The abundance of listings management tools is daunting. Here are 16 tool summaries, with details ranging from cost to post-cancellation longevity, as a head start.
It's vital for potential customers to be able to locate your business effortlessly, especially on prominent directories and local business listing sites. Embracing a quality solution, in the form of a business listings manager, is essential to efficiently maintaining your online presence.
Here’s our selection of the best local business listings management solutions available in 2024.
Top 16 Local Listings Tools and Services
As a business owner, you understand the significance of having accurate and current information available across online platforms frequented by your target demographic.
Within the realm of online reputation management, there exists a multitude of local business listing management services, encompassing various platforms, software, providers, and consultants. Navigating through these diverse options can be daunting, so how do you discern the disparities and determine the most suitable iteration for your particular business requirements?
In general, tools are tangible items that are used to complete specific tasks or solve specific problems, and are appropriate for those with a DIY mentality. Business management tools, in particular, can offer a wide variety of features to leverage in managing their online listings.
Services are intangible offerings that provide utility, advice, or guidance and tend to require interaction from both a provider and consumer to fire on all cylinders. Tools can result in short-term results while services often provide expertise and continuity that lead to long-term success. All of the companies featured on our list provide a combination of both.
The good news is, in the local business listings space, the differences between “tools” and “services” are few. Most options are similar, but with their own unique features, and so the two terms have become almost synonymous.
We'll go over the best business listings management tools/services out there in the interest of shortening your path to a strong foundational local listings strategy.
With hundreds of local listing, directory, and review sites to choose from, the main benefit of using a third-party offering is typically automation. Quickly getting one consistent set of accurate business information populated on a large number of sites, and then being able to update that information across all of them simultaneously from the same dashboard being the primary focus.
Another advantage is that these providers eliminate the tedious trial-and-error process associated with navigating a vast array of local citation sites and directories. Being part of their automated network typically indicates worthwhile traffic levels and domain authority. Without such assistance, one could spend several months creating profiles on numerous listing sites, many of which turn out to be broken, unsupported, or lacking in user base and potential to enhance local organic listings. These local listings services effectively separate the valuable from the ineffective.
And because listings websites are indexed by search engines, ensuring your business listings are accurate online can lead to backlinks and improved placement in organic search results. The main benefits, therefore, are a critical combination of customer experience, search engine visibility, and local brand awareness.
Whether you prefer to call them tools, services, or any other synonym frequently used to describe these providers, one thing is certain - there are an overwhelming number of them to choose from. What follows are 10 of our favorites (in alphabetical order) with some basic features, network site inventory, listings “longevity” (where available) and cost/contract details included to help determine which may be the best fit for your business. \
Widewail is an online reputation management firm that partners with companies looking to optimize their digital marketing efforts. Offering a wide array of solutions not limited to just its listings management service, Widewail is certainly worth exploring if a comprehensive reputation management strategy is something you need. Whether it be review response, review generation, reputation data reporting, listings management, etc., Widewail’s Trust Marketing Platform makes it a solid partner for any business type that is looking to make a splash online. Best of all, Widewail lets you keep your listings even if you discontinue your Listings Management service!
As claimed by all of the examples on this list, Advice Local promises to simplify and automate the task of keeping all your business listings up to date across a selection of major sites and directories. Unlike some, however, their dashboard allows you to pick and choose specific listings in order to create a tailored experience and a more unique backlink profile. Their support team and “innovative” tools are one way to ensure that all information accurately reflects your current state for maximum consumer visibility. Agencies can also use Advice Local’s white labeling capabilities to provide solutions for their own client base.
One of the most popular services on the list, BrightLocal is a listings management and local SEO tool that provides businesses with an easy-to-use solution for managing citations across multiple online directories, sites, and social platforms. BrightLocal is also well known for its annual digital marketing reports and proprietary statistics for which they are often quoted. The service offers in-depth analytics to measure and improve listings performance as well as automated reporting tools to keep customers informed of their progress.
