration cleanup

Fix the aggregator source before fixing individual directories

If Data Axle or Localeze has wrong data, correcting individual directories is a temporary fix — the aggregator will re-push the bad data and overwrite your edits. Always start with the four major aggregators, then work downstream.

When to Run a NAP Audit

→After any office relocation — immediately, before the old address propagates further

→After a phone number change

→After a practice rebrand or name change

→When launching a new practice location

→Quarterly as routine maintenance — aggregators re-push data periodically

→When local rankings drop unexpectedly — NAP inconsistency is a common culprit

For the full citation management picture — including which aggregators to prioritize and how to maintain accuracy at scale — see Direction’s resources on local citation aggregators and listing directory accuracy.

Popular Keywords

Categories

What a NAP Audit Checks

How to Run a NAP Audit

When to Run a NAP Audit

All help topics

Can't find what you're looking for?

Headquarters