There's no better way to grow your digital presence than by filling out your company's information accurately online. We've taken the route of both using free listings like the ones below and partnering with Yext for some of their advanced features. Here are the ten free listings that matter most.
The Top Ten Free Business Directories
- Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). By far the most important. If you only do one listing, do this one. We wrote a full walkthrough on how to claim & set up your Google Business Profile, and the deeper strategy lives in our local SEO strategy guide.
- Bing Places. Bing is the second largest search engine in the US. Often overlooked, often easier to rank in.
- YP.com (Yellow Pages). Still surprisingly relevant for citation consistency signals.
- Yelp. It's heavy on reviews, but the directory citation alone matters even if you don't generate reviews here.
- Manta. A long standing business directory with strong domain authority.
- Kudzu. A service business directory focused on local.
- Trustpilot. A review platform with growing citation weight.
- Brownbook. A global business directory with free basic listings.
- Crunchbase. It's mostly B2B and SaaS, but local service businesses benefit from the brand entity signals.
- MerchantCircle. A local merchant network with built in customer engagement features.
How to Fill Out Your Directory Citations
Working with the directory citations above (and the many others you'll find), there are steps to take each time you fill one out.
Make sure you're inputting the same accurate information about your business in every directory. When filling out these directories, fill out as much as possible as it relates to your organization. Upload photos, logos, and make certain to include a link to your website. Including as much relevant information about your company will provide a more valuable experience for search users when they first meet you online.
While keyword density within your business description is important, don't overdo your keyword placement. If you're not familiar with LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing), it boils down to this. Search engines like Google will index and process synonymous keywords within your content. Lost for words? LSI Graph is a free tool that will pull variations of your targeted keyword phrases for you to use in your content.
Your Name, Address, Phone (NAP) must match exactly across every directory. "Inc." vs "LLC," "Street" vs "St.," "Suite 100" vs "#100." All of these create inconsistencies that erode citation trust. Pick one format and stick with it across all 70+ citations.
What Directory Citations to Avoid
Being an active owner in today's digital market means you're probably ramping up to go conquer the world and all the directory citations in it. Beware of some of the more underhanded ways directories can operate.
Within reason, you should not be paying for poor directories. Using Yext for example is a paid service that gives you access to enhanced profiles on partner sites as well as access to some that are only available for a fee. Sites that require payment within the Yext network include Yahoo, MapQuest, and a few others. Short of these few, we seldom pay for other directory citations. In fact, many that charge are not getting very much traffic anyway.
Another old but common trick is to offer you a link from their website while requiring a reciprocal backlink to their website. In addition to just being a waste of time, you now have a link on your website to a directory which both lists your competitors and has nothing to do with your interests.
Certifications and awards are another common method of baiting digital marketers to pay for or link to a certain company. You know who is legitimately certifying or ranking your company online. If you don't know, a quick search will show you what other business owners experienced working with the platform in question. Do your research and please don't buy all the awards offered to you. Many are actually just turning a profit off the award order.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a citation in local SEO?
A citation is a mention of your business name, address and phone number on another site, like a directory. Keep them the same everywhere. Wrong or old details confuse search engines and customers. Start with the big free listings, fix any duplicates, then add trade directories that real customers use.
Directory Scan of Your Business
Want to find more directories to be listed in? Run a scan on your current directory listings and check how you're showing up on 72 of the top directories. Still need more help? Reach out to our marketing team on our contact page.
By "happy to help," we mean we'll actually help you instead of cramming a sales pitch down your throat. We enjoy developing new relationships with companies and marketers in the United States, and we look forward to hearing from you.
