Benefits of Local Business Directories & Tips to Use It

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What are Local Business Directories?

When digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) first started in about 2004, local business directories didn't exist in any form. They were a thing of the past. But today, they are a major part of a successful SEO strategy. 

Search engine marketing is all about getting your site found. A big part of that is optimizing your site and making sure it ranks well in search engines for relevant keywords.

The best way to make sure your site is ranked well in Google and other search engines is to get it listed in local business directories.

7 Benefits of Local Business Directories & How to Use It For Your Local Business

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1. Improves Your SEO Metrics

Any business is looking for better SEO metrics for its brand. The problem is that with competition, it's hard to find them. Local business listings can help you gain an advantage against your competition. 

Local SEO is often more complicated than SEO for national brands. That's because Google considers things like proximity and language, which isn't considered when ranking for national brands. 

How to Use it

Local business listings are a powerful vehicle for your brand. They can still improve your SEO performance regardless of your niche. SEO metrics are not just about higher numbers. They can tangibly increase your performance and get you better ROI.

• Leveraging local search can give you a lot of conversions.
• Ensure you're listed on the most popular local directories. 
• Check to see if your NAP data is consistent and correct. NAP refers to Name, Address, and Phone number as shown in the image. 

• When you have high metrics, you can even feature on the Local 3-pack.

Read: Crucial Metrics to Check in a Local SEO Audit

2. Gets You Better Performance To Cost Ratio

Most businesses are looking to cut down on costs while keeping performance at par. This is not possible with traditional marketing methods. The reason is that they are not flexible to different budgets. Digital marketing is a process that can suit all budgets.

Local business listings provide your brand a platform for more audiences. Take a look at this stat by Brightlocal that shows how wide the local directories have grown. 

It isn't very expensive and can dramatically improve performance. You can also integrate this with your other marketing services effectively. 

How to Use it

As a business owner, you're always looking to maximize your profits. But this does not happen too often with traditional marketing. The key is to use business listings as a source for your customers. Yelp is a great option to consider for your business listing requirements.

• Business listings are cost-effective and focus on performance. 
• It allows you to scale down other marketing methods.
• You can use the money saved for other pipelines. 
• No constant maintenance fees or other overheads.

3. Gets You Relevant Traffic

Local business listings are a fantastic free traffic source and a great way to attract customers and generate leads. There's a reason why most local search engine results pages include a map of the area. It's because of how easy getting visitors into your store is. 

This is why listing your business in local business directories and on Google Maps is important. It is inexpensive and delivers targeted traffic to your website throughout the year. It also delivers a boost to your local SEO presence.

How to Use it

Local business listings are a great way to get more targeted traffic to your website. You have to start with a list of keywords that will get your site listed in multiple local search results. You can find the locally trending keywords using free Wordtracker or keyword planner tools in the image to use in your content. 

If you're trying to attract local customers, it's important to ensure your site is found in local search results. Business listings work great for location-based targeting. This is one reason why local SEO metrics benefit from business listings.

• Gets you ahead of your local competition. 
• You can use business listings for hyperlocal marketing for SEO.
• Works equally well for B2B and B2C clients.
• Local business listings can improve lead generation quality.

4. Boosts Search Ranking For Keywords

Keywords are the basis of any successful local SEO campaign. To put it simply - the higher your keywords rank, the more SEO strength your website has. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it might seem.

Local business listings can help you gain an advantage. It’s because search engines typically, rank directories for local searches on top of SERP. For example, take a look at this screenshot. 

There are hundreds of thousands of companies vying for the same ranking keyword. This can make the process of ranking super difficult. Optimizing your listing with local keywords can help you rank higher for them.

How to Use it

A business needs to have keywords to impact its local search. Consider that you're in a location where you know there are a lot of potential customers. You can use local listings to boost your local keyword rankings. 

You can also use local listings to increase your keyword rankings in other locations. Local listings are more powerful when combined with a geographic modifier in your keywords. 

• Focus on more locally relevant keywords with lower competition.
• You can also leverage keywords on your business listings to rank in other locations.
• Keywords on business listings establish topical relevance. 

