Every business – whether they operate in a limited geographic location or totally online – has a HUGE opportunity to quickly and easily improve their visibility and get more business.
Taking this ONE action can:
- Make sure your business contact information is easy to locate online
- Increase the number of search phrases that can be used to find you
- Move all of your search listings up in search engine rank
- Potentially get your business featured at Google, Yahoo, Bing and on many other major sites
- Encourage clients and customers to review and recommend your business
- Automatically garner new incoming links on the booming number of metro and other geo-targeted sites
What can do all this for you?
Maximizing your listings in Local Search Directories!
I have been writing about Local Search for a year and consider it so important it is the subject of half of only four pages that appear on every page of this site. Lately I have been spending most of my time researching and compiling over one hundred Local Search directories, prioritising their importance, and creating a process for even better results. Today though, I want to recommend a shortcut that I firmly believe every business can act on immediately to their great benefit.
The only drawback before now to listing in Local Search directories was the days of monotonous entries required and the horrendous usability issues found on the Web sites of many Local Search engines. (They really need to hire a usability expert!) Fortunately for us all there is now a fast, efficient, inexpensive way to get over seventy-six listings and counting in one fell swoop. Many thanks to a really sharp SEO expert I know who shared this information.
Simply create one listing for your company at Universal Business Listing and they distribute it to all the major Search Engines, Online Yellow Pages, Local Directories, City Guides, 411 Directory Assistance, iPhone apps and GPS services. You can update your information in that one listing any time and feed the changes to all the sites they cover.
While many advise against using automated submission services for regular search engine listings, I have thoroughly researched and have found no drawbacks to using Universal Business Listing (UBL). It saves me over thirty-five hours in getting a business listed well in local search directories for only $30 which includes listing fees in some of the other directories that are covered. I have no idea why they have priced this service so low and suspect it will eventually go up because it saves so many hours and has other benefits listing manually does not have.
The most important of those is being listed almost immediately in infoUSA instead of waiting the usual 30-60 days. The infoUSA database powers 85% of online directories (including Google Local Search, Yahoo! Yellow Pages, Microsoft Live Local Search (now Bing), AOL brands including Compuserve, Netscape and Mapquest, and 90% of in-car navigation systems.
You won’t recognize many of the sites UBL feeds but they are extremely important to your business because they are databases used to populate almost all of the new niche sites targeting specific locations, subjects, and metros that are popping up all over. This is a huge growth area on the Internet and your business will automatically be included in those new sites and provide an ever-growing number of incoming links.
I will be adding a list of all the directories and databases to which UBL will send your listing, a how-to for their specific process plus a best practices Local Search Listing process for upgrading only those listings where it is possible and beneficial and claiming others that UBL does not reach.
I can not recommend highly enough that you go to Universal Business Listing and do this NOW.
This is too fast and easy a way to grow your business presence to put off. While you could do this manually trading $30 for 40+ hours of work is worth it in my book. If you are offshore and $30 USD is prohibitively expensive contact me. There arebusinesses here that would gladly pay the fees if you will do the work.
The great thing about UBL is you can quickly get your listings up by submitting them and then use their free editing ability to take your time and really optimize your listings for your best keyword phrases. See Local Search Ranking Factors for tips on what is important.
Here are the seventy-six directories I have identified as being fed from the Universal Business Listing process so far. This list will continue to grow and I will add more sites as I find them. I hand selected the most important and placed them at the top with the rest in alphabetical order. If you feel others should be listed at the top please share your thoughts in the comments below.
UNIVERSAL BUSINESS LISTINGS:
- Google Maps
- Yahoo! Local
- Bing Local
- SuperPages
- Yelp
- Merchant Circle
- Acxiom
- ALK-Pilot
- AllPages
- AnyWho
- AOL Local
- Areaconnect
- Areaconnect Canada
- AskCity
- AssistGuide
- BeanPool
- BigBook
- Blackberry/RIM
- Canoe Inc. (aka Quebecor) – Canadian
- Citysearch
- Collarity – any idea where on this site?
