Information on Citation/Directory Building and why its IMPORTANT and VALUABLE to your business and search engine optimization (SEO).
You want people to be able to easily find your business when searching the internet. In addition to finding your website when searching for the name of your business, you want them to be able to find you when doing general location based search like “Macomb dentist” or “painters in Pinckney MI”, right?
Understanding the basics…
While many of your potential customers search Google for information on local services, inevitably a large portion of them find their way to a local business directory. Many of these directories not only have substantial brands/marketing budgets to drive traffic, but they also do well in organic search rankings for important search terms. So even if you can’t get your site ranked high for a specific search term, you can appear on the local directory site that ranks for that term. Perhaps even more important is that links to your site and mentions of your business (aka citations) can help your site rank well in both organic search as well as in the GeoTargeted (local) results.
You may have already claimed your Google+ local business page or Facebook business page, which puts you ahead of many local businesses. However, there are dozens of places where potential clients could find you including: And these are just some of the better known general local search directories! There are many large directories that you might not be familiar with. For example the local directory site “Local.com” does over 50 million page views per month.
How do you get your business in all the relevant directories?
Do it yourself? – For most directories, you can manually submit your business to the directory. If you spend 40 hours, you can lay the groundwork to have your business listed in 30 to 40 different directories. In some directories, your listing will show up instantly, while others may take a few days to a month or two if your lucky. Is it worth your time?
Pay A Professional – Citations building and link building are not the same. Citation building is not hard, but does require effort and attention. Link building (getting links to your business in articles) requires a higher skillset than citation building. Because of this citation building is not extremely expensive.
We offer – this type of service that intuitively make sense. Why should you need to submit to lots of different directories when they all basically require similar information. Why not have a service that just does it once? Our GeoTargeting & Directory Listing software enables a business to submit its information (name, business category, address, phone number, description, hours of operation, website address, photos, videos, and coupons) to multiple directories all at once.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to note: Citation building is only ONE part of doing SEO (search engine optimization). If you want to appear HIGH in the results when people do searches on Google (Bing/Yahoo), you are going to need to do citation building, on-page optimization, quality content maintenance, and much more. Please see our SEO package options to get your business the best results!
Some Valuable Features Include:
- Submission of information to over 60 different directories all at once. These include Yahoo! Local Listing, Merchant Circle, Bing Business, Yelp, and more.
- Most submissions happen instantaneously and your listing can be updated quickly as well. Not only is this useful in terms of getting listings live, but also updating them on a more regular basis. For example, a business might want to offer special coupons during certain times of the year or change store hours for the holidays.
- This software also provides enhanced listings for several directory sites.
Fixing the Issue of Duplicate Listings – If there are multiple listings for your business in a particular directory, you could be penalized by Google. Unfortunately, this is one area that Google likes to see consistency. As a citation building professional, we will help you find and eliminate (or merge) duplicate listings. This is an additional feature (see our package options).
Summary – Why does my business need this?
LISTINGS
- Get listed in over 60 directories and networks; and integrate with the most established search engines, local service sites, and mapping apps.
- In today’s competitive marketplace, when it comes to information, people expect nothing less than precision. When it derails a night out or delays an important purchase, misinformation can turn a loyal customer into a hater 4 life. But precision can be elusive when information about your brand appears in so many discrete destinations.
- What if you could not only ensure that info is consistent and up-to-date, but also utilize every place your brand appears online — even places you don’t own — to create new opportunities for marketing and customer engagement?
- Analyze, identify, and control existing listings of your locations through our unique publisher network, so all of your content is locked, synced, and updatable across every digital channel.
LOCATION CMS
- Seamlessly customize and update content for each and every location!
- The essential details about your locations
- Rich content that differentiates your locations and drives engagement
- Tools to manage 10 locations or 10,000
- Controls for your account and clients’ info
- Store and use a library of assets
- Smart technology to quickly transfer your data
- Simple tool to get into Google
PAGES
- Web pages created with cutting edge technology!
- Sync and embed content to your website
- Geodata and rich content
- Enhanced Content Lists
- Social
SOCIAL
- Reclaim your brand at the local level in social!
- Facebook pages for each location
- Places for customers to check in
- Social profiles that get you into Google
- Real-time customer feedback
ANALYTICS
- Exclusive access to metrics to measure analytics in real time, and at scale!
- Metrics to optimize your campaigns
- Isolate sources that matter most
- Advanced filtering
- Track active and passive customer engagements
