Use Directory Listings to Enhance Your SEO

You’ve probably already heard us mention business directory listings, or citations, when we talk about SEO. Directory listings are a great way to improve your SEO and get your website noticed by potential customers. By listing your website in directories, you can increase your visibility online and attract more visitors to your site.

What Exactly Is an Online Directory Listing?

An online directory is a website that contains a list of businesses in a particular niche or industry. Directory listings usually include the business name, address, and phone number (NAP), as well as a brief description of the business. Many directories also allow businesses to add additional information about their company, such as photos, videos, and coupons.

Some of these websites are massive and can host the business details of companies from many industries. Take Google for example. They offer directory listings in the form of Google My Business, now known as Google Business Profile. You expect to find any business you are searching for here. Yelp, Facebook, Yahoo!, Bing, LinkedIn, YellowBook.com, and Super Pages are some other widely used business directories.

Why Are Directory Listings (Citations) Important for SEO?

Directory listings (citations) are important for SEO because they help search engines like Google understand more about your business. When you list your business in a directory, you’re providing search engines with valuable information about your company, such as your NAP, business category, and location. This information helps search engines like Google match your website with relevant searches.

This especially applies when users are looking for local results. For example, if someone in your city is searching for “pizza restaurant”, Google will use the NAP and location information from directory listings to determine that your pizza restaurant website should show up in the search results.

In addition to helping search engines find your website, directory listings can also help improve your search engine ranking. When other websites link to your directory listing, it tells Google that your business is legitimate and popular, which can help boost your ranking. The more directory listings are pointed to your website, the higher the chance of Google selecting your website for the top of its search results.

Different Types of Website Directories

There are many types of directories to choose from based on niche and function. It is important to have as many local citations pointing to your website as possible. Here are some examples when looking for directories:

General business directories: These directories are like the ones listed above. Think Google, Yelp, MapQuest, and Bing
Niche or industry-specific directories: If you are in legal, great options might be Nolo or FindLaw. If your business is in construction you should register with sites like Angi. The list goes on and will be different for every type of business.
Themed Local blogs: These websites may offer directories based on what companies their viewers would be interested in. These could be restaurant lists, wedding vendors, and local things to do.
Social media: We recommend being on these platforms already to improve your online presence and branding. They have the dual feature of being a citation source for Google as well, making them even more important to your business.

How Do You Get Started With Directory Listings?

Getting started with directory listings is easy. Start by creating a list of relevant directories for your business. Make sure your list includes established brands like Trustpilot along with some niche directories you have identified. Once you have your list, simply create a profile for your business on each of the websites.

Be sure to include accurate and consistent information about your business, such as your NAP, business category, and location. You will also want to make sure the business category is filled out. This is how Google knows what type of business you are and can match your listing with relevant searches.

Consistency Matters with Citations!

Having an accurate NAP is very important. As a rule of thumb, whatever is listed on your website needs to exactly match your citations. We recommend either changing your website to match your Google Business Profile or vice versa. Then base every other listing entry on what you have entered on Google.

Google is the top traffic source to your website and you should treat that citation as the basis for every other. Google will compare your website’s info and your Google Business Profile to every other citation to determine if it is in fact the same company being referenced. This is why it is extremely important to make sure all information exactly matches. Google counts each directory listing pointing to your website as a vote of confidence in your business!

What To Do About Multiple Locations

If you have multiple locations, you will need to create a separate profile for each one. It is important that each location has its own NAP. We suspect many of your locations will have the same business name, and this is part of why there is so much importance on having the phone number and address exactly match.

If each location has its own contact or location page on your website (it absolutely should!), we recommend linking to that URL instead of your main website URL. This is another tactic that will help improve your local SEO.

When it comes to SEO, directory listings are a must. Not only do they help search engines find your website, but they can also improve your website’s ranking in search results. While time-consuming, citations are absolutely worth the effort.

How Aroluxe Can Help with Your Citations

Aroluxe is an experienced and trusted SEO company that can help improve your website’s ranking in search results. We can also help you create accurate and consistent directory listings, ensuring that your business is correctly listed across the web.

We use our top industry tools to identify which directories would be the most beneficial for your company. The Aroluxe team will then do the leg work of creating web directory listings for your company on each of these websites.