If you're a local business owner, you've likely heard that you should submit your business to local business directories like Yelp, Merchant Circle, Yellow Pages, and similar networks in order to help boost your local search visibility on Google. It sounds easy at first: you think you’ll just go to a few websites, enter your contact information, and you’ll be set. Because all you really want to do is get some links to your website from these profiles.
But the truth is, there are a lot of local business listings to obtain if you go the DIY route. There are local business directories that offer free listings, paid listings, and package listings on multiple networks. There are also local data providers that aren’t necessarily directories themselves, but they push your information out to other directories.
In this post, we’re going to look at the real cost of getting local business listings for your local business.
Finding the right directories
Since one of a business owner’s most important commodities is time, it’s important to note the time investment that you must make to individually create and manage local business listings. Here's what you'll need to do to find the right directories for your business.
Directories ranking for your business
You can start by looking your business up on Google by name to see where you already have listings that need to be claimed.
These are the first directories you'll want to tackle, as they're the ones that people are viewing when they search for your business by name. This is especially important for local businesses that don't have their own website or social media presence. Updating these directories will help customers get to know your business, your hours, and what you have to offer.
These are going to be the easiest, in many cases, because the listing is already there. Most local business directories offer a link to help you start the process.
Depending on the directory, you'll need to look in several places to find the link to claim your business. Sometimes it can be found near the top of your listing. Other times, it may be hidden in the directory's header or footer.
It's important to claim your listings so you can add your website link, business hours, and photos to help your listing stand out from others. Claiming your listing will also help make sure you're notified about any reviews or public updates your business receives.
Directories ranking for your competitors
Once you've claimed the listings you already have, you'll want to start finding new ones. Creating listings on local business directories where your competitors have listings will help you get in front of your target audience. If you notice your competitors have detailed profiles on some networks, but not others, that should clue you in to which ones are going to be most effective.
To find these directories, search for your competitors by name on Google. You should be able to spot which ones you haven't claimed for yourself already and go from there.
Directories ranking for your keywords
What keywords and phrases does your business target in search? Do a quick search for them to see which local directories rank in the top ten search results. Most keyword searches related to local businesses will lead you to your website, your competitors' websites, specific business listings in local business directories, and categories on local business directories.
You should make sure you have a listing on the local business directories that rank for your competitors, as well as the ones whose categories rank. For the latter, you may even want to consider doing paid advertising or sponsorship to make sure your business is first for the category, since that page is likely receiving traffic from your target customers.
Directories ranking in mobile search
After you've looked for the directories that rank for your business name, your competitors, and your target keywords, you'll want to do the same research on mobile search. This will help you find additional directories that are favorites for mobile users. Considering the studies showing that 50% of mobile searchers end up visiting a local store to make a purchase, getting your business in local business directories that rank well in mobile is key to business success.
Claiming and creating local business directory listings
If you think finding the right local business directories is time-consuming, wait until you start to claim and create them. Some directories make it simple and straightforward. Others have a much more complicated process.
Getting your business listing verified is usually the toughest part. Some networks will not require any verification past confirming your email address. Some will have an automated call or texting system for you to use to confirm your phone number. Some will have you speak to a live representative in order to confirm your listing and try to sell you paid upgrades and advertising.
The lengthiest ones from start to finish are those that require you to verify your business by postal mail. It means that you will have to wait a couple of days (or weeks, depending on the directory) to complete your listing.
In the event that you're trying to claim a listing for your business that needs the address or phone number updated, you'll need to invest additional time to contact the directory's support team directly to get your information updated. Otherwise, you won't be able to claim your business by phone or mail.
The cost of local business listings
Now that you know the time investment of finding, claiming, and creating local business directories, it's time to look at the actual cost. While some of the top local business directories are free, others require payment if you want beyond the basic listings, such as the addition of your website link, a listing in more than one category, removal of ads from your listing, and the ability to add media.
Pricing for local directory listings can range from $29 to $499 per year. You will find some directories that sell listings for their site alone, while others are grouped under plans like this one where you can choose to pay for one directory or a group of directories annually.
With the above service, you're looking at a minimum of $199 per year for one network, or $999 per year for dozens of networks. While it might look like a good deal, in reality, you are paying for listings that you could have gotten for free (Yahoo, Facebook, Google+, etc.) in addition to ones that have a paid entry.
So how can you decide what listings are worth paying for? If they are not listings that appear on the first page of search results for your business name, your competitors, or your keywords, you can do some additional research in the following ways:
Check the directory's search traffic
You can use SEMrush for free (10 queries prior to registering + 10 after entering your email address) to see the estimated search traffic for any given local business directory. For example, you can check Yelp's traffic by searching for their domain name:
Then, compare it with other local business directories you might not be familiar with, like this one:
This can help you decide whether or not it's worth upgrading to an account at $108 per month to get a website link and featured placement.
