By Parker There are many strategies for local businesses to increase their online visibility, but few are as effective as investing in local SEO. This may be because potential clients utilise local search to find businesses in their area, making local SEO a great source of highly targeted traffic.
However, getting ranked in local search isn’t always easy, especially if you’re trying to compete with more established large companies. Hence, building out your local listings is crucial when it comes to boosting the authority of your site and providing it a boost in the search engine results.
What is Local Listing?
A local listing is an online reference to a local company’s name, address, phone number, or website. These listings can be found in apps, websites, blogs, local free internet business directories, and social media. Local listings help customers find nearby companies and may affect a company’s ability to generate revenue from traffic. Businesses will improve their SEO rankings and draw a lot of customers by expanding their local listings.
Types of Local Listing
Industry Specific
Local firms can frequently aim to increase their presence in directories tailored to their sector. Some professional organizations, publications, or review websites will fall under this category. For example, if you’re a flooring contractor, you can list yourself in the carpet online directories to be found easily by customers.
Data Platforms/Aggregators
Businesses can create profiles and increase traffic on several top-tier company data gathering websites and directories. These platforms include Yelp, Google My Business, etc. Businesses can also contribute their data to websites that encourage reviews, such as Facebook or Yellow Pages.
Geo-Specific
Businesses can also submit their data to regional directories to be listed with other nearby companies. For example, being a local company in Australia, you can focus on Australian business directories majorly.
Blogs and Publications
Businesses can expand their online presence or acquire extra local citations by using news websites, blogs, online magazines, etc. Businesses can manually submit them by building a profile or engaging in outreach, or they can acquire these listings organically through visibility and reputation.
Importance of Local Listing for SEO
- Enhanced online presence: Getting listed online will increase the chances of clients contacting you, especially when your company appears in directories. Making public information available would greatly enhance your online presence as users look for listings according to criteria.
- Brand visibility: Even if the user doesn’t select your listing, they will still see your company and consider it the next time. Your brand becomes more visible every time someone views your listing, thereby increasing the likelihood of future engagement.
- Uplift local search: If your company has numerous locations, you can build unique listings that are optimised for each branch’s location. You can still fully optimise local searches for your business in different areas.
- Customer reviews: Customers can share their experiences and upload pictures of your business when they leave reviews. Because active, positive, and high-quality business reviews are more likely to be ranked higher in SERPs, this further enhances SEO and search algorithms.
- Brand reputation: Even if you’re a small business owner, improving your brand in directories will make you appear more professional to clients.
Conclusion
Remember that since every local listing site is unique, there could be various procedures for adding or claiming a listing. The work spent on business listings is ultimately worthwhile because they provide inexpensive online visibility and are incredibly efficient.