Claim Your Business Listings
As a business, you want to control all of the listings out there for your business and ensure they all have accurate location and contact information. While there are services like Yext, that will streamline the process for you. It’s not necessary to pay for these services. You can list yourself for free! You don’t need to be listed everywhere. Just make sure you do what you can, when you can and try to hit the major ones. If you are a newer business, you may have to create the listings rather than claim them. Start with the top listing platforms with the highest domain authority and those that are most relevant to your business and go from there.
First ensure you’ve created a page or profile on all of the relevant social media sites, including these Top 5 social networks:
Facebook – Setup a business page; Your login should be for you, not your business.
Instagram – Make sure you setup a business profile and link it to your Facebook page.
Twitter – Create an account and connect with relevant friends and industry peers.
LinkedIn – Setup your individual profile and a page for your company.
Foursquare – Although Foursquare isn’t used as much anymore, it still helps your SEO ranking to be listed. This is a must if you have a physical location(s).
Then seek out the other websites like Pinterest, SnapChat, YouTube, Reddit, NextDoor, Alignable, Google+, WhatsApp, etc. if they match your target demographics or when you have time.
Create or claim your business listings on these Top 5 major directory/Search Engine websites:
Google My Business (formerly Google places for Business; different than Google+ mentioned above)
Apple Maps
Bing Places
Yelp – Make sure to reply to all reviews, both positive and negative.
Yellow Pages – Sure, hardly anyone uses a phonebook anymore, but having your business in their online directory helps boost your SEO!
There are other directories like Angies List, Manta, Merchant Circle, MapQuest, Super Pages, etc., but the five mentioned above carry more weight. So again, start with the list and add others when you have time. A good idea is to Google your business and try to claim any listings that appear in the results, especially if the information is incorrect or incomplete.
Then look for industry specific and local websites and directories that you can join.
Local and industry specific directories are a great way to get topic related backlinks. Whenever you have a few minutes, create/claim another listing in a quality niche directory and/or hyper local news site. Remember, you don’t need to be listed everywhere. While the more websites and directories your website is linked from, the better your SEO ranking, it’s more important that the links be relevant. So it’s quality over quantity when it comes to inbound links if you want long term SEO results.
If you need help/advice or have any questions regarding your business listings and social media pages, contact us so that we can help.