4 Reasons You Need To Use Online Business Directory Listings

4 Reasons You Need To Use Online Business Directory Listings

Welcome to the second edition of our local SEO series. This post focuses on why online business directory listings are a great way to create a strong online presence for your business. It also could be the difference between customers choosing your competitors over your business. You ask why? Customers want to know about your brand and how you can help solve their problems quickly and easily. If they can't find you, they'll go somewhere else.

Gone are the days when local phone book directories were the best ways to find local services and products. I remember my mom used phone book directories such as Yellow Pages to find anything from a local plumber to hairdressers. However, those days have gone and local phone books have now been replaced by online directories.

Consumers now find it easier than ever to find the products and services they need by using online search engines such as Google. Ensuring your business is listed on relevant directories and search engines for free is a is no longer an option it’s a necessity.

What is an online business directory listing?

Online business directory listings are a form of whitehat SEO and the company Pingup defines an online business directory listing as;

“An online business listing is an online representation of business information. Business listings are used by online search engines and local directories to help customers quickly find local business information.”

Why online business directory listings are important?

Building citations and links to your website is a great way to improve search engine optimisation for your website. Other popular online citations are things such as; “Google My Business” which I talked about in a previous post and websites such as Yelp.

The number of citations you develop over time can help to boost your search engine ranking and improve your Local SEO. So, If there are local online directories in your area your business can register on for free, this is something you should explore.

4 benefits of online business directory listings:

There are many benefits to having an online business directory listing and drive more traffic and inbound links to your company website.

1. Improve your brand awareness - Helps customers to find your website easily

2. Boost your online citations - Search engines like Google love online citations so online listings can be a great way to improve your search engine ranking

3. Grow your local online presence - Online business listings can help to boost your presence in local search

4. Get found easily - The more links you have to a website the more attractive you are to search engine crawlers

Finding the right business listing platforms

There are many online business directory listings to choose from, so deciding which ones you want to use will take some time. Complete your research to explore where are your target audience likely to be e.g. Google Search or industry-specific listings.

Useful free online listing tools

· Hubspot has put together a list of 57 online business directories. Click here

· MozLocal has a free citation link finder to help you identify where your business is currently listed and verified across the internet. Click here

Conclusion

Search engine optimisation can be overwhelming, but in today's competitive climate it can't be avoided. After reading all the advantages of using online directory’s, Is this a strategy you will consider investing in for your business?

If you have any questions about this post either comment on my post or tweet me.

Check out my other blog posts on search engine optimisation:

5 Signs Your Business Needs to Invest in SEO
Will Local SEO rule your world for 2019
Search Engine Engine Optimisation and Conversion Rate Optimisation. A match made in Heaven

8 Reasons Why Your Company needs a Google My Listing profile