Let Center Step Marketing Optimize Your Online Directories
Today, businesses are focused on marketing in search engines and social media apps, where most traffic comes from. For most businesses, having a Google My Business profile is essential to the digital marketing strategy alongside SEO on Google search. The result is that most businesses think online directories are no longer suitable for their marketing goals.
However, businesses that are listed on multiple directories aside from Google, Facebook, Apple Maps, and Bing perform much better than those only listed on the major directories. Listing your business online in multiple high-profile directories is an effective marketing strategy for your business. Online directories are like a phonebook for customers to find the business closest to them.
Citations and listings on major local-focused online directories allow your business to perform better for local searches. Listing your business on major and even locally relevant online directories puts your business on the map for local customers looking for your brand online. Since you can’t effectively predict performance or directories over time, having your business listed and represented across them comes in handy.
Some of the powerful directories to get listed on include:
- Google My Business
- Facebook pages
- Yellow Pages
- Yelp
- Bing Places for Business
- Better Business Bureau
- Manta
- Local.com
- MerchantCircle
- Industry-specific directories
Why You Need to Get Listed on Online Directories
An SEO booster: online business directories provide a backlink to your service. Depending on the domain authority and whether ‘no follow’ or ‘do follow’ is added, business listings generate leads by allowing prospects to find your business and contact your company instantly.
Freed ad service: Online directories like GMB and Yelp especially allow you to create a business profile that includes creating content that is visually engaging and expertly marketed. On Yelp, your prospects can read through reviews before making their decisions.
Online directories boost your local SEO ranking by improving your local relevance in related searches. Directories like Google Business Profile are essential for any niched-down and locally-focused brands. GMB helps your business show up for all local searches by improving your rank in Google searches.
You get indexed to Google searches when your business is listed on platforms like Facebook pages. Customers can search your page on Facebook and be directed to your business. This improves your social media marketing efforts while driving qualified traffic and earning you social proof.
Online directories are a reputation boost for your business. Once listed, most directories will have a reviews section for customers. This is essential in strengthening your reputation by proving your company is genuine based on customer experiences, and several 5-star reviews can do good for you.
You can get your business listed in an online directory even without having a website built. You can list your business and provide all the details while building your website. Once the website is completed, you can easily update it. Having NAP set up makes it much easier.
Search engines rank pages based on authoritative and legit backlinks. You get more inbound B2B links already sorted by the directory with online directories. Your listing gets more exposure and external click-throughs which significantly boost your ranking.
Online Directories Best Practices
Some of the Online Directories best practices our North Texan online directories services agency considers include:
NAP consistency (Name, Address, Phone number) ensures that your business information is consistent across all online directories. This makes it easy for customers to know details about your brand and understand how to reach you. NAP details must be kept accurate and consistent across all directories
Ensure your business titles are clear across all listings in directories and citations. Our North Texas Online Directories experts ensure that your business name is written in the correct format and clearly describes your brand in every directory
Keep your categories accurate and consistent. This makes ranking easier and puts your business in the relevant category to make it easy for customers to find your business.
Optimize listings with all details about your business, including operation hours, curated high-res media files like images, descriptions, and lists of products or services, and up-to-date contact details.
Collect and manage your online reviews. Even with numerous reviews, responding promptly, especially to negative reviews, shows customers doing a comparison review that your business takes its clients seriously.
Update your listings with relevant content that aligns with your business goals. Consider your industry needs, benchmark performing competitor listings, and determine how to improve your listing.
Regularly update your listings on directories and confirm duplicate and suppressed listings that don’t meet platform standards. Keeping your listing up-to-date ensures your prospects can easily contact you or visit your updated website.
Work with Our Team to Clean Up Your Online Footprint
We utilize online distributors to list your business in over 250 directories! Updating your information across online directories, web pages, apps, search engines, and maps in the knowledge network. With us, you can efficiently update your NAP, business operation details, advertise offers and coupons, manage categories, and set up location labels and advanced search. Center Step Marketing helps you prove to your audience that you are legit and boosts your local rankings.
Our North Texas Online Directories service not only helps your business claim its listing, we also help you sync, maintain and update your listing. Our experts help you determine how to respond to reviews, which directories have the best options for you, and which directory to focus on. Have our team investigate and report back with a free audit. Take our no-obligation quotes and decide if we are right for your business goals.
