An online business directory is an index of businesses and a link to their websites. Any sort of website or business could potentially be listed in an online directory.
How Do Online Directories Work?
Some directories are extensive and cast a wide net, acting more like yellow pages, and others are relatively niche, listing only businesses that fall into a very distinct category.
When building your listing, you will generally want to include basic company data, such as the business’s name, phone number, address, website, hours of operation, links to social media accounts, a brief description of the company, photos, and brief listing of products/services offered – often commonly referred to in general as NAP (for short).
You may be questioning why you should even take the time to list your business with an online directory like Dubai Local when users probably don’t even know about them and will probably use Google or another search engine to perform their search questions.
The relationship here is that the search engines rely heavily on the information that you place on your website – from the content that you put in on blogs to the technical content on the backend, the firms that link to your website, what is being said about your business online (online reviews), and what is currently recorded in online directories about your company.
This data is pulled by search engines from online directories to help them determine what will be placed in search results. Therefore, the more you can appear in online directories with accurate information, the more likely you will occur in the SERPs.
You should think of this as an online marketing technique instead of simply trying to wrap your head around why people are using different modes and sites more than Google to find your business
Who is eligible for listing?
It doesn’t matter whether you are catering to walk-in customers or businesses. Online directories are going to help in giving Google and other search engines yet another online signal that your corporation exists.
It also doesn’t matter whether you have a long sales process, your prices are high, or you have executive consumers. Your potential customers are going to commence their buying journey with questions that they need answers to that are related to the product or service that you are selling, and this will start with an online search under most circumstances. As a general rule, they will use Google.
You probably want a blog post to be able to give the answers to those questions that your potential customer just typed into a Google search engine.
Well, for this to occur, you have to give the search engine a little boost. If you don’t, then you are going to appear in the search outcomes, which is where the customer is going to discover your blog post and, eventually, your organization and your service or product.
So, your first stage is to stop looking at local businesses at just the local hair salon or coffee shop. If you deliver management training for large corporations, yet your services are provided in the city, then you are deemed a local business. This means that you can significantly profit from having your company listed in online directories.
What online directories to focus on?
If you are ready to start adding your business to Dubai Local online directories, then you will want to initiate it. You will also want to make sure that you declare your listing on Yelp, YP.com, LinkedIn, etc.
You will also want to confirm that your company attributes are added to the directories of any local business groups that you are a part of. Also make sure that your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) are all precise and consistent across all directories.
As you go about passing the information on each listing, you will want to ensure that you have some fundamental information about your business handy, including:
Business Description – A unique and captivating description of what your business is and what it does. Make sure that this description contains what type of service you deliver or what type of product you offer. Don’t forget to include vital keywords.
Social Media Links – Links to all of your social media pages, which are updated and accurate, should be included in the listing.
Contact Email – Even though social media is a big hit in today’s date and age, it is crucial that you also include an email address for individuals to reach your business, as this is easy, convenient, and attainable. Make sure that the email is valid.
Images – You should incorporate your company logo, team photos, product photos, photos of your leadership team, a photo of your corporate building, etc. Take your time to name the photos using searchable keywords.
Don’t forget to develop a spreadsheet and keep track of the online directories that you have claimed your listings for. This makes it manageable when you need to make updates to your listings, such as for a change of address or office hours.
Benefits of Listing Your Business in a Directory
- You can be found more easily online. People can get access to your information easily.
- Directories Provide the Right Information. Rather than wandering off the internet to get the right information, directories will provide apt information about your business.
- Directories Build Brand Awareness. Your brand would get easily recognizable.
- Directories Enhance Your Business’ Reach as more and more people who would see your product would want to buy them.
- Directories Are Social. They’ll not only offer businesses an opportunity to be discovered in search engine results but also offer the ability to link back to a business website, which adds to your company’s authority, and trustworthiness and therefore can amplify your SEO.
Conclusion
Select directory listings should be a part of your overall SEO business strategy.
Choose where you spend your time and money listing your business, as not all directories have equal weight. Many different types of directories serve businesses differently. Request analytics from directories before investing to make sure there is traffic that might benefit your business.