Local Directories: What are the best practices for manually updating over 500 listings?
-
We are currently using an aggregator for a client, but we will be manually updating 5 different local directories that are not included in the distribution for over 500 locations. I am wondering if there are any local experts that have a set of best practices/processes for this type of scenario?
-
Hello Pure Visibility,
Unfortunately, I am unaware of any solution that updates directory information across multiple channels unless you are utilizing a system like Yext or Moz Local. I had to do this recently with a service based client who upgraded to a new location. He has been in business since the 1960's and was listed in every directory known to man. Not a fun undertaking. I used this procedure from Moz to locate all of the listings and update them manually. I hope this helps, and let me know if you find an automated solution. Good Luck
B/R
Will H.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Multiple SAB listings - Optimal Setup According to Proximity?
Hi everyone and thank you in advance!I am a new startup carpet cleaning business and looking to adopt the franchise SAB model since we are 5 cleaners, first being the owner (myself) located at the first SAB location. The aim is to have the other 4 cleaners create their own SAB listings managed by themselves, each pointing to its own dedicated landing page under the same domain for brand consistency. We collectively aim to cover Hertfordshire county in he UK and rank high in a few hot spots.A few questions:1. Setup - is this the right model for multiple SABs?2. SAB proximity - two of the addresses are 10 miles away from each which I get, not a lot of distance, but I understand even if this close, one SAB can only hope to rank high in a different town 10 miles away despite mentioning the town in its service area. I've been told being so close not only it looks silly on the map but we risk massively reduced visibility in GMB. Is this the case?3. If Question 2 is a no go - is it worth considering a different setup such as perhaps each GMB with its own dedicated web domain and therefore each listing becomes a different entity to avoid clashing?4. NAP consistency - being SABs and therefore not displaying the address in GMB, should we display NAP on the landing page for optimum SEO?Many thanks
Local Listings | | valrucar0 -
Tracking Google Local Click-Thrus (Maps)
We've expanded our business to be in multiple cities. We are tracking our local rankings in each city and have Adwords campaigns for those cities with location extensions. We have a separate contact page for each city but haven't setup landing pages for each city which would be fairly tricky as our services are identical for each city. So really the landing page would be almost identical to our home page content with maybe a photo of the city and the city's name thrown in here and there - definitely a risk of duplicate content detection. What I'm wondering is if anyone knows if there a Google Analytics report we can run to show us links from our Google Places for Business Listing segregated by location? My guess is that we would need to make each URL for each Google Places listing unique to that location, like http://www.oursite.com?{name of city} Or is this not even necessary by using some report settings in Google Analytics? -- update -- Well this is a 7-year old article but I suspect it might still basically hold true? In other words, it's not easy and straight forward. What I'm wondering is, if I use the ?{cityname} URL only in my Places listings URLs, well, let's make it ?place={cityname} then really all I need to do is run a report filtering by URL contains ?place= Can it really be that simple because if it is, then this old article and others like it seem to be really over complicating the strategy for simply seeing your googe places listing traffic in total and by location? https://moz.com/blog/tracking-traffic-from-google-places-in-google-analytics Furthermore, if we plan on eventually building home pages for each location, maybe the better URL structure would be mysite.com/places/{city name} and just do a 301 to the home page until the custom page is built. The big question then arises if we are only using this URL in our Google Places listings does it have any farther reaching effect on Google's organic view of our website? In other words will it try to add a unique Google Places URL to the organic results database? Will it cause a suspension of the Google Places listing? If we create the URL as an alias to the home page instead of a 301 will it risk dupe content penalty. Wait a sec... if we use a 301 won't that render tracking in Analytics useless as it's only then going to count the pageview for the home page and not the original URL, right? I guess we could use an alias and then in the robots.txt dissallow indexing of any URLs with /places/ ? Now I think I'M over complicating things. Seems like the best/easiest/safest method is to just a ?place={city name} to the Google Places URL. Then once we have unique places landing pages, just go update the URL in all our places listing.
Local Listings | | Wizkids9640 -
Unique Local Citation Descriptions?
Hello! As SEO’s we have always understood that it’s best practice to craft a number of unique descriptions when submitting to local directories, rather than using one generic description across all directories. However, if we look at this logically; An average business owner (even if Google didn't exist) wouldn't bother to vary descriptions. They would have a generic brand template and simply submit the same description to each directory. What do you think? Is having unique descriptions a MUST for Local Business Citations, or is it ok to use one generic one? I look forward to hearing your thoughts, Lee.
Local Listings | | Webpresence0 -
LOCAL (city of 500k) Keyword Research - am I just wasting my time?
I have tried numerous tools, my team of freelancers, (fiver I admit) and a couple people from Upwork and still not getting a GOOD response to - How much search volume is there for "home builders" JUST in WIchita, KS (for example) I get local results like that are challenging because a lot of them show no search volume. Am I missing something? Can recommend a resource? I would be really grateful! 🙂 I am trying to figure out a nice long (ideally) list of keywords for 'plumbers, wichita ks', 'dentist, wichita ks' - Local service businesses and everything I try shows next to nothing. Thanks for ANY advice! 🙂 Matthew
Local Listings | | Mrupp441 -
Yahoo Local
Hello, I'm wondering how to add a business to Yahoo Local. I've tried searching for the URL to add it, but keep getting redirected to https://www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/advisor . Has Yahoo outsourced their business listings, or am I just not finding the page I'm looking for? Shauna
Local Listings | | shauna70840 -
address on my websiteto help with local searches
If I put my address on my website, does it help that page to rank for local searches? especially if it's the same address that i am using for moz local and all my citations? I want my other pages to rank in different cities as well as i have a service that travels to all cities in my state. Will that address of my home town on my home page make google think that i don't service other cities? Thanks, Ron
Local Listings | | Ron100 -
PO Box for a Local Client
I have a local client who is adamant about not publishing their address anywhere online. They are a local (regional) company, and work out of their home. I advised that PO boxes do not fill within "accurate guidelines" for Google Places (and moving forward any citation building is going to be tough). Any way to get around this besides buying a generic mailbox that isn't a PO Box? They feel putting their home address anywhere leaves them vulnerable to people showing up at their home, and considering the industry they are in, it is possible this could lead to negative confrontations and I understand their concern. Any ideas for me?
Local Listings | | cschwartzel0 -
How do you get listed on Yahoo?
Where is yahoo's "add your business" link? I cannot find it. All I can find is their "yahoo local works" product, which I do not want to buy. I just want to add my listing like I can do with hotfrog, bing, infogroup...pretty much everyone else...except yahoo. Please save me from this frustration, so I can get back to enjoying my Friday. Thanks, Ruben
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0