- Comcast Local
- Deep Data
- DensoAutoNav
- DexKnows
- DigiWalker
- Disney – anyone have a link for this?
- Earthlink Local
- eLocalListing
- getFave
- Electronic Directories
- Go2
- HelloMetro
- iaf.net
- iBegin
- Idearc (aka infoUSA)
- infoNXX
- InfoSpace
- InfoUSA (aka Idearc)
- JVC GPS
- Insider Pages
- kgb_USA SEE infonXX
- Kudzu
- LiveDeal
- Local.com
- LocalMatters
- Loqal
- Lowrance (aka Navico)
- LSSI-Volt
- Menu Networks
- Mobio Networks
- OneCallNow – anyone know how they use listings?
- Onstar
- OpenList Local
- Quebecor (aka canoe inc.)
- Search Bug
- Search Initiatives
- Spock – anyone know how this People Search uses
- SwitchBoard.com
- TeleAtlas
- TeleMap
- TellMe
- TomTom
- Topix
- US City.net
- V-Enable
- viaMichelin
- Vindigo
- WhitePages – anyone know how they use business listings?
- YP.com
- YellowBook
- Yellow Bot
- YellowPages
- Yellow Page City
- Zenrin (Phones & GPS devices)
- Zingy – Any idea where data is on this site?
Disclaimer: We are an affiliate of UBL and the links in this post are affiliate links. That is NOT why we are recommending them. We are actively using their service for ourselves and our clients. If you are in a position to recommend them in your own blog please do so. If you feel what we share here is valuable to you we thank you for using our affiliate link.
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Twitter: @ChugginMcCoffee
Local search directories are so important because they give you a long tail keyword phrase that is specific to your niche. This is the best way to rank higher for your specific topic, especially with people in your area. That is a fantastic list of resources!
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Mark,
Using Universal Business Listing is a HUGE timesaver. Can you imagine how long it would take to go to those seventy-six sites and add your listing in each one? We won’t stop here though.
I am working on a process to track these listings and have identified another thirty-two local search listings. As all of these listings are fed to other sites that list will continue to grow and the process I’m developing will identify which sites are complete using UBL and which can be enhanced and specifically how.
It will identify which accept logos, photos and reviews and which have communities and additional services. The process will include links to how-to posts here for requesting and updating listings, encouraging reviews, participating in communities – a complete method for submitting and tracking local listings.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Local Search Directory Taps the Power of Television
Twitter: @docsnaps
Does this cost money? Some services charge $1 per listing…
Looks like a great timesaver for someone starting from scratch!
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Matt,
Even if you already have some of these listings imaging being able to submit once and get 70+ more listings plus ensure your site will be included in any new niche and metro sites built on these databases.
I now start with UBL listings and am in the process of determining which sites can be enhanced and creating a process to track it all. As you can imagine this is a huge project. Once it is down I’ll be sharing it here.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Save 25% off ppcSummit Deadline Tomorrow Sept 1
Thanks for the great summary for our UBL service. We actually go to hundreds more sites but the data aggregators do not publish full lists. Also, don’t forget we now also have a way to do an audit of all your listings as they appear on major search engines at http://www.localsearchanalysis.com – this is a partnership and enterprise version of GetListed.org’s free tool. Thanks – Chris – UBL
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome Chris and thank you for taking the time to visit and comment. I am thrilled to be able to use UBL to speed up the tedious process of getting all these listings. I would love to be included in the beta of your new audit system. I will be contacting UBL via email soon.
I added the sites I have discovered so far and will continue to update this list with others I confirm are fed from aggregators included in UBL listings. As I’ve mentioned in the post the number of listings will continue to grow as new geo-targeted, niche and metro sites use the databases to populate new sites.
I am working with several others to create a process that starts with using UBL. It will be interesting to see how much of that process might already be covered using localsearchanalysis.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Major Television Stations Feature MyLocalLookup
Twitter: @ashnallawalla
I’m not in the US so I can’t take advantage of this but thanks for mentioning the UBL service.
