Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Does anyone use Moz Local + Yext? How valuable is this for local businesses?
-
For brands that have a budget to pay $600 / year for valuable backlink directories, would you recommend Moz Local + Yext?
I would like to hear some feedback on marketers that use Yext.
Thanks,
Cole -
If both your Yext and Moz listings match, it won't matter, as the citation information will be correct no matter who they prioritize.
-
Hi Dudley,
I realize I am resurrecting an old post here, but can you give any more information on which of the two services will be able to update a record if using both Yext and MozLocal? Do data brokers favor one over the other or is it more luck of the draw?
-
We actually have a project in the works that will put whitespark down a few notches. They offer a great service, and I applaud their attention to detail and service to their clients.
BUT...I can't talk about it yet though. It will be a service and site to behold
As to Yext vs MOZ local, it just depends on what works best for your client's needs. Also, you are only allowed 5 listings with Acxiom before they charge you for each submission (goes off of submission IP address). Just an FYI for those that don't know.
-
Just wanted to chime in and add my experience with both providers.
To be clear, Yext is more expensive. It also is a direct feed into more listings. If you are trying to get listings published quickly and need to show results (or reports) to a client, Yext would be a better way to go. As a subscriber, you can also give your clients discounts from the Yext pricing page, which can help add to your overall total commitment from the client. As far as data being removed, the additional data that is added via Yext's api is no longer valid or displayed once you stop paying (they call it no longer a "trusted" listing). I have never had one revert back to a pre listing status. Yext uses one of the many large databases: Factual. Chances are that by submitting to factual the other data aggregators will pick up your listing with time, even if you have not submitted to them.
Moz local is a great resource for companies that have the time to wait. The data aggregators they submit to take time to publish the listing. Acxiom, Nuestar and the others can sometimes make it confusing or even very expensive to list on their data networks. Acxiom is one of the stronger databases, having been known to be a direct feed to Google.
My advice:
If you can afford to wait the 2-3 months to have the listing start to appear, then use Moz. The time period you have to wait is not necessarily the fault of Moz, as even if you submit directly to Acxiom yourself it will take 2-3 months to go live. Ultimately, your listing will appear on the other citation sites, it will just take longer to do so.
If you are looking for an additional source of income and are a great salesman, use Yext. Yext has a much better interface of showing how many listings are incorrect, (even if many of the ones that are listed are from their own proprietary citation sites. ). This makes it an easier sale to your clients, and also easier for you as an agency to get an idea of how bad your clients current citation status really is. Yext will get your listings posted very quickly, and give you a place to link to off of your main domain, giving your clients additional sources of validation very quickly. Some of the sites they submit to are a bit dinky, but hey, a link and validation source is just that. Pricing is higher, but I think its fair considering the speed and extras you get for the money.
AND... the elephant in the room is of course.. do it all yourself! This will offer the most control over all your listings and control over who and what to submit where. You will lose out on some of the other benefits of MOZ (cheaper cost vs your time and long wait) and YEXT (faster speed, lots of directories but higher cost). It's worth noting that some of the YEXT directories that they are partnered with you cannot actually submit to, as they are either created by YEXT or locked so that you have to use their service to submit your listing there.
-
Managing locations in multiple places can be a headache, but it should be fine to manage the same locations in both Moz Local and Yext. There are some overlaps between our distribution network and Yext's distribution network such as Factual and Foursquare. In those situations, only one of the two services will be able to update the record on that given partner.
-
Erica,
You mentioned you do not want to use both tools at the same time. Doesn't Yext cover sites that Moz Local does not cover?
-
Thanks Erica!
Sounds like I want to move forward with Moz Local for most of our customers.
Awesome feedback.
-
This shouldn't be a problem. The only time it would affect things if is you stopped it on one account and then waited weeks, months, or years to start it again on another account, which would interrupt the service.
-
What happens if I move listings from one account to another?
-
With Moz Local, we do not actively do anything to your listings if you stop paying us. There are reports of Yext actively removing data when you stop paying, but since I don't work for them, I'm not comfortable commenting on their practices. Mihm is a far experienced in the local listings space than I am.
Here is what we say in our FAQs for Moz Local:
What happens if I cancel my listings with Moz Local?
Moz Local will simply report to the sites in our network that the listing is no longer under management by one of our customers. In this event, Acxiom and Neustar Localeze will revert your listings to their status prior to your Moz Local subscription. In some cases, your other listings will lose enhanced content like website URL, secondary category information, logos, and other images.
Moz Local will not actively remove your listing from our network of sites. You will always have the ability to reclaim your listings manually on each site if you decide to cancel your Moz Local subscription.
-
How it was sold by Mihm at Local U Dallas was that Yext is pretty much like heroine. When you stop paying, the thrill is gone. And he positioned Moz Local as something different.
The documentation says that listings may go away if we stop paying, not 'will go away'.
So which is it?
-
In partial Yext defense, as we ran into this with Moz Local, some of the providers we both work with only keep the info updated as long as Yext/Moz/other company tells (pays) them to and then the provider actually reverts it back.
-
You don't want to use both tools for the same listings as that will cause a headache of its own, no matter which choice you go towards.
-
Forgot to mention, I have had very good experiences with Whitespark.
The work is carefully and diligently done.
On completion, you get a spreadsheet with logins and passwords.
So you "own" your own listings.
-
Another problem with Yext is that you are locked in to a very high annual fee.
If you don't renew, Yext threatens to "release" your listing and says you have to manually "reclaim" each one.
