Are there any online directories that an online ONLY store should list itself in?
-
I watched the Whiteboard Friday Video about this, but didn't hear it deal with directories exclusively.
Should an online only store use online directories- and if so, how? Would there be a NAP involved?
-
Hi Edward - yes the online 'ONLY' was staring me in the face - this is more suited to companies with a physical presence. Still important to have consistent NAP wherever it is listed but not so much on locally only focused directories.
-
Hi Nigel!
That is a really good list from Whitespark, but it's applicable to truly local business models. I think, in Edward's case, we're talking about a virtual business, which changes our outlook considerably on best marketing strategies.
-
Hi Edward,
That's a good question, and I can see that the WB Friday you've linked to doesn't really answer it. In a nutshell:
-
Local business listings on sites like Google, Infogroup, Yelp, etc., are meant to represent businesses that meet face-to-face with consumers in the offline world, either at the company's location (like a restaurant) or where the customers are (like a plumber). So, no, your virtual business shouldn't be building these types of "structured" citations.
-
This, however, does not preclude you from getting un-structured citations from entities that are local to you. So, for example, your carpet factory is located in Augusta, Maine. You do not have an offline showroom that sells your carpets directly to customers at the factory. Rather, your carpets are sold on your website, and perhaps at 3 local home improvement stores and also at select national retailers. While you don't sell directly to consumers at your factory, your factory plays an important role in the community. It sponsors a children's crafts program at the Augusta community center, as well as contributing team uniforms to the Augusta Little League. The website for both of these entities might then mention your sponsorship, including linking to your website, as a form of an unstructured, partial citation. Meanwhile, as a major employer in Augusta, your brand might be mentioned on local online news sites or blogs, providing further citations. These citations might feature your complete NAP (name, address, phone), your partial NAP, a link to your site or no link at all, but all of them act as references to your business that Google sees as data that reinforces belief in the existence of your company.
-
For a virtual business, citations are not nearly as important as they are for true local business models, If they contain links from authoritative sources, they definitely will help you SEO-wise, but their purpose in terms of featuring your NAP just isn't the same. For a local business, repeat references to accurate NAP are believed to strongly impact local rankings, but your business won't be going for local rankings, so your mindset in regards to being mentioned by local entities is organic, rather than local.
-
As for online-only directories, they do exist, but I wouldn't focus too much on them. These were a big deal a decade ago, but due to abuses of them, Google has significantly downgraded any impact they may have on actual rankings. So, rather than focusing on directories, you may be better off looking for ways to get press from local or industry publications that would enhance awareness of your brand and be a credit to it.
Hope this helps!
-
-
Google, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp - I thought these were mainly for local. GMB for example- isn't that local?
-
Hi Edward
It is really important to have your NAP listed across all the common directories - well when I say all, not low grade ones obviously but sites like Google, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, Yell, Thompson Directory etc, depending on your country. There is a great list on Whitespark and you can download a citation checker so that all of the information is consistent across the web. I have seen very tangible moves up in SERPS when this is done correctly as many of these sites are high DA.
This is brilliant - A convenient list by location. I hope it helps: https://whitespark.ca/top-local-citation-sources-by-country/
Kind Regards
Nigel
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
-
Hi all, we recently started to claim Apple Maps listings on behalf of our agency's clients, is it possible to transfer ownership of an Apple Maps listing from one Apple ID account to another Apple ID account?
