Boost Your Online Presence. If you search for your business name on the internet, you will likely see your business show up in directories for which you never submitted a listing. This is because many business directories today pull from other directories and automatically create listings. This can be a good thing, as long as the listing is correct and matches the info that you have elsewhere on the internet.
This means that getting listed in one directory usually means getting listed in several more, allowing you to kill a few birds with one stone. On the flip side, sometimes the information doesn’t transfer over properly. It’s essential to check, claim, and update your listings regularly, which can be difficult, time-consuming and stressful if you don’t even know what lower-tiered directory has pulled your info. So, you must search and run check-ups.
Increase Brand Awareness
When a user performs a search in an online business directory, it will display a list of relevant results, each with a brief snapshot so that you can decide which one to click on to learn more. This means that even if a user doesn’t click on your listing, they still see your business. Every encounter a person has with your business increases their awareness with your company, which can lead to further engagement.
Get Discovered Easily
Many online business directories allow users to search by specific criteria, such as service, category, and location. By simply entering complete and accurate information in your listing, the directory will then connect your business to the people searching for it, even if they don’t directly search your business name. This is very beneficial because most people don’t know to search for a specific business name or the particular service they need.
Improve Your Local Visibility
Some online business directories are massive, but have advanced filtering and suggestion capabilities, and serve to connect you with your target audience. As a local business, local lists are beneficial because they make your business visible to your local community.
Show Up on Google
It is possible to get on the first page of Google through SEO practices, but it can take a few months to start seeing results. Online business directory sites, on the other hand, have been around for a while, have high amounts of traffic, and are, for the most part, trusted by search engines. Since Google likes these characteristics, its first page of search results regularly shows pages from online directories. If you get listed in an online business directory, you have a chance of benefitting from their well-established SEO and showing up on the first page of Google.
Use Word of Mouth
Most online business directories have a customer review component (Yelp, Google, etc.); word of mouth has always been a trusted source for consumers. With real-time and sharing capabilities of mobile devices, customers can now publish reviews in seconds. People seek out and trust online customer reviews today more than ever, so get listed in online business directories, and you’ll be placed in a direct channel to your target audience.
Boost Your SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of providing your web content in such a way that search engines will favour it and rank it higher in the search results. Search engines want to be trusted by its users, so the more information it gathers about your website, and the more consistent that information is, the better you will rank. Online business listings are a great way to support your already existing data, plus give it more credit.
Help Beat the Competition
Small businesses also face fierce competition. A directory listing gives your business more recognition than those who have no online presence. Customers can contact you directly from most directories to know more about your services. This is one advantage of local online directories.
It Increases Your Online Authority
And it does that in two ways. First, by association, because when potential customers see your business in the directory, it gives them proof that you are a legitimate business. Not a fly-by-night. Business directory listings have become a crucial part of your online identity or footprint. The other way in which it boosts your authority is by the value the search engines place on the links from the business directory back to your website. Having these ‘backlinks’ as they are called, will move your website higher up the search rankings.
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