Ash @Net Magellan´s last blog ..Improving Soft Skills develops a co-operative and productive workplace
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Ash,
I am making notes of any directories that are available to businesses in other countries and would gladly publish a guest post from anyone who has that type of information. I do have readers in other countries and international information is far more challenging to compile as few write about it.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Success IS a Numbers Game
Thanks for the really helpful post! That is a remarkable list! Really useful for someone who is just starting a business.
Marq | UPrinting.com´s last blog ..14 Business Card Designs in Dark Colors
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Marq,
The list will keep growing and so will the incoming links businesses using UBL will received. While you could manually submit to most of these sites I can tell you from experience that it is worth far more than the $30 they are currently charging.
I hope most businesses will jump on this idea because the sooner they do it the faster their Internet presence and business will grow. I will be sharing a process for building on these listings in the future and those that have already done this much will be far, far ahead. The search engines value longevity so the sooner a business gets listed the better.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Optimize Your PPC Advertising to Benefit YOU
Actually I’ve been your regular reader because every articles that you’ve posted always give me more usefull information and very like this.
There are too many bussiness listing that you said above .. but how we can submit it instantly to all of them, can we?
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Rusli,
I am glad you are a regular reader and there is much more I am working on that will really make it easier to consistently apply what I share here and track your results. It is a huge project that will still take much time to complete; however, I will share sections as they are completed.
To list instantly to all of the businesses I’ve listed in this post and dozens or maybe even hundreds more that I haven’t yet identified you only have to submit your listing using the Universal Business Listing Service (UBL).
You fill out their process – and I will publish a post in the next few days on exactly how to do that – and save it. One thing UBL provides that is a really great benefit is one person can create and save the listing and then someone else can sign in to your account there and pay for that listing.
This is perfect for anyone who wishes to create these listings for a living. They can do the work, have the client review and approve what you have done, and then if they prefer the client can pay the $30 on their credit or debit card.
Anyone located in a country where $30 USD is a prohibitive amount can partner with someone in the U.S. to provide this service to businesses and individuals. Those in other countries could trade work they complete to someone who can pay the $30 for them.
Even having one place to do this does not mean most businesses will feel comfortable doing their own listings – and every business really should have these done. This is a huge growth area and one that many can specialize in and receive much work.
I am willing to train anyone interested in doing this work. I can proof read their work, suggest improvements, correct any errors, and assist them in communicating with businesses in the U.S. and other English speaking countries.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Happy Birthday GrowMap – One Year Old Today
Instant (almost) listing in infoUSA is a big USP for UBL. Don’t you think the number of links would actually be much higher because a lot of small-time / regional business directories scrap the big ones. I wouldn’t bother about ‘links’ in this case, for a brick and mortar business just getting listed in these business directories should be enough to get some targeted leads.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Adam,
There is no telling how many links a business will actually end up getting. In their comment UBL estimated several hundred and whatever it is it will continue to grow as more niche directories and geo-targeted sites use these databases. I will add to this list as I see new incoming links to businesses I’ve listed using their service.
Many brick and mortar businesses still do not understand the value of these directories. They can bring a lot of business even to those who do not have their own Web site yet. The first six in the list are the most important. Google is first of course and that listing should be manually claimed to protect it and increase leads and links.
If a business does nothing else – no Web site, no Social Networking, no active promotion – at the very minimum every business needs to do this. It is much easier than manually claiming at least the first six and getting into infoUSA so your business is in phones and GPS systems is a must.
Businesses are not only going to lose new customers if they don’t do this – they are going to lose existing customers. When they can’t find you to give you a quick call or because they don’t recall your address they ARE going to find alternatives. Those who are proactive are growing; everyone else is struggling for survival. I’m glad to see you’re among those who will thrive.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Optimize Your PPC Advertising to Benefit YOU
Twitter: @apparelgiant
Do you think this service would work well for an online business such as mine, people do not typically go looking for clothing on sites such as those mentioned unless looking for bricks and mortar stores.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Karleton,
Yes, I recommend every business do this – even those that are operating entirely online and are unlikely to have many seeking to find them on local search directory sites.
