Anyone know what makes a directory get served up?
-
Hi All, as most know, directories are taking over the SERPS as of late, and my question is: What "tells" Google that it is a directory? What does Google look for that gets these directories showing? I understand the big ones probably have back-room deals with Google, but I am seeing some smaller ones showing. Any ideas?
-
Are you talking about local results, and having Yelp and Yellow Pages show up in search results for local searches, or are you talking about searching for things like book reviews and directories are in the results?
-
A typical directory has categorization and outbound links to many websites. Based on these characteristics Google can understand if a website is a directory or not. However, Google's goal is to deliver relevant, valuable and unique content. If they perceive (through mostly their algo) that the content fits this criteria, and adheres to their guidelines, they may get high organic rankings.
Why do you say that directories are taking over the serps? Also, what do you mean by backroom deals?
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
-
Optimal URL Structure for a Multi-City Directory
I need help choosing the ideal URL structure for a multi-city directory. The current URL structure is /category which is okay because we are only in one geography. However, we're now expanding to other cities so we are reevaluating the best way of structuring the URL. The three options I have are: example.com/city/category Pro: Follows the user around with the city after the root (like language) Con: Possible short-term traffic loss. Build page authority on new URLs Pro: SEO Benefit for terms: {city category} example.com/city/ would have to be a URL and a general landing page. This would mean that /category would no longer exist example.com/category/city The website is currently set-up with /category but is now expanding beyond Toronto Pro: /category would still exist so no short-term SEO issues Pro: SEO Benefit for terms: {general category} example.com/category/ is already a URL and would display results based on proximity example.com/category (geo recognizes city) Pro: Clean URL Con: We're not Ticketmaster I was able to find major directory sites with very strong SEO doing it all three ways above. City First https://www.yelp.ca/c/toronto/restaurants https://angel.co/r/toronto/marketing/jobs https://www.redflagdeals.com/in/toronto/deals/c/cell-phones/ https://www.bizbash.com/new-york/venues Category First https://eventup.com/venues/new-york-ny/ https://www.yellowpages.ca/search/si/1/Restaurants/Toronto+ON https://www.weddingwire.ca/wedding-venues/ontario https://www.livenation.com/cities/130465/toronto-on No City in URL https://www.ticketmaster.ca/
Local Listings | | Neumarkets.com1 -
Anyone decipher the Yelp Sort ?
Anyone tried to decipher the factor in the default sorting order on Yelp? I've not done any formal testing but from experience my gut feel is as follows (chime in with your own opinion based on your own observations). On searches - #1 factor is of course keyword(s) appear in category business is in or business name
Local Listings | | Wizkids964
After that, or for just browsing categories 30% proximity of business location to location entered in address field
20% number of reviews and average rating
20% if they are paying Yelp for any services - the is unfair but I'm pretty sure it's a factor (call to action button, advertising, etc)
15% Business Profile is filled out
15% keyword (if using search) appears in specialties section (which interestingly Yelp started charging to display!) This is a TOTAL GUESS. I'm wondering if these factors may effect it: Quantity photos and/or keyword matches photo captions How long business has been listed on Yelp How long ago business was started Whether a street address is entered or not (a factor of Google Local Results I think)0 -
Do you get junk mail after adding a local listing?
I'm curious if when anyone has submitted a new business citation, once it appears in Google, Bing, Yellow Pages, etc, do you notice if junk mail starts to flow in?
Local Listings | | MrSem0 -
[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 -
Can't get past the 15th page of Google SERPs
I've been doing Local SEO for 9 years and have never had an issue that frustrated me as much as this one. I have a client who I can't get past the 15th page of Google's SERPS for their #1 KW. Here are the details: The domain is 4 months old In that 4 month span the site has gone from a DA 1 to a DA 24 Spam score is a 0. I know this doesn't mean a ton but I can tell you from closely reviewing their AHrefs report, there's no influx of spammy links or anything like that. The design is a custom wordpress design The content is 100% unique and professionally written content The backlink profile (in my opinion) is full of high DA and PA sites from authority sites with high trust flow ... in my opinion their backlinks are superior to all but maybe a handful of competitors. I was not expecting 1st page results by now but I would have expected top 50 results a the very least. But to not crack the top 15 tells me there's some major issue here. I really need some insight as to what could be holding me back here ... I don't want to share the domain publicly but but I will PM you it if you're interested in taking a crack at it. I will seriously pay someone a small fortune if they can help me figure this out.
Local Listings | | BrianJGomez0 -
Preferred URL structure for directory pages?
Hi Moz-Mind, We've got a bunch of duplicate content issues in our directory of trucking-related businesses, caused by search terms that can appear in any order, (classic mistake). We're taking advantage of this our work on URLs to try to improve our URL structure, and I'm not sure which way I want to go. These are the options we're considering. What does the Moz-mind think of each of them? example.com/location-name/service-name example.com/service-name/location-name example.com/service-name-near-location-name For the moment location-name would be a city & state abbreviation, like atlanta-ga, (unless it's better to use something else). Since these are search URLs, it's also possible to add a distance restriction, and a keyword, to the search criteria. How do you suggest adding the distance restriction? example.com/service-name/location-name/50-miles example.com/service-name/within-50-miles/location-name example.com/service-name-within-50-miles-of-location-name And the keyword? example.com/service-name/location-name/keyword example.com/service-name/location-name/keyword/{actual-keyword} example.com/service-name-near-location-name/keyword Something else? I was leaning toward example.com/service-name/location-name/within-50-miles, but I thought of the /service-name-near-location-name/ and /service-name/within-50-miles-of/location-name options today and really like how they make sense both to computers and to people, not unlike example.com/GA/atlanta/service-name/50 I'm looking forward to hearing what the community thinks. There must be an established best practice for directories, but if it's kind of ugly I'd like to find an even better way, if possible. Thanks, John
Local Listings | | 4RS_John0 -
Anyone know how to filter by location-neutral results?
Google dropped the ability to filter your search results by location, and it's now using your precise location to give results. Here's an article from Search Engine Land that covers the removal of location setting: http://searchengineland.com/google-drops-change-location-search-filter-from-search-results-237247 Anyone know a work around for getting location-neutral results? Before I was using "Location: United States" to find unbiased results, but that's not an option any more.
Local Listings | | Gorilla760 -
Is there a way to get your local SERP by zipcode?
I have multiple stores across various zipcodes and i'm having difficulty trying to provide an average Positioning on SERP by region. I do know that your SERP varies by region because different areas use different vernaculars. Does anyone know of a way that I can provide a SERP for keywords/terms by county or zip code?
Local Listings | | rpaiva0