Most business owners know that most customers look online to discover new businesses but don’t know where to start with making sure their business ranks high. This is where understanding business directory listings for SEO comes in. Customers go to search engines like Google and Bing and according to Forbes, 93% of searchers never go past the first page. That means it is key for your business to get on the front page of a search.
How can you do this? Business directories like Google Places, Facebook, and more have big marketing budgets so they can rank high in organic search. As a result, even if you can’t get your site ranked high for a particular search term, you can still appear in the online directories that have more SEO power. Also, when they link to your site and mention your business, it helps your site rank higher.
Before we get into the best business directory listings for SEO, let’s take a closer look at optimizing your online business listing for SEO. In this 11-minute audio guide, you’ll learn key tactics and tips to optimize your business listings for SEO that will boost search ranking, drive more traffic and grow your business like never before. You’ll also discover the SEO value of listings; how increasing referral traffic through reviews can improve rankings; why errors in local listing management are a problem if they go unresolved over time; plus much more.
Now that you know how to optimize your online business listing, here are the best online directories for SEO divided into two lists:
- The Largest Local Business Directories in the US
- The Top U.S. Local Citation Sources
The 41 largest local business directory listings in the US
According to Compete.com, these local directory sites have the largest amount of traffic. These are listed by the size, i.e., largest first.
- Google Places (aka Google+ Local)
- Yellowpages.com
- Local.com
- WhitePages.com
- Manta
- SuperPages
- Patch
- City-Data
- MerchantCircle
- Yellowbook.com
- Yahoo Local
- Mapquest
- Topix
- DexKnows
- BBB.org
- AreaConnect
- Foursquare
- AmericanTowns
- BizJournals
- LocalGuides
- 411.com
- Yellowpages.aol.com
- Insider Pages
- Hotfrog.com
- Demandforce
- Metromix
- Yellowbot
- ShowMeLocal
- ChamberofCommerce
- LocalPages
- YellowMoxie
- Best of the Web Local
- Yellowise
- Tupalo
- ZipLocal
- EZLocal
- CitySquares
- USCIty.net
- LocalDatabase
Top U.S. local directory citation sources
Check out the list of directories that have the most influence:
As you can see, there are a lot of sites you need to manage your profile on and that can be daunting for some business owners. Birdeye’s business listings management tool can keep your business information consistent across 50+ sites and directories.
Birdeye continuously scans the web for missing and inaccurate listings and fixes them in real-time. As a result, you can keep your business listings consistent everywhere with no extra work!
Originally published Mar 29, 2018 8:40 AM, updated Nov 28, 2022
