List Your Small Business in Local Directories to Boost Sales
Small business owners are always looking for ways to get more customers, both online and in person. One of the most powerful ways you can reach a wider audience is to get involved with local directory site listings. When your business appears there, you increase the chances and the number of ways that potential customers can discover you.
What are local business directories?
Local business directories are trusted listing sites and social communities that specialise in indexing small businesses, according to category and geography. Yelp, Foursquare, TripAdvisor and Google+Local are among the most famous of these sites, but there are many more.
People looking for places to eat, shop, sleep and commission services, often refer to the content on local directory sites to see what the communities of users there have to say in the comments and ratings. But perhaps more importantly, Google search holds many of these sites in high regard, so when you’re listed on good local directory websites, your business will quickly receive a dramatic boost in search rankings.
Search engine optimisation (SEO), the hunt for the top results on Google for the search terms relevant to your business, is a tricky discipline that’s constantly evolving. But listing on local directories remains one of the SEO tactics that’s easiest and offers the most impact.
Why you need to rank in local search results
Thanks to the rising popularity and usefulness of smartphones, people are increasingly interested in finding businesses that offer what they want nearby. Searching the web for local information is considered to be the activity that people use their smartphones for more than any other.
Search engines are paying close attention to this trend and are changing the way they display results accordingly, with “geo-targetted” content receiving more of an emphasis, especially when the searcher uses keywords that suggest “local intent”.
Why local business directories are your saviours
Back in the old days, an integral part of any SEO strategy was submitting your website to web and article directories. Google would view these links as evidence that your business is respected and deserving of promotion. But these directory sites started to attract more spam than valuable information, so Google gradually stopped recognising their authority.
However, there are many local business directories that still have great reputations, which Google uses as “citations” or trusted sources for information when deciding how to rank your website. Therefore, local search optimisation is the only remaining valuable SEO tactic that relies heavily on directory submissions.
How to get started marketing on local directories
With Google penalising websites with links to shady directories, how do you know which ones are legit? A great starting point is to check out the list in the article “Free Places to Promote Your Website Online”. Submitting your website is easy. All you have to do is fill out your business information and once you’ve been verified, your listings will go live.
With your business appearing all over strong local directories, Google’s algorithms for local search will be sure to recognise you for the legitimate business you are. Within weeks, search results pages will be more likely to even display your five-star user ratings, map location and other key information that will encourage users to visit your website.
SOURCE: Wix
