Yext vs Localeze vs UBL for Local SEO
-
Which of these services is the best? Does anyone have experience with all three?
-
We've used all of these. I must say....YEXT scares me sometimes....I'm not sure why...but kinda like how YP.com scares me. We are a partner with YEXT and Localeze....and I worry about dupes/overlaps between the two trying to figure out which content to use. Anyone else use the two together and have any concerns?
I think WhiteSpark is also a great tool....
Thanks for the insight! Great stuff.
-
Hello everyone at Moz! I wanted to add some new information that I found.
Yesterday I commented here that you should not use a service like Yext because it seems overpriced, for something you can do on your own. Some sites like foursquare.com do charge a fee. Other sites like local.com, make it very hard to add your business. Local.com continues to redirect me to Yext. I will say that Yext does provide you a good report showing what directories have your site listed. From there you can go on your own and work to add your site to all the directories.
I still think Yext is overpriced and it is better to do the service on your own. Hire one of your marketers to spend a few days working on this. At least this way you can be sure that all descriptions and information is unique.
-
I just found out that to get listed with CitySearch, you must go through this link. http://www.expressupdate.com
It is still free.
CitySearch partners with InfoUSA and they offer this free expressupdate to get added to CitySearch.
-
I've used all three. Here is my opinion.
Yext is over priced but does give you nice control over you listings. You just need need to weigh if the cost is worth the eyeballs that will ultimately find you on these secondary sites. That answer will be different for everyone.
Localeze is the #1 data distributor in the U.S. and they can help you build a solid core of citations. But to get an enhanced listing with categories, logo, description, etc. it will cost you $300/yr. unless you're part of their partner program. ($3500/yr. entry fee) Definitely worth it if you are doing a large volume of client submissions. NOTE: Localeze along with Yelp provides data to Apple Maps which will be important in the future. If you have a lot of locations, manually claiming on Yelp is going to be a lot of work. With Localeze they'll distribute your information much more efficiently. It will just take longer.
UBL. I've tried this service and honestly I was not impressed. It took forever and a lot of the work they did was half assed. If you're taking local optimization seriously I wouldn't trust them to do this right -- especially for the priority citations and other important accounts. If you don't really care and just want to get something out there then this is an affordable service. I wouldn't do it again though.
Axciom. Acxiom listings are now free for up to 5 locations. Do this yourself and do it right. Don't let UBL do it. Same thing for other data distributors like InfoGroup which is also free and easy to do yourself.
If you don't have time to do this yourself, find a reputable company (like mine) that will do it right for you. Especially the priority citations like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp and others.
-
Doesn't Yext provide you with 30 featured listings rather than regular free listings?
-
Hi Michelleh,
You will find differing opinions on this. Most of the Local SEOs I know use Localeze over UBL these days. I have seen doubts expressed regarding the current value of UBL. I have not used Yext, personally, but recommend you read Mike Blumenthal's recent review of their product:http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/03/01/yext-local-seo/
I'll quote from Mike's post here:
"Pluses:
-From a management and process point of view for the local SEO the service makes sense. Its fast and efficient and provides some tracking. What would take 6 or 7 hours is done in 15 minutes. If outsourced it would cost in the range of a $100 but the quality and consistency would not be as good.
-It seems to generate between 5 and 6 additional citations that Google thinks are important. Why that should be the case with listings that have already been claimed is not clear.
-The service allows for specials to be easily created and disseminated quickly and things like hours to be changed in a timely fashion.
-There is some reporting and there is decent multilevel management so an SEO can allow clients to access their own reports.
-If a business were to move or change phone numbers it provides a very efficient way of grappling with that issue.
-Whether you use the service or not, Yext’s Local Search Scorecard is a great way to assess NAP consistency across a wide range of sites.
Negatives:
-The reporting is lame. Although in conversations with Yext’s Howard Lerman, they will be adding additional features and color. One of particular interest will be review tracking.
-The cost in and off itself is expensive and it is an annual recurring cost. There is a small reseller discount that starts at only 5% and with enough volume goes up.
- Web traffic from these sites is small compared to Google and even comparing to Bing or Yahoo. But that isn’t Yext’s issue."
I think the main concern with Yext's product is its cost. If you can afford it, it might be a good choice, but as I've said, most of the Local SEOs I know appear to continue to favor Localeze.
And, there is the alternative, as pointed out well by ITRogers, of doing this manually and making your own spreadsheet to keep track of your work. I don't consider this inferior to any product being offered because you have total control over exactly what you are doing. In many cases, manual submission might be the best choice, and if you do it yourself, it is certainly the most affordable!
-
I have had experience with all three.
To answer your question, I think Localeze is the best for distributing your NAP, however, there is no substitute for or better value than manually claiming local citations. It also takes awhile for the listing to get distributed across of their local search platforms.
