What is a Business Listing?
Customers are always turning to search engines or social media to find products and services. Your business could be missing out on potential leads or sales without a proper online presence. Business listings are one of the best ways to get the word out there about your brand online. In this article, we explore all about business listings and what is business listing in SEO:
What is a business listing?
A business listing is an online directory consisting of information about your business. Some of the information includes your business name, address, and contact number, to name a few.
Business listings are also known as local citations or business citations. Business listings typically provide an easier way for customers to find your business information online.
Examples of directories for business listings
There are many online directories for business listings. Here are some of the common ones:
- Google My Business
- Yelp
- Yellow Pages
- TripAdvisor
- Facebook Business Pages
- HotFrog
- Foursquare
- Apple Maps
- Bing
What details are included in a business listing?
The common details included in a business listing is ‘NAP’, which stands for Name, Address, and Phone. Besides that, there is other information you may include such as business description, opening hours, category, website URL, email address, social media URLs, photos, and videos.
Though it’s optional to include all the information on your business listings, it’s highly recommended to complete your business listing by filling out all the fields so customers can find your information easily.
What is business listing in SEO?
But, what is business listing in SEO?
Well, a business listing is important for SEO as it can boost online visibility on search engines. Business listing helps to improve local SEO as customers are able to find the business easily when searching for a particular service or product within a certain region. Besides that, business listings are also helpful in appearing on Maps, making it easier for customers to find your business.
What are the benefits of business listings in SEO?
How do business listings help to improve a business’s SEO? Here are the major benefits of business listings in SEO:
1. Provide backlinks
Off-page SEO involves other businesses providing a link back to your website. The more backlinks your website has, the more credible in the eyes of search engines. Business listings are considered quality backlinks, so it can help to boost SEO when you include your business website URL.
2. Increase search visibility
Business listings can be found on search engines, depending on what keyword is searched by the user. Most of the time, since business listings have high domain authority, they will appear higher on search results. Thus, when you create business listings, your business will have a higher chance of appearing at the top of search results.
3. Boost organic and referral traffic
Since business listings usually appear at the top of search results and provide backlink opportunities, your business will gain more organic traffic. Users will be searching for your product or service and are most likely to click on your business listing or website, especially if it’s on the first page of search engines.
4. Improve search rankings
As mentioned above, business listings boost SEO as they provide backlink opportunities as well as visibility at the top of search results. Thus, your search rankings will increase as it will most likely appear in higher positions in search engines.
5. Boost sales and conversions
Customers are always looking for a particular service or product online. If your business listing can be found easily online, then customers are able to engage with your services or purchase your products, thus, increasing sales and conversions. Customers are more likely to trust businesses with a business listing, hence why they are more likely to convert and become actual paying customers.
6. Gain customer reviews
Most business listings also include customer reviews or testimonials. Customers get to share their experiences with your product or service – be it bad or good, it’s still useful for other potential customers as they decide whether to engage with your business.
If there are negative reviews, as a business, you can respond professionally which shows a good image to other customers. For positive reviews, when you respond to them, it will build a closer bond with the customers.
7. Increase brand awareness
Business listings help to boost brand awareness, especially if your business is listed on multiple online directories. Thus, if your business appears frequently on many business listings, they are more likely to remember your business. Although customers don’t click on your business listing, they will still remember your brand and possibly turn them into potential customers in the future.
8. Create trust and credibility
Customers tend to trust businesses that have business listings. This is because business listings provide various information about the business, including reviews or testimonials. Customers can go through the information while deciding whether to engage with your business.
Tips to optimize business listings
To get the most out of business listings, here are some of the recommended strategies to optimize business listings:
1. Add high-quality images and videos
Business listings with high-quality images and videos tend to attract more customers. This is due to the fact that customers are attracted to visuals and they can also get a good overview of what your business is about. It also shows that your business is legitimate.
Consider uploading photos of your interior, and exterior as well as your products or services. You can also include photos of your team members.
2. Ensure information is accurate
When customers wish to get more information about a business, they will try to look for the details online. Hence, it’s best to ensure all your information on business listings is accurate and up-to-date. For instance, if your contact number is incorrect, you could be missing out on potential sales as the customer can’t reach you.
3. Get reviews from customers
You can also encourage your customers to write reviews or testimonials on your business listings. This helps your business to look more credible, especially for search engines. It’s also a great way for business owners to build relationships with customers by responding to these reviews.
One of the ways you can get customers’ reviews or testimonials is to offer incentives or discounts. If they leave a review, then they can get a discount or promotion for your products or services.
4. Include keywords within the business listing
One of the most crucial tips to optimize your business listing is to include relevant keywords within the description. This helps to ensure your business listing appears on search engines for the relevant queries made by customers. Additionally, it also helps customers to get a better idea of what your business is about.
5. Add complete information about your business
Since most business listings allow you to include various fields, it’s best to fill them up as much as possible. You can never go wrong with providing ample information about your business for customers to refer to. With complete information about your business, customers don’t have to contact you to get what they need as they can just simply refer to your business listings.
Conclusion
In order to grow your business, business listings are highly recommended as part of the marketing strategy. The benefits of business listings are endless and provide an opportunity to reach your target audience online. As long as you follow the tips and create a proper business listing, your business can achieve greater heights. Learn more about how to optimize your Google My Business listing with our guide to improve your rankings.