We'd like to claim and complete our clients' Apple Maps listings with our agency Apple ID, then once we're finished completing and verifying each listing, transfer to the client's Apple ID. Is it possible to transfer ownership of an Apple Maps listing from one Apple ID to another? Thanks
Local Listings | | NOUS-Australia0 -
Local Pack Ads v. Organic Business Listings
Hey everyone, So I'm noticing lately that Google is showing ads via AdWords for my locations in the local pack. I am fine with that, but unfortunately it is now driving me a little bit insane wondering how much Google really cares about NAP, distance from centroid and or user, links to domain, completed business profile and so on. They will pull an ad into the top of the local pack for my location, yet, my actual organic business listing in some cases will not even show up until I hit the second page of business results. I get that it's Adwords, it's pay-to-play, but from most accounts, the differences in ranking for traditional listings results compared to business results on both desktop and mobile are pretty different. For example, by doing my traditional SEO best practices, I can rank high in traditional listing results even when my business does not show in the local listings. I have done this time and time again. I am able to accept that since we have 100 locations in the US and our lists were an absolute mess before I got here, that some of our NAP across multiple directories and listing sites are not exactly up to snuff which I have been working on. So I guess the thing is, if my location in Google's eyes is not good enough to be shown organically for the user even at the bottom of page of one of business results, why is it good enough to show an ad for my business location for that query as the absolute first result? Again, I know its Ad Words which basically allows you to cut in line like that special pass you can buy at a roller coaster park, but still. Isn't their goal to provide the best possible experience for their user? If they feel something is worth holding back my organic listing from the user, why is it fine with them to show the user that same location with the top possible local pack spot in an ad? I guess this is more of a rant than anything but I wanted to know if anyone else is dealing with this or anyone has any info they have found that could help shed light on this? It kind of just kicked everything I thought about trust, authority, links in order to rank in the local pack organically out the window. Thanks! -Ben
Local Listings | | Davey_Tree0 -
GMB Listings: No customer actions data for the last week
The medical clinic listings I manage for a client are showing zero customer actions for the last week (since Oct. 9). Visit your website, request directions, calls -- all dropped to zero. Only the View Photos metric is continuing as normal. The same thing has happened to the "Where customers view your business on Google" and numbers from listings on search and on maps. This has happened across multiple (20+ so far that I've checked) listings. Has anybody else seen this?
Local Listings | | Decagon_Digital0 -
What is the detail process of google listing?
Could anybody share how google listing will be ? the step by step process for Google business listing
Local Listings | | Tabassum0 -
Connecting multiple locations under one Google business listing ?
I am working for a client with multiple locations across U.S. and trying to add multiple locations under one Google business listing ? Is there a any way to add multiple locations in one listing, or every location needs to have its own business listing ?
Local Listings | | singhk0 -
Deciding whether to list multiple locations
Hey Mozzers, thanks for your awesome help today. I have another related question to local listings. We're currently rebuilding our website and we have multiple physical locations across the UK. Is it beneficial SEO wise for us to display just one address on our contact page or should we list the 5 addresses that we have? I have also been checking out our local listings and it appears that we have inconsistent listings across the 13 sites that Moz local lists in the UK and then across various other directories. How important is it to get these cleaned up? Cheers in advance Leo
Local Listings | | Leo_Woodhead0 -
What to do with duplicate Listings for Business in Moz Local Tool?
Hi Everyone! Just another newbie Local SEO looking for a solution. I was searching my business listing in Moz Local and it returned two addresses.
Local Listings | | psuh528
Listing #1: 925 B Street #402 San Diego, CA 92101, 67623
Listing #2: 925 B St, #402, San Diego, CA, 92101 Do I need to remove the listing with two zip codes showing up? (I don't see any of my profiles showing up with two zip codes though.) Listing #2 is accurate yet the local moz tool tells me that my Google+ page is 69% complete. How is it possible that Listing #1 scored a 97% complete on Google+? Would you recommend putting the suite number in Address Line 1 or separated in Line 2? Does it even matter? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!0 -
Help with Google Places, local listings & Google+ please!
Hi all, I work for enterprise app development & mobile consultancy, Mubaloo. I recently asked a question around getting better rankings for London-based search results. One answer was to set up a local listing for Mubaloo's London office. I thought I had done by setting up our London office up on Places for Business - is this the same as a local listing? In addition to this, I can't connect our existing Google+ page to our local Mubaloo Bristol & London listings as Google has created separate pages for each! Is anyone else having this issue? Can it be resolved?
Local Listings | | donaldsze0