Business Directory Listings

Business directory listings are a great way to have your local service type business found by potential customers. If done correctly, this can increase organic rankings. This marketing type is normally done as a supplement to other types of web or business marketing methods. I have seen tremendous results in areas that are considered small to medium-sized markets when such a process is properly executed. This can be a great way to drive traffic back to your site and encourage customers to call you directly.

Putting Together Your List:

This list will start with Google My Business. You will register with Google My Business, and within about five business days, you will receive a postcard with an authorization code. Google uses this code to verify your business’s physical location. Once your business Google-verified, it’s time to create the full list of national and local directories. Many of these will be general to all service industry types, but some are tailored to your specific type of industry.

This is where your web marketing expert will come in to assist you. In 2021, business directories no longer hold the same power as they did a decade ago. But that doesn’t mean they can’t help your organic rankings. Business directories remain a tremendous help to local businesses. They’re still useful as an index that Google can use for surfacing useful results for local business searches or “near me” searches.

You have to be more strategic with using these directories. Furthermore, you can use business directories to improve your relations with customers as they provide genuine feedback on some of these sites or platforms.

Google surfaces customer feedback and creates an average rating from different sites. Google now agglomerates business directories, sites, review sites, and other platforms to create a useful snapshot of what a business is like, so customers can have a more meaningful interaction with brands and businesses.

Getting Ready to Submit:

Submitting data can be done in two ways. The first way of making a business directory submission is to use a web-based program that charges a monthly fee like Yext. While this is great for the quick and easy solution, it will not get you into the local directories, and many are not included. This is probably the only viable solution for a business that does not manually submit to these kinds of Directories.

The second way is to submit your list by hand. This can be cumbersome and may require phone calls and follow-ups. Most of these directories offer the free listing and the paid service, so getting around a sales pitch will be another hurdle. Done this way (and done correctly), I have seen better organic results. This method allows a higher level of control of the data that is submitted.

Make Sure the Data Is the Same:

One of the goals of the directory submission effort is for certain keywords to get listed first and in Google My Business/maps listings. This will work better when your website’s data matches what is in Google My Business and the other directory listing you submit to. This means that you must have “lane,” not “ln.” to match the same data that Google has in their system.

Best Practices for Google My Business Listings

Google My Business (GMB) is simply indispensable for local search optimization and web marketing. GMB listings are always on top, and the three-pack that appears in many local business searches tends to get the most clicks. Though there are also zero-click searches (where people don’t click but probably write down the telephone number or email addresses of businesses), you must get your business up there pronto.

If you haven’t signed up for GMB yet, today would be a good time to do so. Signing up is the easy part. Optimizing, connecting, and developing your GMB listing are things that a professional web development and marketing professional can help you with. In the meantime, make sure that your efforts are aligned with the best practices for Google My Business listings.

1. Sign up for a Google My Business account and verify your physical location. As I’ve mentioned earlier, Google is going to send you a postcard with an authorization code. Enter the authorization code to complete the physical verification of your listing. Until then, your GMB listing won’t be publicly available, and it’s of little use to you. An unverified Google My Business listing can also be more easily reported as spam by competitors.

2. Fill up every section in your GMB profile, including the hours, website, phone, address, and your registered business name. Provide sufficient detail to the Question & Answer section and the “From the Business” area, Products and Services, and Category and Attributes. Be sure to refine the entries under Category and Attributes. Be as specific as possible.

3. Reviews and feedback are on-going efforts, as well as posts. Yes, you can post regularly on your GMB profile. I suggest you update as regularly as possible, as this will also have a net effect on your GMB profile’s effectiveness on the whole. Regular updates will reflect your business’s state, and people will contact businesses that show plenty of signs of life. Don’t forget to ask customers or clients to leave reviews for your business online. Be sure to be responsive to reviews of your business on GMB or other sites that appear on your GMB profile. If you receive a negative review, it’s a good idea to respond immediately to resolve it. Perhaps by resolving the problem, you can get back those three or four stars lost to an irate client or customer. If not, do better next time.

4. Be meticulous with your business details. Ensure that the business name you add to your GMB profile is identical to your registered business name and, more importantly, the business name you have on your physical store. Regularly update your regular hours as well as your business hours during the holidays, too.

Not having a Google My Business profile today can cause the loss of so much business, especially if your business services a specific area.

If you need help with setting up your Google My Business profile and optimizing it for the best results, simply call me today to get a quote.

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