While being found on those sites is one benefit some businesses receive, here are a couple of others:
1) These are major high-traffic, high-PR sites so the links from their site to you are very strong for organic search engine placement. Every link you receive moves your site up in the search results for any of your keyword phrases. Having these links gives your business more credibility with the search engines.
2) Your listing will be in databases that are used by those building new niche sites. While many of those are strictly for specific locations others may be by subject. If someone starts a new site they often obtain listings from these indexes to populate their new site. Each of these will give you a new incoming link. Even better, some of those sites may be very related to you and send you buyers.
For example, someone could create a new shopping comparison site for Big and Tall Men’s Clothing and populate a directory with results from one of those listings. Your business is instantly included. You end up with a new incoming link and actual buyers
You could potentially even have your store featured on that new site because they found you while creating their site and need some new content. Your store has a great human interest story attached to it (your football career) so that gives anyone an angle for a blog post on it. You may want to add a paragraph that mentions that to the about pages on all of your sites.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Major Television Stations Feature MyLocalLookup
Twitter: @vikkyWebdesign ny
Getting a list is easy, but approval of comments and getting back links from them is the hard work.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello,
These aren’t that kind of links. These are listings in major business directories. You don’t have to worry about getting comments approved with this type of incoming link AND these sites have really high Page Ranks. Links from them are more valuable – even when they are nofollow – than links in comments. Read the other replies in this thread for more details on why every business should do this.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Success IS a Numbers Game
Thank you for the resource I think that it is a steal to get listed to all of these resources for that price!
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Davids,
It is surprising to me that they continue to add more directories and have kept the price so low. Perhaps they feel they will get more people to continue annually with them (which I do recommend because some of these directories will drop you if you don’t confirm annually).
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Optimize Your PPC Advertising to Benefit YOU
Twitter: @realtydreamaker
Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it. I got tired of trying to find one way links. I just learned about them yesterday and this is all new to me. I am glad I found your site and yes I will be using the company UBL.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Byron,
These links are more valuable and easier to obtain through UBL than most other link building methods. I am researching additional Local and niche directories and will be posting them in the near future. You may wish to Subscribe to our RSS or Subscribe via email.
In the meantime you might check out two posts that stay in the Recently Popular section in the right sidebar (column):
Commenting Strategy Increased Our Traffic 54.87%
DoFollow Tools and Lists
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Success IS a Numbers Game
Very nice. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone…this one-upped that. Hit 76 birds with one stone.
And thank you very much for the list.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome Terry and you’re welcome. This will be part of an entire process I’m developing for greatly increasing the results obtained from these types of listings. I hope you will Subscribe to our RSS feed or Subscribe via email so you’ll see it when I finally get it published.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Save 25% ppcSummit Deadline Extended to Sept 15
Twitter: @copysnips
Wow, thanks for the great tip. While this would definitely help a local business, I’m wondering whether it would help a non-local business as well? I guess it couldn’t hurt
Paul Hancox@copywriting blog´s last blog ..Why Writing Headlines For Search Engines Like Google Will Get You More Readers
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Paul,
As long as a business has (or can get) a physical address and phone number they can benefit from using this process. Every business, blog or Web site should understand how important high quality incoming links are. It will DEFINITELY help.
What a neat idea: copysnips. I’ve mentioned the importance of continually improving copywriting in passing but really need to do a post dedicated to it one of these days. In the meantime I ‘ll go share your content here and there.
You may want to Subscribe to our RSS or Subscribe via email because we’re working on an entire process that incorporates what is in this post and expands it to even more directories first and then later to many other strategies.
