Reviews can build credibility for a business. If a business has few or no reviews, customers may be less likely to trust the business. You also want to avoid imbalanced feedback, where only negative feedback is displayed online. Encourage happy customers to share their experiences online to help improve your presence.
Responding to both positive and negative reviews shows that you value your customers' feedback and are committed to providing excellent customer service.
Throughout this guide, we’ve covered a range of best practices and common mistakes to avoid in local listing management. From maintaining accurate business information to prioritizing your Google My Business profile and responding to customer reviews, there are many factors that can impact your success in local search. By following these tips and strategies, you can stay ahead of the competition and ensure that your business is well-represented online.
All you have to do is list your business in online local directories such as Yellow Pages, Manta, and more. This is called building citations, and it’s a critical piece of a local marketing strategy.
By building citations, you can make sure that you appear in local packs when people look for businesses like yours in their area. Business directories may seem like a thing of the past, but they’re a great way to grow your presence online.
In this post, we go over everything you need to know about creating business listings and why they’re so valuable, even in the age of social media and other marketing tactics.
A business directory is an online list of businesses within a particular niche, location, or category. One way local businesses can get found by online searchers is through inclusion in business directories.
Promoting a local business isn’t easy these days. Whether it’s because of oversaturation or complicated search engine algorithms, it’s all too easy to feel like no one will find your business in the local search results.
Today, Google is inserting itself between consumer and local business websites much more often. For proof, you need to look no further than Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), featured snippets, and most importantly, local packs.
You can improve visibility in local packs by listing your local business' NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) on directories, online business listing sites, and citation sites. Aside from improving your local SEO, these can also improve your rankings on search engines because the listings usually link back to your site.
A business listing is your company’s profile page in an online directory site, which typically includes your business name, address, and phone number (NAP). Some business directories allow you to include a link back to your website, an image of your logo, and even a list of your services.
When I was a local SEO specialist at my previous company, I spent much of my time finding new business listing opportunities to build citations and generate backlinks for our local websites. This allowed us to rank not only in the local packs, but in the main SERPs, too.
I have a few tips to help you out. Make sure your company listing has the following information once you add it to a directory:
Consistent NAP. If you add or update your business on multiple business listing sites, make sure you're providing the same company information across each directory.
A link to your website. Backlinks — also known as inbound links — are crucial to your company website's Domain Rating. Consider adding a tracking link at the end of this URL as well, so you can see how much traffic your website specifically gets from the business directories that are linking to it.
Multimedia. Give company searchers a visual taste of your business with a picture or video of your office, your employees, or your daily business operations.
There are plenty of location-specific and industry-specific business listing sites where you can submit your data. To start promoting your local business, however, you should start with the big sites and slowly work your way toward the more niche directories.
I used to build citations for my former company, and I can tell you with full confidence that there are many, many business directories out there — and not all of them are good.
Domain rating is a score that’s given to websites to reflect how well they rank on Google based on their backlink profile. The minimum score is 0 and the maximum score is 100. Domain rating is similar, but not the same as, domain authority.
Yellow Pages Pakistan LahoreThe minimum required domain rating for the directories on this list was 50. I gathered the data from Ahrefs, but you can also double-check using your preferred SEO tool.
I compiled this list for use by any business. Regardless of your industry or target market, you can submit your business to the directories below. To make it onto this list, the directory had to be categorized as General.
I’ve included traffic numbers for your reference, but in reality, they’re not that important. Local citations help you build consistent references to your NAP information online. Whether or not an organic website visitor sees that information isn’t too important.
The below business listing sites made it onto the list because they’re free and also offer an easy process for claiming or creating your profile.
Some online business directories require phone verification or extra steps, but the below options are relatively simple to sign up on. These ten business listings are a great place to start before signing up on more industry-specific listing sites.
Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) directly lists you on Google’s local pack and search results. A Google Business Profile includes your NAP, business hours, services, customer reviews, photos, and much more.
Superpages is a general online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Superpages listing includes your NAP, business hours, and website.
Superpages is a general online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Superpages listing includes your NAP, business hours, and website.
Better Business Bureau is an online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Better Business Bureau listing includes your NAP, company history, company email, and website. You may also apply for optional accreditation.
Merchant Circle is a general online listing site. A Merchant Circle listing includes your NAP, logo, payment options, business hours, business description, and website.
EZLocal is a general online directory for a wide variety of local business categories. An EZLocal listing includes your NAP, parking information, business hours, and website.
A Manta listing includes your NAP, business hours, services, website, business description, and social media links. You may also apply for Manta verification.
Foursquare is a general online directory for a wide variety of local business categories. A Foursquare listing includes your NAP, business hours, logo, and customer reviews.
An oldie but a goodie, Yellow Pages is maybe the most well-known local directory. A Yellow Pages listing includes your NAP, parking information, business hours, and customer reviews.
HubSpot also offers an online directory for marketing and advertising agencies. If you fall into this category, I highly recommend signing up for free.
When it comes to listing your business online, you aren't limited to just using the free sites above. We've compiled the best directories on the web to list your business, whether paid or unpaid (most, however, should be free).
In my years as a local SEO and citation builder, I found most of these relatively easy to sign up on, but a few sites may require additional verification or a pending period. The good news is that there is little to no chance that your listing will be rejected.