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How Online Local Business Listings Optimize Revenue

By David Jones on Jun 27, 2022

We recently talked about 10 Practical Ways to Wildly Improve Local SEO and Increase Sales. This week we’d like to get more in depth about online local business listings and their importance.

 Why Local Business Listings Are More Important than You May Think

Today, everyone and their grandmother uses the Internet both to find businesses that sell what they need and to get basic information about those businesses.  In fact, 70% of online searches are to find a local business.

When was the last time you saw one of those 10-lb Yellow Pages books? Exactly.

But today’s online business listings, also known as citations, provide a whole lot more information to customers than traditional hard copy listings ever did. Creating and maintaining solid local listings across the Internet is an important basic of building your search rankings and boosting your reputation. And we all know those two things translate into $.

Now no doubt you are using local SEO methods to drive traffic such as blog posts with local keywords and so forth. But carefully developing your local business listings will support those efforts. Listings that link back to your site help build your own site’s authority and search engine ranking as well as making it easier to find your site.

This article will give you the basics, but you can always look to good marketing agency with local listings services to build and maintain your listings.

What Are Local Business Listings?

At the very least, local business listings include the name of the business, address, phone number and the website. They may include a lot of other things such as hours, descriptions of products and services, images, reviews and even social media posts. Check out this article for more complete descriptions of possible business listing components.

Local listings can have a substantial impact on a business’s revenue by improving search engine rankings and reaching more customers. Want proof? 94% of smartphone users use their mobile device to find local businesses. And 96% of that group follow up by calling, visiting the business or using one of their coupons. In case this isn’t obvious, that means your business listings better be optimized for mobile devices as well as desktop and laptop computers.

How Does Local Search Work?

When a person searches for a local business, a search engine will typically show results within 50 miles or a little more. Because search engines want to be useful, the listings with the most complete, accurate information that match search terms as well as closer proximity appear at the top. The more complete business listings you have, the more likely your listings will appear at the top of search engine results.

Where Should I List My Business?

You should submit local business listings to all types of directories including major general business platforms, location-based directories and industry-specific directories. Oh, and don’t forget voice directories. For all of these, people can search for businesses near them. Here’s a list of 50 directories as a starting point.

You will find that are some are free such as Google Business Profiles, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn Company Directory, Yelp and many more. But you will have to pay for many others, particularly a lot of industry-specific directories.

Major General Business Directories

The major general business directories are usually more than just directories. These are a lot of them, and they include Bing Places, Yelp and of course Google Business Profiles.

Often people can also submit reviews on these directories. Don’t be afraid of reviews.

The big fish, of course, is Google Business Profiles. Since Google accounts for over 90% of all searches, it would be foolish to ignore Google Business Profiles. They typically come up at the top of related searches where it seems the user is interested in local businesses. In addition to what you might expect, Google Business Profiles offer maps, reviews and the ability to post social media. For information, see What the Google Business Profile Rebrand Means to Your Marketing.

Industry Directories

Depending on your area of business, industry directories can be vitally important. These can include anything from professional directories such as attorney directories to review sites such as TripAdvisor, which is a force in the travel, restaurant and hospitality industries.

Location-Based Directories

Many organizations such as Chambers of Commerce publish location-based directories. It’s an easy way for people to see businesses of various types in their immediate area published in one place.

Sites that Might Not Immediately Occur to You

Although they are not directories, there are other ways to get your contact information out there on the Internet. For example, if you write a guest blog post on a related but not competitive site, they will typically let you include contact information at the end. There may also be opportunities at news sites and online magazines among others. Look for opportunities that fit your business.

Submitting in Volume

We have only mentioned a very few places where you can submit your business listings. But there are many, many out there, and you should submit to as many as you can that are relevant to your business. Start with the big ones like Google Business Profiles, follow with industry-specific listings and location-based listings and finally look for additional possibilities.

If all this sounds time-consuming, it can be. Yes, there are tools that can automate submissions. But you need to sift through and decide where your business should be lifted, and some you will probably end up doing manually.

Maintenance: As Important as Submissions

Once you have submitted your business listings, you aren’t finished. You need to maintain them. If there is a mistake in one of your listings, it can fan across the web as smaller directories pick up information from larger directories on their own. If you find an error, reach out to the site immediately to correct it, and do and audit to see if it has been replicated elsewhere.

Don’t Forget Voice Search

An increasing number of people are using voice search with apps and devices such as Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant and more. According to Price Waterhouse, 71% of consumers prefer to use voice searches over typing. You must make sure that your business listings are updated and optimized for voice search as well as traditional methods.

No Time? Umbrella Local’s Got You

You are already dedicating full time and more to running your business. If you don’t have the time or inclination to strategize your business listings, submit them and maintain them, Umbrella’s got you.

Umbrella Local can provide local listing services to submit and update your local business listings to over 70 leading sites, social networks and apps with not only basic text but also images, videos, bios, product descriptions and menus. We can also handle your business listings for voice search.

You can’t just submit and forget. Your business information changes constantly. You may have special holiday hours, seasonal promotions, company news and expanded locations to name a few possibilities. To get the traffic and credibility to help build your business, you must keep your online business listings constantly up to date.

Contact Umbrella Local today for a free consultation. We can get you on local business listings across the web immediately.

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