Why Your Business Needs to Be Listed in All Online Directories — Not Just Google

If you’re trying to reach potential consumers and put your brand at the forefront of their minds, it’s incredibly vital that your business information is available, consistent, and correct across all platforms. 

This includes your:

• Company name
• Business type
• Physical address 
• Phone number
• Hours of operation
• Website
• Business description

When you’re looking to grow the scope of your reach and convince others to do business with you, you want to give them every possible chance to learn about what you have to offer.

That’s why you’ll want to make sure you’re listed in online directories so potential consumers are able to find you no matter where they start their search. 

Online Business Directories: What Are They?

An online business directory is defined as a “searchable online registry or index of businesses where listings are grouped according to a category or type,” (Ueni).

When you think about online directories, Google My Business is likely the first that comes to mind — but there are actually hundreds of directories out there. The exact number changes depending on which state you’re in, but for example, OpticTour has over 57 directory-listings options under our belt!

Some of the main directories include:

• Google
• Apple
• Bing
• Yahoo
• Waze
• Car GPS systems
• Yelp
• And so many others!

All your business information must be available, consistent, and correct across each directory (yes, even on seemingly obsolete platforms like Bing), or else you run the risk of providing a bad user experience and driving potential consumers far away. 

Just think about it like this: If your Apple Maps listing says that you close at 6:00 PM, but you actually close at 5:00 PM, what happens when a potential customer tries to stop by your space after work?

They’ll leave with a poor taste in their mouths because they went out of their way to try to do business with you and you weren’t even there.

That means that if you make changes to your operations, you’ll have to make sure every single one your directory listings reflect that. This can be a tedious task, but it’s absolutely vital to your success.

How Do Online Directory Listings Help My Business?

As a business owner, some of your goals are likely to:

• Build trust and credibility for your business
• Achieve greater brand recognition
• Increase the scope of your SEO

And listing your business in online directories is a fantastic way to achieve all of those things and more!

Being listed in online directories builds trust and credibility for your business and allows you to achieve greater brand recognition because you’re able to be found no matter where your viewers start looking for you.

And did you know that the slightest variations on directory listings affect how Google’s algorithm ranks your business? That’s why it’s incredibly important to ensure your information is consistent and correct, or else you run the risk of Google viewing your business as illegitimate.

However, when you put in the necessary time and effort to ensure your listings are available and accurate, Google takes note of this, and makes your listing go higher and higher — so listing your business in online directories will also help bolster your SEO efforts.

In addition, listing your business in multiple corners of the world wide web will also increase the amount of inbound or backlinks relating to your business, which also plays into Google’s algorithm and rankings. The more backlinks you have, the higher your listing goes!

So yes, listing your business in online directories is essential if you want to increase your visibility, build trust and credibility for your business, bolster your SEO services, and eventually, convince others why they should choose to do business with you.

Need a Hand?

Listing your business in all the relevant online directories can be an incredibly tedious task — and of course, if you make changes to your operations, you’ll have to go in and make changes to every single one of your directory listings.

While it’s important for your business to be visibility online, you likely have bigger things to worry about, like actually running the day to day of your business. Let our team here at OpticTour take the directory listings and optimizations off your hands so you can focus what you do best!

Whenever you’re ready, you can schedule a free audit on your digital foundation by heading to this link.