Read: Best Keyword Rank Tracking Tools in the Web

5. Helps to Reach Your Target Customers

Finding your audience has become increasingly tough with the market as vast as it is. Businesses have begun to look for other ways to reach their audience. 

Business listings are a great way to find the right people for your business. And listing businesses on niche directories takes you further towards the audience. 

For example, if you have a hotel, restaurant, travel, or related business, listing yourself on a directory like Tripadvisor brings more potential customers. 

Together with location-based services, business listings can improve the quality of your local reach. It works well regardless of the size of your company. But smaller businesses will find more success with business listings, especially compared to already established companies. 

How to Use it

Using local business listings to promote your products or services is a great idea. It is important to understand how listings work to use them effectively.
Local business listings generate interest around a particular niche or location. This is what your business needs to leverage.

• Popular listings can improve your audience reach.
• Choose the right business listing for your needs. For example, Zillow is the best for real estate.
• Focus on the right demographics when creating your listings.

6. Gains Better Reputation And Credibility

As a business owner, you probably know all too well that the competition in any industry is fierce. Even when you think you've found a good niche with which you're comfortable, the number of businesses in that area can still be overwhelming. 

To make sure your company stands out from the rest, you need to find ways to get the word out about your business. This is where business listings can help. They can improve your business' credibility and build trust. 

How to Use it

Trust-based marketing has become a powerful platform in today's market. Because people are so connected, they can read reviews and talk about different brands. 

These reviews have the power to make or break perceptions about your business. This is why most directories allow users to post their reviews, as shown below. 

This cycle promotes brands with positive reviews, understandably so. 

• It's important to use business listings to reinforce your business trust and credibility. 
• Featuring top business listings like BBB can add to your trust score.
• People are generally prone to buy from credible brands. 

7. Leverages Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

Like trust-based mechanics, word-of-mouth marketing is also a compelling factor in marketing today. Featuring popular business listings allows a company to increase its attracting clients. 

A key feature of this type of marketing is leaving reviews other visitors read. People are keen to hear from other people what your business is like rather than yourself. It promotes a positive review cycle for brands. Here’s an interesting survey by Brightlocal on online reviews. 

How to Use it

Word-of-mouth marketing is effective for businesses. It allows you to establish a more personal platform with your customers. 

• Use positive customer reviews to reinforce your brand.
• Choose the right business listings like GMB and Bing Places that allow customer reviews.
• Business listings enable you to leverage a better business outlook.

Top 10 Local Business Directories Around the World

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1. Google My Business

Google my business is one of the most popular and widely used business listings today. Google My Business has millions of businesses listed on it every day.

2. Yelp

Yelp is still popular and used by businesses all over the world. It is well laid out and has a lot of features for customers. 

3. Angi

An evolution of the popular Angie's List, Angi has the same strengths. It has a lot of coverage of different niches and is popular with people. 

4. Better Business Bureau

Better Business Bureau or BBB is the benchmark for trust-based business listings. They have an approval process that ensures listings there are genuine. 

5. Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages works just like the real-life variant of the service. You can find many different services, including home repair or cab services.

6. Four Square

A powerful location-based listing portal, Four Square is one of the more popular platforms here. People who travel regularly use it to find what they need.

7. Yahoo Small Business Listing

A runner-up to GMB, Yahoo Small Business Listing is used by many today. It has all the features included, which make it easier to use.

8. Bing Places

Bing Place is another iteration of the popular GMB. Customers can sort their searches by niche and location. 

9. Hotfrog

Hotfrog is a simple and easy-to-use business listing. It has many business types, from building material supplies to legal services.

10. Superpages

Superpages work just like an online yellow page directory. You can search for various businesses online, and it shares details with you.

Key Takeaways

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• Local business listings are still key to ranking well on searches. 
• Finding your business is a lot easier with listings.
• Leverage keywords to improve SEO strength.
• Deliver targeted traffic to your website.
• Reinforces credibility and trust scores through better networking.
• Build relationships with key brands in your niche.