Everyone wants to maximize traffic to their business website, but modern search has changed the way customers find businesses online. Now more than ever it is important to beef up efforts to make sure your business comes up in a search.
Is your business showing up as a point of interest in modern GPS systems? Mobile apps? Are voice assistants like Siri and Alexa giving your customers the right information? Missing or incorrect data can result in unhappy customers, lost revenue, and a drop in local search ranking.
Business owners have a choice. Continue to hope for the best and grapple on your own to catch missing and incorrect information on the multitude of directories of data sources out there. Or utilize tools and services that can automate the process and spread your accurate business data with all the listing sources out there, whether you have heard of them or not.
First, let’s look at the pain.
That Old Stuff That Won’t Go Away
What if an old address for your business remains on some directory you have long forgotten about? I have heard this complaint repeatedly from business owners and professionals who struggle to update business details (name, address, phone, and website) when there is a relocation or shift in their business. An old address lingers sending some poor customers in the wrong direction while they call a long-gone phone number. Ouch!
Even if the data was accurate when you put it out there and there have been no changes, in a weird but real way, your data out there can atrophy, decay, or get garbled in translation, so to speak. The AI bots are only human…well sorta. Mistakes still happen and you don’t know what mistakes could be out there.
The New Stuff You Want Everyone to Know
Then you have good news about your business: new services, new hours, methods of payment, you name it. Did you know that on many directories you can list enriching information such as photos, videos, and more detailed descriptions of your company and what you do, provide or sell. When you want to share all of this, how can you do it efficiently? Well, not alone or one directory at a time!
Your Listing Solutions Now Available at Vision PRM
We now offer two complementary services that share your business information accurately, consistently, and efficiently across a comprehensive list of directories and data aggregators.
The two services, most often used in tandem, are Listing Distribution and Yext Listing Sync Pro.
Listing Distribution
Listing Distribution gives you a single dashboard to submit, update, and monitor your business information across data aggregators: Neustar/Localeze, Foursquare, and Data Axle.
These aggregators share your business information with a network of directories that power search engines, navigation systems, voice search, mobile apps, and more—and create accurate listings customers can count on.
• Go automated – submit, update, and monitor business information across the major data aggregators from our PRM DASHboard
• See your data and proof of performance in citations. Our platform shows when data has been synced with each of the four data aggregators and your growth in citations over time.
• Showcase your brand with photos and highlighting products and services. Offer more information like hours of operation and payment methods. Enhancing online listings will make customers more likely to buy.
• Build your online presence, drive customers to their door, and boost SEO. The accuracy, quality, and amount of citations a business has all contribute to local search rankings.
Over time, hundreds of directories will reference these aggregators to collect business data and create accurate listings based on your submitted information. This includes search engines, navigation systems, voice search, mobile apps, and even offline sources like telephone books and government records. This is a sure way to increase business site traffic.
When multiple sources have consistent business data, two outcomes occur:
1. Google’s WebCrawler finds the same information in multiple places and adds more confidence to your business data
2. Good backlinks are created with more referring sources to your business’ website creating better SEO.
YEXT Listing Sync Pro
Yext Listing Sync Pro is powered by the world-class digital knowledge management platform of Yext. Their tools are designed to manage a business’s location-related information on a multitude of directory websites throughout the Internet.
As with Listing Distribution, you can take control of how your business appears across important directories like Google, Amazon Alexa, Apple Maps, Facebook, Yelp, and more all from one dashboard. With the click of a button, you can maintain accuracy in search results, update key information rapidly, protect it from third-party changes, and power unique, diverse experiences with consistent information everywhere consumers can find your business.
Create and fix listings with the click of a button –
Get found on an established network of search engines, social networks, business directories and navigation systems. Make it easier for customers to find you online, and boost local search ranking.
Make updates in real-time –
Holiday hours, address changes, new payment methods. Whatever the reason for an update, you can instantly push these changes to all your listings from a single dashboard—so customers will always find the most up-to-date information.
Protect listings from unwanted changes –
Automatically re-establish accurate information when a change has been made to a listing. Protect your clients’ data from changes by competitors, data aggregators, and other third parties.
What business information does Listing Sync Pro powered by Yext update?
Listing Sync Pro powered by Yext syncs the following information to each site:
Company Name
Address (hidden for service area businesses that don’t have a physical office)
Phone Number
Website
Payment methods
Services
Brands
Hours of Operation
Media Library
Additional fields such as SEO keywords, holiday hours, custom fields, and more can be synced by adding the information to the account on the dashboard.
How long will it take for listings to update?
The majority of listing sites will be submitted instantaneously but publishing time will vary depending on the specific publisher and/or directory.