Internet Marketing: Why Local Business Directories Matter

Local business directories are an often overlooked key in consumers’ purchase process.
These sites serve as portals that lead customers to the business they need. Since the directory sites have a larger marketing budget than most single small businesses, they are able to use that to generate visibility, promote brand recognition, and drive traffic.

As a result, they perform well in organic search ranks, often for keywords that are important to businesses. It’s a “shortcut” of sorts to be listed in these directories – you’ll benefit from that high search rank immediately upon being listed, without as large of an investment in your SEO strategy.
In fact, simply being listed can assist your website’s SEO, since accurate mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number can boost your rank with organic search and Google Places.

The downside, of course, is that you’ll also be listed alongside competitors. That’s why it’s crucial not just to be listed, but to optimize each listing, providing compelling copy and even offers that encourage conversions.

Now that you understand the importance of business listings, check out this list of the best ones to improve your website traffic and SEO efforts. Other sites have put together similar lists, but they usually include a random assortment of sites, not just the most relevant. This list includes only those directories that are truly important and worth the investment of your time, energy, and marketing dollars.
They are divided into two types of sites: the largest local business directories and the top local citation sources.

The Largest Local Business Directories

Below are the most important directories listed from largest to smallest, in terms of traffic. By optimizing your information on these sites, you’ll expose your business to a wider potential local audience.

1.     Google Places 2.     Facebook 3.     LinkedIn 4.     Yellowpages.com 5.     Yelp 6.     Local.com 7.     WhitePages.com 8.     Manta 9.     SuperPages 10.   CitySearch 11.    Patch 12.    City-Data 13.    MerchantCircle 14.    Yellowbook.com 15.    Yahoo Local 16.    Mapquest 17.    Topix 18.    DexKnows 19.    Yellow.com

20.    BBB.org 21.    ServiceMagic 22.    Angieslist 23.    AreaConnect 24.    Foursquare 25.    AmericanTowns 26.    BizJournals 27.    LocalGuides 28.    411.com 29.    Yellowpages.aol.com 30.    Insider Pages 31.    MagicYellow 32.    Hotfrog.com 33.    Mojopages 34.    Switchboard 35.    Demandforce 36.    MojoPages 37.    Bundle 38.    Metromix

39.    Yellowbot 40.    Kudzu 41.    ShowMeLocal 42.    ChamberofCommerce 43.    LocalPages 44.    HopStop 45.    YellowMoxie 46.    Phonenumber.com 47.    Best of the Web Local 48.    Yellowise 49.    GetFave 50.    Tupalo 51.    ZipLocal 52.    EZLocal 53.    CitySquares 54.    USCIty.net 55.    LocalDatabase

Top Sources for Local Directory Citation

As mentioned above, building citations is crucial to confirming your data for Google and other search engines. These are the key sites to focus on, regardless of your business’s location or industry.

While it’s good to focus on your service area and category for citation building, in most cases, regardless of your location or industry, these are the sites you should almost always include while citation-building.

1.    Yellowpages.co 2.    Yelp 3.    SuperPages 4.    CitySearch 5.    Yahoo Local 6.    Facebook 7.    DexKnows 8.    Manta

9.      BBB.org 10.    YouTube 11.    City-Data 12.    Yellowbook.com 13.    Angieslist 14.    MerchantCircle 15.    ServiceMagic

Many may be surprised by the inclusion of Facebook and YouTube on this list, but while neither are directories, both are internet behemoths with a substantial amount of content related to local businesses.

Wondering how your business appears on these websites (if at all)? Try this fast and free scan.