How do my Local Listings Impact Dental SEO?
You may be wondering why you get so many calls to your office from us about verification on local listings. Some of these calls are for directories you may have never even heard of. So, why does our team go to all the trouble in claiming and maintaining these listings? There is a very good reason. The question is:
Do local listings affect your rankings in search engines?
The answer: YES!
The graph may seem complex, but let’s break it down. There are two types of local listings sites that our team works with each month: data providers and local listings. What are these?
Data Providers
Even once listings are claimed on Google, Yahoo, or Bing (for example), there can still be a struggle to keep the information accurate. Where is old information coming from?
Major search engines pull information from many sites, the main sources for which are data providers. In the USA there are several major data providers, including Localeze, InfoGroup (also know as express update), Acxiom, and Factual. Each of these provides information for at least 5 directory sites and up to 20. The chart below lists each of the data providers, who they provide information for, and who in turn, provides the information.
Local Listings
Why are there so many duplicates? Why might a listing have your old address, name, or practice name? Why is the listing not accepting the changes?
When local directories pull incorrect information, such as an old address, the site believes that it is a whole other practice. Others may not accept the edit changes because this site says that it is incorrect. These duplicate and/or incorrect listings can seriously affect your SEO ranking and other local listings. One wrong listing can affect five others. As shown in the graph at the beginning of this article, each listing is intertwined with each other.
What does Roadside Dental Marketing do to manage this?
Each month, a team of SEO specialists spends time for each client with a list of three to five data providers or local listings sites. We update and verify the information is correct, check for duplicates, do continual research on other new local listings sites, and search for the practice, claiming any unclaimed listings. Our team strives to keep up to date on the latest information on local listings and data providers. In the end, we will take at least two key phrases and search on local search engines, such as Google, to verify ranking, making notes, and recommendations for improvement.
We want to take the time here to thank our clients for their help and support when we call! We will continue to strive to make sure all information is accurate and your business is accurately displayed.
Source information from moz.com.
Do you have any questions about local listings or dental SEO in general? Leave a comment and I’d be happy to answer them!
