Online Local Business Directories

To improve your local SEO, list your business on online business directories like Yelp, Scoop and others.

Also known as building citations, an important local marketing strategy.

Search engines like Google help consumers find local businesses.

For example, Google uses:

Google My Business
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Featured snippets
Local packs

And building citations helps your business show in local packs when people search businesses in their area.

You might think Business directories are outdated but they grow your online presence.

What is a business directory?

A business directory is a website with a list of businesses in a certain:

Niche
Location
Category

Business directories are one of the ways local businesses get found online.

To increase your businesses visibility, add its Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP) on:

Directories
Online business listing websites
Citation websites

Doing this also improves your search engine rankings because some listings link back to your website.

Make sure to include the following information when adding to a directory:

Consistent NAP. Keep the same company information on each directory.
Link to your website. Add a tracking link at the end of your URLs, to see how much traffic your website gets from business directories.
Company description. Your business description should reflect your mission, culture and values.
Multimedia. Add a picture or video of your office, employees or daily operations.

Start promoting your local business with larger websites then on niche directories.

UK Business Directories

Google My Business
Facebook
Apple Maps
Bing Places UK
Yell
Yelp UK
Scoot
UK Small Business Directory
HotFrog UK
All In London

Online Directories for Local Businesses

Google My Business (Domain rating = 93)
Facebook (Domain Rating = 100)
Apple Maps (Domain Rating = 97)
Bing Places UK (Domain Rating = 82)
Yell (Domain Rating = 91)
Yelp UK (Domain Rating = 82)
Scoot (Domain Rating = 76)
UK Small Business Directory (Domain Rating = 78)
HotFrog UK (Domain Rating = 69)
All In London (Domain Rating = 64)
LinkedIn (Domain Rating = 98)
FourSquare (Domain Rating = 91)
The Mirror Directory (Domain Rating = 90)
Here.com (Domain Rating = 90)
Crunchbase (Domain Rating = 90)
Clutch (Domain Rating = 88)
City-Data (Domain Rating = 86)
Bark (Domain Rating = 86)
TomTom (Domain Rating = 83)
FreeIndex (Domain Rating = 83)
Manchester Evening News (Domain Rating = 83)
The Trade Finder (Domain Rating = 80)
Wales Online (Domain Rating = 82)
Three Best Rated (Domain Rating = 79)
BizCommunity (Domain Rating = 79)
Netmums (Domain Rating = 78)
Show Me Local (Domain Rating = 77)
Health Staff Discounts (Domain Rating = 77)
Thomson Local (Domain Rating = 77)
Brownbook (Domain Rating = 78)
Central Index (Domain Rating = 77)
Kompass (Domain Rating = 75)
The Best of UK (Domain Rating = 74 )
iBegin (Domain Rating = 74)
Factual (Domain Rating = 75)
Cylex (Domain Rating = 75)
Infobel (Domain Rating = 74)
Plymouth Herald (Domain Rating = 74)
Business Directory UK (Domain Rating = 73)
British Forces Discount (Domain Rating = 73)
GetSurrey (Domain Rating = 73)
Spoke (Domain Rating = 73)
Local Life (Domain Rating = 66)
Nextdoor (Domain Rating = 73)
Just Landed (Domain Rating = 71)
Smart Business Directory (Domain Rating = 71)
Lacartes (Domain Rating = 71)
Enrol Business (Domain Rating = 71)
Cybo (Domain Rating = 72)
192.com (Domain Rating = 74)
Find Us Here (Domain Rating = 72)
Business Directory (Domain Rating = 70)
AboutMyArea (Domain Rating = 68)
Mister What (Domain Rating = 67)
Tipped (Domain Rating = 70)
YFS (Domain Rating = 67)
AbiLogic (Domain Rating = 65)
AskMap (Domain Rating = 70)
Peterborough Telegraph (Domain Rating = 70)
Birmingham Post (Domain Rating = 65)
SmartGuy (Domain Rating = 65)
EuroPages (Domain Rating = 67)
Yellow Place (Domain Rating = 71)
ABC Directory (Domain Rating = 64)
Express Business Directory (Domain Rating = 63)
My Local Services (Domain Rating = 64)
A Greater Town (Domain Rating = 63)
The Business Pages (Domain Rating = 68)
A-Z Business Finder (Domain Rating = 67)
MyHuckleBerry (Domain Rating = 63)
Ezilon UK (Domain Rating = 57)
Datantify (Domain Rating = 59)
Business Magnet (Domain Rating = 59)
B2B Listings (Domain Rating = 65)
Find the Needle (Domain Rating = 55)
Home and Garden Listings (Domain Rating = 64)
Intently (Domain Rating = 56)
Fyple (Domain Rating = 54)
Approved Business (Domain Rating = 54)
121 Near Me (Domain Rating = 55)
Recommended Company (Domain Rating = 54)
True Business Directory (Domain Rating = 55)
Yalwa (Domain Rating = 53)
Bizify (Domain Rating = 55)
Britaine (Domain Rating = 49)
Bunity (Domain Rating = 47)
Opening Times (Domain Rating = 50)

Methodology

Use the follow when deciding the directories to list your business on:

Domain Rating

Domain rating scores websites on their Google ranking based on their backlink profile.

Scored from 0 to 100 and similar to domain authority but not the same.

For this list, the minimum domain rating for directories is 50.

Note: Data was from Ahrefs.

Conclusion

You need to show up where potential customers can find you for your local marketing plan.

So it’s important to build citations for:

Visibility
SEO

Add your local business to these business listings and directories so your customer base grows.