What Are Directory Listings?

Google Business Profile listings look like this. 

Other directories, such as Yelp, rely on customer feedback. Business owners can build their Yelp profile, but customer feedback develops robust listings.

Finally, certain directories pull information from an aggregation of websites – including other online directories – to complete their listings.

Thus, as you begin optimizing your online listing, expect more to populate. Generally, this is positive! However, accuracy can become a significant issues as your listings grow.

Displaying your local business information on directories is important, but it’s not everything. As more online listings populate over time, inconsistent information is inevitable. From phone number to address to hours of operation, inaccuracies can appear and spread. 

Unfortunately, if your listings aren’t accurate, they can actually be harmful.

• First, consider your prospective customers. If a customer wants to call your business and sees disparate hours of business on multiple listings, they may call while your business is closed or not call at all. The same confusion can apply to misspelled business names, inaccurate addresses, or conflicting phone numbers.
• Next, consider search engines! As search engines like Google and Bing crawl online directories, they like to see consistency. Google writes that “local results are based primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence.” Accurate online listings provides ample opportunity for Google to rank your local listings whenever relevant.

Should I just ignore listings, so inaccuracies won't populate?



Unfortunately, that isn’t an option. As certain directories complete their listings based on information pulled from a variety of other websites, listings will populate, regardless of your contribution. Managing, controlling, and leveraging directory listings is the only option.

How? Start here.

Start with the most reputable listings.

Not all directory listings are created equal. Before investing time claiming and optimizing directory listings, consider 1) would my target audience see this listing? and 2) is the site legitimate? If the answer is no to either of these questions, move on to the next directory listing.

In general, a few of the most trusted directories include:

• Google Business Profile
• Bing Places
• BOTW
• Social Media Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Better Business Bureau
• Whitepages
• Yellow Pages
• Angi (formerly Angie’s List)

Use a tool to manage all your listings.

Directory listings are especially crucial for brick-and-mortar businesses with a local target market.

• Local businesses must be findable. Your website must be optimized (tags, descriptions, structure) with proper keywords and content, directory listings with inaccurate data are costing you leads and business (e.g. missing phone numbers, incorrect address, misspellings), you must fix the errors and keep your data accurate everywhere 
• Local businesses must be engaging. Contribute great content onsite and offsite —continually engage socially with your customers

We get it. The “dos” and “don’ts” of great digital marketing can be overwhelming. Do you need help taking control of your local SEO?

At RivalMind, we have plentiful experience helping businesses in a multitude of industries dominate their target locale and grow their bottom line. We can help you too. Get in touch with our team to learn how we can help.

Reach out at 331-228-9636 or via our online contact form. We’ll be in touch shortly.