Alternatively, you can use sites like Alexa to estimate traffic through seeing which site has a lower Alexa ranking. For example, you can check Yelp's Alexa ranking:
Then compare it with other local business directories, like this one:
Instantly, you can see that between the two sites, Yelp is more popular in the US, while the other directory is more popular in India. You can scroll down further through the profile to see what countries a local business directory gets the majority of their traffic from to determine if they are getting traffic from your target customer base.
If you have a business in the US, and the directory you're researching doesn't get a lot of US traffic, it won't be worth getting a listing there, and certainly not worth paying for one.
Determine the directory's reputation
The most revealing search you can do for any local business directory that you are considering paying is the directory's name, plus the word "scam." If the directory is a scam, you'll find out pretty quickly. Even if it's not a scam, you will find out what businesses and customers alike find unappealing about the directory's service.
The traffic a directory receives may trump a bad reputation, however. If you look at Yelp's Better Business Bureau page, you will find over 1,700 complaints. It goes to show that while some businesses have a great experience on Yelp, others do not.
If you find a directory with little traffic and bad reviews or complaints, it's best to steer clear, regardless of whether they want payment for your listing.
Look for activity in your category
Are other businesses in your category getting reviews, tips, or other engagement? If so, that means there are people actually using the website. If not, it may not be worth the additional cost.
The "in your category" part is particularly important. Photography businesses may be getting a ton of traffic, but if you have an air conditioning repair service, and none of the businesses in that category have reviews or engagement, then your business likely won't, either.
This also goes for local business directories that allow you to create a listing for free, but make you pay for any leads that you get. If businesses in your category are not receiving reviews or engagement, then the leads you receive may not pan out into actual paying customers.
See where your listing would be placed
Does paying for a listing on a specific local business directory guarantee you first-page placement? In some cases, that will make the listing worth it—if the site is getting enough traffic from your target customers.
This is especially important for local business directories whose category pages rank on the first page for your target keyword. For these directories, it's essential that your business gets placed in the right category and at the top of the first page, if possible.
Think of that category page as search results—the further down the page you are, the less likely people are to click through to your business. If you're on the second or third page, those chances go down even further.
In conclusion
Local business directories can be valuable assets for your local business marketing. Be sure to do your due diligence in researching the right directories for your business. You can also simplify the process and see what Moz Local has to offer. Once your listings are live, be sure to monitor them for new reviews, tips, and other engagement. Also be sure to monitor your analytics to determine which local business directory is giving you the most benefit!
I think that cost for adding SLB (small local business) to directories is little bit overpriced. Most of adding can be done within few hours in major directories for free. And within few days in small directories. When i see some business add in lot directories this mean for me two things:
But the real question is - is adding in all directories needed? Because later you need to monitor these listings, answer to customers, track engagements, etc. This mean extra work later in ongoing basis. Of course there Moz Local can help you lot.
Great insight Peter! I think that sometimes, you don't get a choice with small business directories. It may not be a significant site, but if your business's profile from that site comes up on the first page of search, you'll have to monitor it whether you want to or not. At least when you claim some of these sites, they alert you to new reviews.
Yes - it's true. But here is real-world scenario - most of customers aren't non-stop online. Some of them can be driving instructors or dentists or vets. List is almost unlimited... But that people will get 2-3 mails and this will blind their attention. Sometime they can see good or negative review days (or even weeks, months - i'm not kidding) later. When it's too late for action.
And situation can be even worse if some agency add you as-many-business-directories-for-more-money. This can give you temporary boost but require extra monitoring that customers didn't have.
Hi Peter,
It is not necessary to add in all directories, if we do so, we will be forced to choose the less relevant categories which will hurt our business.
True - isn't necessary to add in all directories.
But when you're an agency and provide "shady" services you can add customer sites in all of them. Just for little bit more funds now and in future. More services require more attention later. And we all knows that time is money.
Hi,Peter I totally agree with your opinion.Having registered your business in too many directories is at least difficult to maintain.Especially when your business' good reputation is involved and most of the directories provided options for the businesses to be rated you need constantly to look for citations,comments or reviews.I have registered my company on Customerso and Foursquare only, but I see it also appeared on Yelp and then on Google.While this gives me a better exposure I can't always guarantee that can answer a question or reply on a user's query (or worse-to reply to something which is not necessarily true).In my opinion the registering in any kind of business directories should be voluntary with the permission of the business owner, but there's no law to control this, especially in the USA.
I also preferred Yelp, yellowpages, citysquares etc these are really best for local business. now a days I'm doing local citations for different different projects and I've got good response from my clients.. Thanks @Kristi Hines for this info..