Not a good solution and not the most noble of business practices, IMHO.
Now that there are better alternatives, I would use Yext only for big businesses with deep pockets. Its only advantage is its speed. If I had a reputation management client who need to push negative stuff down quickly...I might consider Yext. But that's it.
-
Gotcha. You solely focus on Moz Local.
Does anyone use any other service besides Moz Local?
Thanks,
-
Yext is fast, but it tends to create duplicates and inconsistent citations. Plus Yext is obviously one of the most expensive options. Moz is obviously slower, but it's definitely less expensive. Moz Local hits the high notes and I've noticed that I've had less issues with duplicates.
There's also a feature in Moz Local where you can nuke a duplicate with one button. With either one, you should probably still supplement your local campaigns with something like Bright Local or Whitespark.
I've used both Yext and Moz Local, but never the two in conjunction. There are also many listings that would become locked if you used Yext which could be counterproductive, and at least redundant, if you used Moz Local as well. I tend to look at it this way; "Do you want it done fast, or do you want it done right?" If you quit subscribing to Yext, a lot of listings disappear and content added via Yext tends to revert (for anything they lock).
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
-
Does Google prioritise local domains?
I'm in Australia targeting Australian traffic. I often see US domains in the Google SERPS and wonder if that indicates an opportunity for local (Australian) domains to rank?
Local Listings | | Lazeh0 -
Can having a google business listing harm a company selling services globally?
Hi, We are a SAAS platform offering cloud based solution for educators. We had a google business listing in India and recently added one for US as well. Our keywords rank significantly better in India than in US. Is it a good idea to remove these business listing? Also, what could be other factors that impact GEO SEO rankings for a online company like ours?
Local Listings | | WizIQMarketing0 -
GMB best practice for chiropractic office (individual vs. business pages)
For a chiropractic or other doctor's office with multiple doctors, should each have their own personal Google My Business page page AND a business page for the practice? If they just have a business page now, is it worth creating a page for each of the individual doctors? And what if some of them have different focuses (like a acupuncturist and chiropractor), does that mean you should make individual doctor pages when you otherwise wouldn't bother? And IF we should create pages for the individual doctors, should they all have the same address and website since they work in the same practice. Curious if there is a best practice for this... has anyone seen positive or negative results with or without the individual doctor pages? Thanks!
Local Listings | | Mike-i0 -
Local Search - can I use a shortened company name
Can I use a shortened version of our company name for local search or does it need to match the name registered at companies house exactly?
Local Listings | | paulfoz16090 -
[Local Search] Do you get penalized by using a Google Voice number for each seperate business location?
My client is expanding and opening up separate locations and I will be getting all their online business listings up and running. The client wants to use a single 1-888 number for all locations, however, it was my assumption that they would need a local number for each location to improve their ranking. Could I suggest using free Google voice numbers that get forwarded to their 1-888 number or will Google discredit us for this?
Local Listings | | aedesignco0 -
Business Name Not Showing Up in Google's Maps
I have a client whose name in not currently showing up on Google maps. Their business location only shows once their name or related keywords are searched, but their business name does not show when you only look for it on the map regardless of how far zoomed in you are to the actual location. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this, or knows of a way to fix this. I have already contacted Google multiple times, and they told me that “business’ names are just randomly pulled”. The client is an HVAC store front business with good rankings and a fully optimized Google profile, so these reasons did not answer the issue. Client’s GMB profile: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=rothheating oak creeek&oq=rothheating oak creeek&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS685US685&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5919j0j4 DBZfF
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120 -
Do You Know What's Triggering Your Local Packs?
Hey To All My Local Pals, Here 🙂 Recently, I watched a totally fascinating LocalU video in which Mike Blumenthal introduced a hypothesis that there may be a way to analyze what, specifically, is triggering a specific local pack. Now, Mike is stating that correlation is not causation in explaining this, but basically what he starts talking about at around 4:40 in the video is that what you are seeing rank well in the local packs may be demonstrably caused by what you see ranking organically beneath the pack, or may be caused by totally different signals. Mike says, _"If you're seeing the top 10 results are all IYP industry sites, and there's a pack showing, and the highest local site is 24 or something in organic, it's unlikely that that's what's triggering the pack. And so then you want to look at third-party triggers and see if that's what's actually triggering the pack." _ Obviously, all of us who do Local are familiar with the idea that a tremendous variety of elements contribute to pack rankings, but I am particularly intrigued by the idea of looking at the organic result beneath a pack and determining that there is little or no correlation between them, and this then driving one to look elsewhere for contributing factors. In a recent response to another thread here on Q&A, I discussed some common local pack ranking failure causes when organic rank is high. What I'd love to see is whether, if you look at some of your clients' desired packs, can you tell if organic signals are driving them, or can you see that it's not organic signals driving the pack, as Mike suggests. What, in those cases, does appear to be driving the packs? I'd be so interested in a discussion on this. What do you see? What do you think of Mike's suggestions?
Local Listings | | MiriamEllis9 -
Yext Listings: Why don't I see new inbound links?
The company I work for recently switched over to Yext to manage the local listings for our 275+ locations. Our listings have now been live with Yext for over 3 weeks and I'm wondering A. when should I expect to see new inbound links from these yext listings? and B. In what ways can I expedite the process? I've already re-crawled our site, but is there anything else I can do? This is my first experience with Yext so any thoughts or suggests about how to get the most out of the product would also be appreciated. Thanks,
Local Listings | | AaronPC0