Improve Local SEO with Business Listings
One of the top priorities for helping to build a good online presence for your website is to ensure you have accurate citation details added to relevant business directory listing websites. If you’re based in Bournemouth, Poole or Dorset and need help with SEO or web design – please get in touch.
A typical business listing will include most of the following details:
Company name
Phone number
Address
Website
Photos
A complete local citation or business listing should include your company name, address, and phone number, which is referred to as your “NAP”.
Why Business listings Are Important For Local Search Rankings
Accurate citations and business listings help search engines like Google and Bing verify that your website exists. When search engines receive this information or signals from credible sources it really helps to validate your business.
It’s important to ensure you add exactly the same business information to each of these citation building websites and also ensure you have the same details on your own website. If you add details or information that doesn’t match on each of these business directories it can harm your local search rankings.
Where To Add Your Local Citations & Business Listings?
Not all citation and business directory websites are equal when it comes to deciding where to add your citations. Many such as Google My Business, Bing Places and others have a higher domain authority (DA) than others (this means they are more trusted by search engines).
This is an important factor when choosing where to spend time adding your details. You want to add your business details to around 20 or so listing websites to ensure good results. Before adding your details make sure your details are correct and exact across all of the listing websites.
Top Tips For Building Great Business listings
It’s best to make a list of all your details and then create a list/spreadsheet of all the citations you have added. This makes it easier to keep track of your listings.
- Email – Try to use a professional format email address and not a Gmail or Hotmail etc. You should have an email address associated with your web hosting or domain provider, something like info@ or hello@. Listings are more trusted with a domain based email address.
- Name, Address & Phone Number – Make sure this is consistent across all of your listings where possible. They may some instances where it isn’t possible due to formatting.
- Services – Make sure to add a good description of your services (it’s a good idea to use your website meta description and then add some extra info if required). Also choose business categories where required and keep everything consistent. Add your opening hours and social media links.
- Images – Add images/photos where possible and also include your website logo.
- Claiming Your Listing – Some citation websites require you to claim and verify your business listing. This can usually be done via email, phone or post verification.
Where To Find Business listing Sources
A quick Google would probably provide you with a handy list of UK Business Listing and Citation websites. I have listed some of the best ones below to get you started. Make sure you always choose the free listing option.
Google My Business – www.google.com/business
Bing Places – www.bingplaces.com
Apple Maps – https://mapsconnect.apple.com
Yell – www.yell.com
Yelp – www.yelp.co.uk
Thomson Local – www.thomsonlocal.com
Scoot – www.scoot.co.uk
Foursquare – www.foursquare.com
Free Index – www.freeindex.co.uk
Hot Frog – www.hotfrog.co.uk
192.com – www.192.com
118118 – www.118118.com
Cyclex – www.cylex-uk.co.uk
Locanto – www.locanto.co.uk
UK Small Business Directory – www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk
Brown Book – www.brownbook.net
Trade Pages – www.tradepages.co.uk
Netmums – www.netmums.com
Summary
Hopefully this list will help get you on the way to creating some great citations! Thanks for reading. Check out my other post on How to improve SEO with Blog content.
I provide a Citation Building Service for my customers. Please get in touch if you would like me to take care of this for you.
Web Design Bournemouth, Poole or Dorset. If need a new website or would like your current one updated please Contact me for a chat – or call 07714 795415.
