Great question! I'm Director of Engineering for Moz Local, and we think both Hotfrog and Best of the Web are important for us to deliver the value of Moz Local’s listing management. That said, we at aren't using them for link building.
The way we look at Hotfrog and Best of the Web (and all of our partners) is not around the direct value of the links on their sites, but what their place is in the local ecosystem (https://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-us). Here’s what we consider important in a partner:
- Are they (directly or indirectly) one of the many sources of local listing information used by major search engines?
- Do their listings help ensure that our customers’ locations can be found with correct information outside of major search engines?
Our approach has always been to make sure we have partners who can help us provide us much coverage as possible so we can ensure that the data you give us is consistent everywhere, and we can reduce the amount of inaccurate data that’s out there. Of course, as the local ecosystem changes, we evaluate whether our partners are meeting those needs — the industry doesn’t stand still and we can’t either.
