With a portfolio of specialist UK businesses, many with a local catchment, Two Lizards is expert in selecting and managing local business listing directory marketing for clients in a wide variety of sectors. Local business listing directories are not necessarily what they seem and the wrong activity can be as counterproductive as none at all. So here are some basic do’s and don’ts, written from experience.
1. More is not better. There tons of directories out there, all claiming to have a USP you can’t ignore. Be discriminating. Listing your business with all of them – especially those which are not obviously relevant – is bad for rankings.
2. You may already be listed. Over half of all business listing directories trawl for business names and basic details to add to their database, then offer you the opportunity to expand the basic information they already have. Search to see what’s there and if you find your details, use them as the basis for your entry otherwise you risk duplicating content, again not good for rankings.
3. Creating quality entries takes longer than you might think. Each one works in a different way with some permitting only basic contact details and others functioning as a real complement to your website with photo uploads and customer feedback. Ideally avoid duplicating content/business descriptions from one directory to another.
4. Local business directory listings are definitely rated by Google, which gathers algorhythmic data linking them to your website and your sector – in other words these listings ‘validate’ that your business is what you say it is.
5. Directories are not all downmarket and ‘one size fits all’. Search and you will usually find very local geographic listings and also specialist trade directories catering specifically for your sector. www.Houzz.com and www.housetohome.co.uk are good examples of specialist interior design directories with free listings.
6. You can’t just set them up and leave them. The better quality directories are designed for regular updates and additions and to make the most of their potential, you need to review them at regular intervals.
7. Free is fine. Ignore siren calls to upgrade your entry to a ‘professional’ one. Hardly any businesses do local listings well and you can shine simply by making the most of what’s on offer and updating it at regular intervals. If, having sorted that out, you feel you have time on your hands, we suggest you spend it thinking of offers to make that could tempt even more business directory visitors to click thru to your website.
8. Every local business directory and SEO plan is different. It needs to be, because beyond a few core recommended national UK directories, there are those which should or shouldn’t be included as well as a selection of specialist or specifically regional listings which will work for the client concerned. With the time involved in selecting and populating your listings, it makes sense to get this list right.
For this last reason in particular, we don’t recommend that clients manage their own listings. They have other, more pressing things to do such as running their companies and interacting with their customers. For them, our business directory planning and management service saves time and helps them effectively optimise and maintain their local SEO without having to tie up time grappling with the idiosyncrasies of each directory’s upload. Could we be doing this for your business? Get in touch now and you can confidently cross ‘local business listings’ off your To Do list for good.