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The following statistics are likely to catch you by surprise, but they will also make you understand the importance of local citations.

Review sites like Yelp, are only one kind of local citation. There are several different kinds of business listing directories and review sites, and that is why you need to have a balance of citations on a variety of sites.

To enjoy a nice, well-rounded local citation portfolio, a healthy balance of local business listings should include links from theses various types of sites:

Aside from review sites and directories, there are other advanced strategies to get even more powerful local citations such sponsoring an organization or event. Here is a great resource for citation building strategies.

According to a 2013 Nielsen survey, 78% of consumers use review sites to identify local businesses. This is especially true for restaurants because people want to know what other consumers have to say about the food and service before they commit to spending their money.

In addition, people often turn to review sites when looking for a business in the service related industry, such as plumbers and HVAC repair. Ninety-percent of your customers' decisions are influenced by the reviews that they read online.

Finally, the big, national review sites like Yelp, have high authority and an incredibly high number of registered users that use them every single say.

Sure, we all know that our posts from our Facebook Pages aren't showing up as much in our audiences Newsfeeds organically, but the page includes a NAP (Name Address and Phone number) and is a trustworthy citation for your business.

YouTube is an often forgotten site as well. It is a cross between search engine (people search for videos using keywords) and social media platform (people register, comment, vote and share). YouTube videos are also indexed by Google and show up in their search results.

Putting your business NAP in the description of every video on your YouTube channel. Not only do the videos help people, but the citation is there and can be found.

Most people only build local citations on review sites and directories. The truth is that a citation is ANY mention of your business.

Having a citation in your video descriptions, at the bottom of your guest post and other places still count. The higher the authority of the site, the better the citation. This also usually means more traffic and users which helps with exposure for your site.

Well, in November 2014, Google change the platform...yet again. It is now a place for interests and has an emphasis on its Communities and Collections.

Myles Anderson wrote a great explanation of what the the changes to G+ is all about in an Search Engine Land article.

Nothing much as changed from a local business owner perspective. The difference is that that your business page is now streamlined and offers the bare necessities. It isn't like your FB page, it simply hosts your business information for search.

The truth is still the same Google uses G+, specifically your Google My Business Page for information to show in local search results - including store hours, reviews, etc.

Google My Business is still a necessity for any local business owner, and you must claim and set up your Google+ Page today!

business-directories.jpgYou probably know about the most popular business directories like WhitePages (Yes, the also list businesses) and eLocal, but the truth of the matter is that there are a plethora of lesser known business directories.

While most of the them really don't have much authority, a listing probably won't hurt your business. There are, however, a number of popular and authoritative sites where you definitely want to claim your listing.

Pakistan Yellow Pages

Here is a list of Business Directories that will get you started. You should note tat some of these are only available through a service like Yext. You can either choose to subscribe or move along to the next free directory.

These are often GPS apps, Map apps or some other apps that allow people to find things to do and plan an itinerary when they are visiting a city.

The problem with getting listed within apps is that there usually isn't a way to directly submit your business listing to them. The most important map to be on is probably Google Maps. This can easily be done via your Google My Business profile, or simply add it to the map.

You can might be able to find an aggregator like ExpressUpdate.com (free), Factual.com (paid) that provides data to these apps. Other options are a service like Yext or Moz local, which is a very reasonable alternative to Yext.

Search Engine Optimization is all about proving to Google that your site is relevant to the keywords that someone typed into their search engine.

Instead of telling you to do your own search for city and industry specific business directories, my team and I are doing the work for you.

We are scouring the internet and found the top local business directories for 93 cities in the United States as well as the top directories for 40 industries.

Before you use the tool below to find the relevant business directories for your city (or closest city to you) and your industry, here are a few things to keep in mind:

If your city isn't listed, use a city that your town could be considered part of the metropolitan area. If that doesn't work, Contact Me and I will see about adding your city to the list in a future update.

There could be some cross-over in industries. An example is Florist and Wedding & Event Planning. If you are florist and provide flowers for weddings, there is no reason not to be listed in all the directories for those industries.

Paid vs Free listings. Some of the sites provide paid listings, or have extra features for a certain price. I would start with the free listings and then decide if the cost is worth it and within your budget for any paid listings.

If there a business listing site that isn't featured in the tool, Contact me and I will see about adding in a future update.

To answer these questions (and allay my own fears that I did not share enough information with you) here are some extra details surrounding Local Business Listings & Local Directories. As I mentioned in the The Most Important Local Ranking Factors for 2023 article, local business listings & local directories, can help you boost your local SEO rankings and are often called citations or NAP.

The short answer to the question then is absolutely yes, registering your business on a relevant local business directory is worth the investment of your time because the more relevant and quality citations of your business there are online (there are both free and paid local business listings & local directories with some more authoritative or higher quality than others), then the easier clients can find your business in local search; and the more likely your business is to rank higher in local search results.

My advice is to go for the most relevant business listing directories such as your specific industry or professional listing directories (oftentimes these tend to be paid) for example Accountants, Architects, Doctors, Dentists, Engineers, etc. all have their own professional directories (check your own industry or profession). Google tends to give these citations higher authority than the more general listing directories for whatever reason.

Next, if you haven’t already; do not sleep (I repeat) do not sleep on search engine business directories such as Google Business Profile (GBP), Bing for Business and Yahoo; next is your social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Meta (Facebook) Instagram, Twitter. Concentrate here on where your potential clients are likely to be and not on general happiness!