9 Free Listing Sites to Get Found On (and How to Optimize for Them)
In this article, I’ll reveal the pros and cons of listing your business on nine of my favorite business listing sites for local businesses, as well as sharing tips for optimizing for better visibility.
As shown by Moz’s Local Search Ranking Factors Study from 2018, citation signals appear to be one of the core elements in ranking success.�
By now, you should have mastered the art of optimizing for Google My Business, but what about alternative options to consider for better SEO and visibility? With free listings and directories available, you may want to create a business profile elsewhere, too.
I’m not suggesting you create a business listing on every possible directory, after all, as someone in SEO you know the “quality over quantity†principle holds true.
But there are numerous sites that are worth optimizing for as part of your foundational local SEO strategy. In general, it’s worth choosing the most relevant platforms where your target audience “lives†and setting up a profile there.
So, without further ado, here are the top nine free directories for your consideration.
Free Business Listing Sites YelpKnown as the “word of mouth†website, Yelp is the fourth most visited review site on the Internet. About 200 million people read reviews there monthly to make buying decisions. 75% of users come to Yelp via Google search, while 20% visit the website directly in search of product reviews to decide if they want to buy from a business.
Studies show that just one additional star in a business’s Yelp rating can lead to a 9% increase in revenue.
With those numbers in mind, it’s worth listing your business on Yelp for improved reputation and visibility.
How to Create a Yelp ListingTo set up a local business listing at Yelp, go to the page for business owners and find and claim your client’s business there or add it yourself if it’s definitely not already set up — you’ll want to make sure you’re not creating duplicate listings, so check thoroughly before beginning the setup process. After that, you can verify the account via phone, text, or call.
Before you can get to optimizing, it’s important to ensure the basics are completed: Fill in all the relevant information about your business, add high-quality, authentic photos, and remember to provide images with proper filenames, alt tags, and descriptions.
How to Optimize for YelpTo start optimizing your Yelp profile, first think of keywords that are relevant to your client’s business and incorporate them into the business description. Focus on location-based and service-based ones and make sure to write at least 1,000 words of keyword-optimized content. As always, remember that keywords are there to guide search engines and potential customers — so avoid keyword stuffing and other spammy techniques.
Next, it’s important to choose the right Yelp business category. On Yelp you’re allowed to choose up to three categories but make sure they are highly relevant. Otherwise, you could hurt, rather than help, your rankings.
If you want to go the extra mile and gain more visibility on Yelp, embed a clickable Yelp badge on your website so visitors can go directly to the listing and read reviews there.
As with any site where you can get customer reviews, it’s important to be responsive. Not only is it good business practice, but it will also show Yelp’s algorithm that your business is active and trusted.
Another optimization factor to consider here is check-ins and check-in offers. Encourage customers to “check-in†to your business by creating a special offer. For example, a discount, a free glass of wine or a dessert, a chance to win a gift card, a brand accessory, and so on. The kind of offer that appeals to your client’s customer will vary based on the business type, but feel free to get creative here.
Finally, depending on your industry, you should opt into the “request a quote†feature at Yelp, which helps to attract more people to click on your listing. As always, responses here count. Respond to quote requests that come in — address the sender by name, stay authentic, and respond promptly. To speed up the process, come up with a few customizable templates. And remember to flag spam messages and mark those you’ve replied to.
Bing PlacesBing Places for Business works similarly to Google My Business — in fact, you can even sync up listings, as I’ll explain later on.
Bing may hold just 2.45% of the search engine market, but that still comprises hundreds of millions of daily searches. Plus, Amazon’s Alexa uses Bing to source content for voice searches. Given that 76% of users perform local voice searches at least weekly and 46% look for info on local businesses with voice search daily, optimizing for Bing is still certainly worth considering.
How to Create a Bing Places listingSetting up a Bing Places for Business profile is straightforward. Create an account or sign in with your Google account, importing your Google My Business listing to Bing.
If you don’t want to import the information from GMB, simply claim or add a new Bing Places account. As usual, add all the relevant information about your local business, select the primary category for it, and enter contact information (NAP) for potential customers to find it.
How to Optimize for Bing PlacesBing Places loves photos, so add as many photos as you can. Bing values high-quality images and allows up to 100 in the listing, so incorporate pictures of your business location, products, brand logo, happy customers, and anything else that might be helpful for customers to recognize you. Remember to optimize any pictures you upload with alt tags and file names.
Secondly, attach social media accounts to your listing. Anywhere your customers might use to reach your local business is worth adding. Incorporating your social presence is your chance to not only influence rankings but also show your customers the personality behind your business.
Finally, you need to accumulate reviews. As ever, you can perform review generation outreach by email. You can also add a CTA to the business description, asking people to rate their experience.
BBB (aka Better Business Bureau)Adding a local business to BBB will signal to customers that they can trust it. As one of the best review sites on the web, any information submitted to BBB is moderated and reviewed before publishing. BBB makes a considerable effort to only allow reviews from verified customers.
Plus, this online directory helps to increase customer loyalty and online visibility. The local SEO advantage of having a BBB listing is that it ranks well for brand searches. It’s worth noting that, despite some speculation, Google has denied using BBB as a search ranking factor.
To submit a local business to BBB, follow standard instructions: find and verify it there, or add a new listing if your business isn’t in the directory yet. For companies with multiple locations, you can create one listing that represents all locations or different listings for each separate area. Both options have pros and cons.
How to Optimize for BBBBegin by adding all the relevant content you can: logo, business overview, and/or description, photos and videos, products and services, offers, and so on.
As with the other directories on this list, choosing the right business category is vital.
Finally, you can add links to your website and social media accounts.
Angie’s ListAngie’s List is a directory that works best for local businesses operating in home repair, auto industry, health care, pet care, and professional services. It’s where consumers can find and review providers in their local communities, looking for those with the best customer service.
How to Create an Angie’s List ProfileBy setting up a business profile at Angie’s, you can monitor and grow customer feedback and generate new leads by influencing users’ buying decisions with direct communication in reviews.
Once added to Angie’s List, your listing needs further optimization for better visibility. Besides the general information about your client’s business (name, address, working hours, logo, services description, etc.), make sure to add pictures. Images of employees performing their work are a great option here.
How to Optimize for Angie’s ListAngie’s List optimization is all about customer reviews. To get them, invite some loyal customers to leave their feedback at Angie’s, share the link to the listing on social media, or consider the “Request Reviews†option at Angie’s (You can use this to send review invitations to customers via email).
FacebookWith more than 65 million local business pages available, Facebook provides a great opportunity to improve online visibility, build and grow customer community, and get low-cost but high-reach local advertising.
How to Create a Facebook Business PageSetting up a business page on Facebook, you might need to claim its unofficial page there, first. Sometimes, this social network generates business listings automatically based on the available info online. Just click “Is this your business?â€..
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