Business listings are a crucial part of your local marketing strategy. People search for plumbers, hair salons, restaurants and other service providers every day. Local listings allow consumers to discover your business and find all the information they need in one place. They also give you the opportunity to respond to reviews.
Business name
Online business directories are comparison websites that list companies and their details, such as name, location, and services offered. They often have high traffic and can help your company get more visibility. They also provide valuable consumer evaluations of your products or services. Adding your business to these sites is a great way to build customer trust and improve your SEO.
When it comes to submitting your business to online directories, be sure to use a consistent business name and contact information for every listing. This will help search engines determine that you’re the same business, which is important for local SEO. Moreover, make sure to verify your listing with public business registration data to ensure that your information is accurate.
Another benefit of using online business listing is that it’s a quick and cost-effective way to increase your brand visibility. If you haven’t done so already, add your business to Bing, Google My Business, and Yelp. You can do this for free and it will drive more customers to your site.
If you’re looking to register a business in the state of Kentucky, check out the FastTrack portal or one of the other resources available to help new businesses. The state’s guide to starting a business includes step-by-step instructions for registering your business. It also provides a list of available names and suggests next steps, such as obtaining an employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS.
Address
Managing business listings is one of the most important tactics in local SEO. It ensures that your NAP (name, address, phone number) is consistent across the web and signals to search engines that your listing is valid. It also helps you avoid duplicate listings, which can hurt your rankings and hurt user experience. This task can be expensive and time-consuming to do manually, but it is necessary for your business’s reputation and visibility. A service like Semrush’s local business listing management tool will monitor all the directories where your information has been submitted, suggest optimizations and fix any errors.
In addition to your address, your business’s listing should include your business hours and services. This will allow potential customers to find your location and get in touch with you. This will improve your customer experience, and may even lead to more sales.
Another benefit of business listings is that they can help you optimize for voice searches. With digital assistants becoming more and more popular, people are searching for businesses by asking questions rather than typing keywords into a search engine. This means that your business listing should provide relevant answers to these questions to make sure that it is included in the top search results. It is important to note, however, that you should only include accurate and up-to-date information in your business listings.
Phone number
The phone number of the business listing is one of the most important factors in local SEO. It helps your customers get in touch with you, and it makes it easier for search engines to find your website. It also lets you differentiate yourself from competitors with similar names or phone numbers. However, it’s important to remember that Google favors local area codes over toll-free ones in its listing algorithms. Make sure that your phone number matches your website and all your citations.
Keeping your business listings up-to-date online is crucial to attracting more customers. Local business listings are free and can be found on thousands of websites and directories, including Google My Business, Yelp, Bing Places, Internet Yellow Pages, Nextdoor, and more. These sites allow users to leave reviews, so it’s essential to respond to negative and positive feedback. A recent study by BrightLocal shows that 89 percent of consumers read businesses’ responses to reviews.
The days of thumbing through the Yellow Pages are long gone, but incorrect or errant information on your business’s online listings can still harm your search engine rankings. Fortunately, you can fix these errors by managing your business listings. If you have multiple locations, use a service that can manage them all in one place. This will help you avoid duplicate or inconsistent listings, which can damage your reputation.
Website
Business listings help customers connect with local businesses. These listings contain important information about the company, including contact information and a description of its services. They also allow customers to leave reviews and ratings. They can also help businesses attract new customers and boost their online visibility. There are many online business directories, but some of the most popular ones include Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Foursquare.
Keeping your business listings up to date is a crucial component of local SEO. A customer who sees inaccurate or outdated business information is likely to go elsewhere. Similarly, search engines will not give your listing the attention it deserves if it is inconsistent across different platforms.
While you can manually manage your business listings, it’s inefficient. Using tools like Semrush’s Listing Management can save you time and money by automating your listing updates. This tool will check your NAP information for consistency across 70+ directories, ensuring that your business information is consistent in all locations.
Some online business directory listings are incorrect, and they can cause a great deal of damage to your brand. If you notice a fake listing, you can report it to Google by filling out the appropriate form. It is important to use a business email address when reporting a listing. You should also ensure that the listing’s name, phone number, and URL match your website.