How to Improve Your Local Listings Management (and Your Brand’s SEO)

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How to Improve Your Local Listings Management (and Your Brand’s SEO)

Do online listings really matter?

Picture this: a family driving through town wants to stop for pizza. They search for restaurants near them on their smartphone and up pops a few chain stores nearby. But the best pizza in town, the local legend, goes unnoticed in this family’s search. Why? Because their business hasn’t been optimizing for online local search listings.

Why Listings Management Matters

When we talk about listings, we’re talking about those search results that pop up when you’re looking for something locally. Many of these results will be from online directories, such as Google Maps, Yellow Pages, and Yelp. Like a phone book directory, these sites give you location and contact information for that business with a brief description about the business itself.

A brand with good listings management uses their listings to improve their SEO. By optimizing for search engines, these local businesses make their products or services more discoverable to their customers. After all, more than 90% of consumers start their shopping by searching first for local businesses online.

Is your business optimized for those searches? Are you managing your online listings so it can be? If not, here are a few ways to improve your local listings management that in turn will help improve your SEO.

Update Information in Business Directories

For starters, get your business on as many directories as you can. Don’t seek out directories that are unrelated to your business but try to create a presence on all the ones that are.

Google My Business, for example, is especially important to be on. It helps your business to be more discoverable on Google searches and Google Maps, which is where a great deal of searching is done by your customers. If your company is listed in Google My Business, then it has a better chance to appear higher on search results, meaning more business for you.

Include Location Information on all Site Pages

Don’t just include your contact and location information on the contact page of your website. Make it more accessible by including such information in each web page’s header and/or footer.

When each of your site’s pages contains this vital information, the site itself becomes more optimized for those local searches. People won’t just see your listing in a directory, but they can quickly find it within your website along with all the other information that they need. For customers who don’t click on directory search results, this can be huge.

Ensure that Information is Correct

Make all your contact and location information correct on all directories, social media platforms, or wherever you post your listings information. Building your presence won’t matter much if the listing is incorrect. If you fail to update your listings with the correct data, it hurts your brand’s credibility. Google may penalize your site and business, hurting your SEO.

This penalizing can happen as well if you have multiple listings under the same directory. Update and combine listings so that your information is clear and correct.

Online Listings and SEO: Joined at the Hip

If you are looking to get your brand in front of customers, then improving your SEO will be one of your biggest tools. That starts by updating and managing your online listings well. You not only need to be on several listing sites but also should be including that updated information on your own site. Online local listings are intricately connected to your SEO. Refine your listings, and your SEO will soon follow.

When you need help with your listings management or SEO, get in touch with Skoshe! Contact us to get a handle on your listings, optimize your site and improve your online presence.

How have you seen listings help your business?