You're welcome Ali! :)
There is definitely a point of diminishing returns when it comes to local directories. What I really like is using SEMrush to analyze traffic for each directory, but what do you think is the best way to do that at scale? I do a lot of analysis in Excel, so is there a way to use the SEMrush API to pull traffic data? I haven't looked into this yet, because I didn't even think of using the SEMrush API until now (really, thanks for that tip!). In the past I've used DA and social data to help determine which sites I should spend time on, but I think I agree when it comes to local directories traffic volume (real eyeballs) might be as or more important than just link metrics like DA/PA.
Nice post!
Thanks Eric! They have a guide on how to use the API with Excel - hopefully that will get you going in the right direction! https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-create-a-strategic-dashboard-in-excel-using-semrush-data-excel-template-included/
Currently we have to analyze the directories because there are many poor quality. Thanks for the post
that's true Berroya !!!
This is why I am such a huge fan of services like Moz Local. Use an aggregator and get as many accurate citations/directory listings as possible...then go from there!
Exactly Jason! Definitely the simplest route possible.
Hi Jason,
I am looking forward to moz local, could you please let us know how many listings can be done through moz local and how much time it takes and the frequency of listings. It will be really helpful.
Thanks in advance.
Kristi you have done a great analysis but I believe manual citation provides better advantage if we submit all information in proper way than we easily get a chance in high ranking, thanks for this presentation this will improve the value of search engine marketing service on client's eye.
Thanks! :)
Kirsti,
It'a a great guide. I'd like to know, how do you find the potential directories in countries where Yelp and other authoritative sites doesn't exist?
Hi Kristi,
Good article and write up. You obviously spent a good amount of time prepping and writing this and know your stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I like your tips on researching your competitors, analyzing what directories they are on and the point of diminishing returns.
In my opinion, you have to be careful with directories and citations. There are about 50-75 directories which are important for local businesses (check the Moz Citations by City/Category) . There may be handful of others which are niche specific which are also good to be on. However, it isnt necessary to be on more directories than that. In my experience, as long as you are on the main directories and have a few niche specific ones as well, this should be plenty. Paying for directory submission services can be hit and miss because there are many directories in those which are useless or which you may already be listed on - Google, Yahoo, FB, Bing, Yelp, etc.
If you are looking to pay for directory or citation help, Moz, Whitespark and Yext get my vote. (I have no affiliation with any of these. Theyre just good products.)
Overall, solid article and thanks for your expertise!
Thanks Brian! I've known lots of people who go the manual route because they figure it's less expensive than paying a service. But in the end, it's really not, especially if you factor in the time. :)
Hi Kristi,
Moz Local is doing amazing to compare to others no doubt about it. Besides this, competitor analysis of their success through listed local business directories can give you clearer idea about where to invest more or first. Your blog title and conclusion justified your detailed analysis. Thank You. :)
Moz Local is my favourite one, way more affordable then Yext. Thank you for making detail post about local directories submission, will be useful for my clients.
You're welcome Danny! :)
Local results are now more important than few years ago. That's because people searches for a store when they're already outside or ask for some service from mobile on public transport.
They certainly are.
Awesome post - thanks for bringing local directories back into the discussion with some great points. A little disappointed we are still lacking some of the options here in Canada (MapQuest Local not available, among others). Hopefully the expansion comes up North sometime soon.
Thanks Nem! Yes, hopefully they will get everything expanded to your area soon.
I have found lot's of local and business directories but it's need claim of address, phone no. and legal things. is that really necessary for business directories.
I think that while some of the processes to verify a listing can be tough or time consuming. But at the same time, some directories are a little too easy to claim, which could lead to other issues.
Love to see a comparison of moz local & yext here. I know yext is the oldest but i'm sure moz local overcome the challenges of yext. What do you think?
Hi Kristi, we have an SEO client in the middle east, with countries of business all across the middle east primarily based in Dubai, UAE but, provides services to other GCC countries viz. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, etc. How do you suggest we implement local business listings for multi-location business without a physical location in the other MENA regions? Thanks.
That's quite an informative piece, Kristi! Optimizing your business's web presence across local directories requires immense investment of time, patience and resources since a lot of the job has to be done manually. Plus, I fully agree with Peter on the pricing point - some of them are rather overpriced. I'd rather take the smarter route and sign up for MozLocal.
Eric you have done a fantastic job & lots of research work for this informative post about local listing. I learn many new things by this.
I must say this is by far one of the most well research article on business directories. Thanks a million.
Nice Article Kristi, Definitely Local directories are assets for businesses. I appreciate you original thinking behind writing this article. I think its really long route because there are well known directories having good reputation in google for any area in world However i am not disagree with you. Anyone can take advantage of your method if they have that much time......