In my opinion, Yext is overpriced, but is valuable in claiming major citation sources. The number of profiles available are capped. David Mihm recently posted on this: http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/seo-industry/yext-local-marketing/
UBL is good, but I only spend the $39 core syndication annually since they have access to the Acxiom database.
In short, you can pay for all three, but don't just set it and leave it. Always claim and manage as many citations as you can manually. You can take advantage of all of the local search platform's features without overlooking anything.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Do putting all keywords in a sentence affect seo?
Hi for example i wrote some content for my front page and putting all key words in one paragraph for example phone case, phone x, phone life, phone battery, phone charger. does it affect my seo by putting all these keywords in one sentence?
Image & Video Optimization | | andzon1 -
Local SEO Question: Domain Wide Vs Specific Page
Hey Moz Community, Question about Local SEO authority and how it applies to a domain vs. landing page. Let me elaborate... Company is launching a new local out reach sales channel and merging it with our inbound sales channel under one brand. The plan thus far is to create a targeted landing page for local customers/leads. I have been tasked with creating the written content and making sure we are optimized as much as possible for this landing page to show up for our city. Funny enough for a lot of relevant terms we are already in the top 10 with little optimization (Also due to low competition for most of these terms) Two questions: 1. Should the whole site be optimized for local - appropriate schema markup, G+ business local set up, contact page with correct address formatting, building citations/local links etc.? To accompany our targeted page? 2. Will taking a local first initiative hurt reaching our non-local target market? If so will a very targeted landing page for local customers do the trick minus rest of local optimizations ? I guess what the question really boils down to is will optimizing for local hurt our broader inbound search reach/ranks in the long run? I want to be sure we are competitive to our broader audience and local audience on the same site with trying to get into sub-domains or considering re branding what is essentially the same department but for local purposes. Responses and sharing previous experience would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Image & Video Optimization | | paul-bold0 -
Sat in a York Based Office but I get a Google Lincoln local listing :-(
Buongiorno from 27 degrees C Wetherby UK 🙂 Imagine this scenario... I'm sat in a York Based HQ law office and Google term Langleys and the Local listing is for Lincoln is rendered 😞 The lincoln office is the smaller sister site 75 miles south of where I'm sitting as illustrated here appears (this is wrong) -
Image & Video Optimization | | Nightwing
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/langleys-local-listing-jinxcopy_zps26e3492a.jpg I then do the same thing in a wetherby based office and get the York based local listing appears. So my question is please" what is influencing which local listing is rendered?" Confused,
David0 -
Blocking Google From Accessing Our Images - SEO Impact
We recently discovered that we were blocking Google from crawling our cdn, cdn.yournextshoes.com, where all our images are hosted. Unfortunately this went on for several months, and I wonder if this could explain our horrible SEO performance. Basically, I would like to know if this has impacted just our performance in Google Images (obviously our images have not been picked up by Google Images), or if our regular SEO has been impacted as well.Right now we're just receiving around 13% of our traffic from search, so we're trying to find out why Google does not like us.
Image & Video Optimization | | Jantaro0 -
Does it affect SEO if my "Menu Label" is a shortened form of my "Page Title"?
This might be a very simple question, but I'm just trying to make sure I don't make Google think I'm trying to pull a fast one. For example, my page title would be "Bridal Fashions", but the menu label would be "fashions" to keep the navigation panel simple and streamlined.
Image & Video Optimization | | MassMedia0 -
Does displaying a mobile number for business hurt local SEO?
Perhaps a silly question but could someone please clarify if displaying a mobile number in the main site or Google places etc would hurt local SEO? Is having a regional landline/fixed telephone number a ranking factor? EDIT: This is for a UK site, does anyone have experience of this is UK please?
Image & Video Optimization | | Clicksjim0 -
Does YouTube read a transcript for SEO
Hi, Just wondering if anyone knows if YouTube uses transcripts uploaded to videos as search signals? ie will the video rank better in the SERPs with a transcript? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | Digirank0 -
Local SEO... use 800 # or local, use full-street name or abbreviation?
Couple local SEO questions... Do you feel it’s better to submit a listing with the full type of street rather than an abbreviation? Google Places sometimes disassociates data because of small differences like this. Below is an example: Full Name: 123 Broadway Street
Image & Video Optimization | | qlkasdjfw
Abbreviation: 123 Broadway St. Also, I’m wondering if you feel it’s better to submit a local number versus an 800 number. I've modified many local listings for clients manually with an 800 number, but then there are other data sources for these same businesses that are displaying the local number. I am starting to use UBL/LocalEZE and are wondering what people have seen working best... local number or 800 number. Thanks!0