Oh, and don’t miss my latest post featured in this reply. It explains how crossing my path (and others) can greatly increase your traffic too.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Social Networking is NOT Chat
This is an excellent tip. I have two e-commerce based sites that would benefit greatly from a Universal Business Listing. On both sites I try hard to have excellent customer service and get repeat customers back to my site.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Tracy,
There is an additional major benefit to getting these listings: consumer reviews. More and more of these directories provide review capabilities and/or pull reviews from other sites. See The Importance of Online Reviews – How the Public Finds Trustworthy Businesses for more reasons why reviews are critical to success.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Success IS a Numbers Game
I’ve used UBL in the past on quite a few sites. I can’t really tell if there is much benefit from a link building stand point. In fact, I don’t think I can find one inbound link as a result of using UBL. There is quite a difference between getting a listing in InfoUSA and getting a link from InfoUSA.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello SEO,
While it does not happen as quickly as we had hoped the listings ARE definitely going up. We are tracking the links using a spreadsheet for each business we have listed. We hope to refine this spreadsheet and make it available to others so they can track their links.
The primary benefit is not a direct link from infoUSA; it is having your business end up in all the sites that use their database and getting a link from each of those. We can confirm that a business listing is in their database by finding it on another site built on their database such as Yellow Bot.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Social Networking is NOT Chat
Twitter: @xtend2india
Hi,
Thanks for sharing such a nice information on local directories and ofcourse list of local directories, I think Universal business listing.org providing business listing services at very effective rates.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Manually submitting all those listings takes days so $30 is a great deal in my book. I am currently working on a process to then go back in and enhance your listings in the top ten Local Directories and add additional important listings. I hope you’ll Subscribe to our RSS or Subscribe via email so you’ll be sure to see it.
You may be interested in the points I make in the post featured in this comment because it contains tips on how to greatly increase conversions especially in ecommerce sites. It can give you some great ideas of what upgrades online stores could use.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Evaluate a Merchant Gift Affiliate Program
Twitter: @paulhassing
Many thanks for leaving such a useful comment on our blog. And for this extraordinarily generous piece. I shall study it with interest and recommend it to my colleagues. Best regards, P.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Paul,
Thank you so much for sharing with others. I hope you’ve seen my latest two posts because they include an enormous number of resources for greatly increasing the online income of any blog, Web site or store. Both contain links to the top money-making bloggers and affiliate marketers and what they teach.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Top How to Make Money Blogging Resources
Twitter: @paulhassing
Hello again. I finally found some time to read all this carefully. Am I correct in thinking that this is of no use to people in Australia at this time? Best regards, Paul.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Paul,
Many times what I write about may not have International offerings yet. Maybe there is something similar down under? I will inquire as to whether they plan to expand to Australia.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Blog Outreach: 8 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Be Doing It Now
Twitter: @sachinansh
76% High quality incoming links means increase in indexing and it will definitely increase your page rank. Incoming links or inbound links are very beneficial for site indexing, it’s a type of recommendation means 76 sites are preferring your website.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello ANSH,
Yes, incoming links from quality sites are always a good thing and these are better than average because they come from high traffic sites with high Page Rank. They are not just good for links – they also bring real visitors.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Evaluate Your AdWords Accounts
Twitter: @moonheart
Link building is very much important for get rank on search engine, but it is not so easy to build instant link. Well that you mention here the topic for instant backlink I will give try.
work at home jobs´s last blog ..Twitter work at home program-Ad.ly [Digg]
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Moonheart,
I’ve used this submission system to get listings for all the businesses I advise and it does work. The listings can take some time to actually go live but there is no faster way to get into the important infoUSA database which is the only way to get into many GPS and cell phone listings.
GrowMap´s last blog ..Are You Playing Hide and Seek With Your Market?
$30 is cheap for this service. wish I’d have known about it before spending many multiple hours doing this manually!
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Lapeer,
You may want to use the service to pick up additional listings. Do make sure you are in infoUSA as that feeds GPS and phone directories. It takes months submitting to them manually so using UBL is a faster way to get listed.
Some of the directories they get you listed in charge more for a listing than what UBL charges for the entire listing service.
growmap´s last blog ..MEME: BizLuv in Support of Small Businesses
Wow.. that’s amazing.
only $30 for this service. I’m pretty sure many of us would grab this chance. Good post ^^
astaga.com lifestyle on the net´s last blog ..Verifikasi Paypal Dengan Lewat Rekening Bank