Truly useful information! You have mentioned few very important thing about local business directory. Thanks again for you post!
Great article, web listing is for sure an element of great importance for local business.
Thank you for sharing
I, too, do my own listings. And, I have found that these directory managers do much more harm than good. I spent months (literally) finding many places to list my business and get it listed correctly (after merchant-circle made many errors,along with yahoo-biz). I did a great job, but it took forever. Then the,"managers",began phoning me. They call at least a half-dozen times a day. I explain to them that i prefer to manage my listings. They push and push, and i ask them to stop calling me.
Well, this past week,I noticed my phone had stopped ringing (again) and the one thing I knew to check out was my listings. I got a ZERO-errors report. Funny; so what was the problem? My address was correct in all (I did that). My phone number was right. I have great images of past work on each site (I did that) and i put up videos and photos, often, in twitter and in google-plus.
So,I decided to check my listing in yp.com. What I found is that I am no longer listed under EMBROIDERY (which is what I do.) Someone changed it to? Alterations and Sewing. And I do neither! I checked another (more obscure) site and I am listed as an Embroidery SUPPLIER. Again,I do not supply embroidery businesses. I do feel like these so-called LISTING-MANAGERS are doing this, intentionally, because I refuse to PAY them. It's extortion!
Do you have any idea what I can do to fix this? Or,must I continue spending hours in social media to ensure these changes (errors?) are not made, again? I have to say, it is very frustrating,as I am losing a lot of business because someone is playing games.
Btw; love this site! Glad I found you.
Hi Kristi! Thank U for making detail post about local directories submission, will be useful for my clients, very interesting article. 100%recommended.
I completely agree with your points and understand the importance of local directories, but there are so many local directories which needs address and phone no verification. What to do in such cases where directories are country specific and they need proper verification from that country only. Should we skip those directories or we have any alternate option to get listing on those ??
GO to yext (merchant circle) and scan the internet for your business. If you don't see it, add it. If you do see it, check each site to ensure your listing is accurate. I've found that the listing-managers are making changes to force some of us to, "need their help". They are helping to destroy my business because I cannot afford to pay them! And I cannot afford to pay them because they are messing with my listings. Read my comment, below.
Kristi Hines really a nice and informative post. Just two days back, I gave an interview where the person has asked me about local listings and what results they can give you. I think if I have read your post then I might have given him the best answer. Still, I have experienced it in the past and answered him almost in the right manner.
Thanks :)
Good info Kristi :-)
Hello Kristi,
I have read many articles on local listing before then this but this, one is really awesome as you have presented and executed in an astonishing way. The points which have flattered me on your post are from clamming of existing business listings to searching on mobiles for mobile search or from searching for ranking categories in these directories to directories ranking for competitors. All points are just awesome and has truly given dimension to the local listing posts. Thanks for Sharing.
Thanks Ashish! :)
Thanks Kristi for sharing such great information.really your blog is very effective to me.Great work!!
thank you Good research on Local Business Listing Directories. Local Directory is a King in Local SEO.
Thank you, for the data!
Thank you very much.
God help you if you've had several business moves, an 800 # versus a normal number , and have put LLC or Inc. - - sometimes but not all the time- on the end of your company any time in the past...
The problem I see with services that push out directory listings is - it seems to me like it's a great approach for a new business with no listings...
....but for one with a lot of history and a real mess on its hands, I don't see how pushing out new listings does anything more than just complicate an already bad situation. Is there really any substitute for going in, manually claiming and correcting, and eliminating/deleting duplicates?
Excellent guide Kristy!
It is true that the more portals are, the easier it is to our future customers know us and enter our web.
Yelp is one of the most important for me, because it is a platform on which so far is the source from which information gets Apple Maps. Apart from this there are several in which also would be interesting, for example: QDQ, yellow pages, citiservi, Euro pages, etc.
Thanks for sharing with us this valuable information.
Hi, i read your blog.It is to good. there is so many interesting and important information. Business Directory
I have read and done a lot of research over the years on directories. This one by far is the best explanation I've seen. Great detail!! A lot of people have no clue on how important this is to their web listings! We've had a successful pet sitting business for over 18 years! We just started a new sister company Purrfection Cat Sitting . I forgot how difficult & how much work it was to start up a new company. Its a completely different ball game since we dove into the internet hard core with our other business 5 years ago.
Thanks Shannon! Love your business name - that should be a favorite for cat owners. :)
Local directories give us another best option, especially to drive targeted selling
I am really shocked with this article.means single Business assign with number of account.nice research on this topic.It means google give priority on verification/claim .Good article on this topic.
Guttulus, We all are really shocked to see your linkbuilding campaign, with posting links with every comment !! :)
Come on Moz delete this spammy crap