Chatmeter enables users to interact with potential customers across over 140 online directories. It serves as a quality source for all your listings, regardless of the number of locations. Chatmeter ensures the dissemination of precise business information across directories and review platforms, enhancing local search visibility and guiding customers to improved SEO health. Customer Experience Management is their self-proclaimed area of expertise and Chatmeter ensures clients will be impressed by this comprehensive software platform.
The base package of this service covers business listings, reputation management, and addressing customer reviews. Upgraded packages include features to manage paid search, display ads, and social media campaigns. Reviews from Hibu users mention that the platform allows businesses to efficiently create accurate and up-to-date listings, quickly edit existing ones, and the convenience of receiving automatic updates whenever a discrepancy is identified. Plus, the reputation and customer review management services have been appreciated for their effectiveness in boosting organic visibility.
Through LocalFX, business owners can store their contact information in one place and easily manage changes across their network automatically without requiring any individual submissions. Part of WebFX.com’s local SEO tool suite, they pride themselves on intuitive customer support available by phone, through their website, and social media channels, making it easy to get help or advice if needed. Users have praised Localfx for its customer review management system and social media integration. Overall, Localfx's local listing management service has been commended for its cost-effectiveness, user-friendly interface, and comprehensive features.
Marketing 360 is a popular digital marketing platform with a business listings management service that helps SMBs claim, sync, and optimize their information across more than 100 directories for maximum visibility. Businesses can provide potential customers with accurate, up-to-date information, such as contact info, hours of operation, website URLs, products/services offered, and business descriptions on sites like Apple Maps, Yelp, Yahoo! Local, and Google Business Profile. Additionally, Marketing 360 boasts unique offerings such as content optimization, so that when customers search for a business online, they can get the most branded message possible.
Not surprisingly, Moz Local is a tool/service that helps local businesses manage listings, boost their visibility and reach local customers. You can also track performance metrics in real-time, create targeted citation campaigns, access an intuitive dashboard to keep track of customer reviews, and even monitor which channels (organic, social, direct, referral) customers arrive via. With a simple setup process, personalized account review, and a long history of SEO-related expertise, Moz Local is a standout on our list.
PinMeTo is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that facilitates connectivity between multi-location brands and leading search engines, mapping services, and social media platforms. Through this platform, businesses can ensure the accuracy of their information across all channels, efficiently manage customer reviews, and enhance their social media outreach - all within a unified interface.
With their listings management solution, PinMeTo makes three primary promises: Improve local SEO by optimizing listings, strengthen brand consistency by controlling your company’s appearance across all markets, and eliminate fake or spam duplicate listings of your business online. With their software, a user can easily update listings for multiple locations in one convenient location.
Automated data verification and an artificial intelligence bot to manage updates are two selling points of RocketData that help it stand out (a bit) from the pack. They also offer industry-specific site/directory inventory including hospitality, finance, retail, healthcare, and (gasp) gambling. They’ve done a good job sharing customer case studies on their site which are definitely worth reviewing as part of your research. Their demo/quote process includes an audit of your current online review and overall listings presence, which may provide value even if you decide to work with a different provider.
SoCi provides the capability to efficiently handle your business listings on a large scale to optimize your online visibility and local search standings effectively. SoCi Listings encompasses a range of features, from synchronizing, updating, and overseeing your local listings to conducting custom audits and offering profile recommendations. It also offers the flexibility for local managers to make their updates under corporate supervision. With SoCi Listings, every aspect of the process is covered to elevate your listings to prominent positions in search results.
SproutLoud operates as a distributed marketing technology firm, fostering the growth of local businesses through the delivery of brand-to-local consumer interactions. Their through-channel marketing automation platform equips local businesses with the necessary communication tools to promote brand products and fulfill consumer demands.
Though the price is variable, Synup’s cost-effective listings offering is certainly worth consideration. They tout a folder system allowing users to organize their various locations into categories, thus further optimizing a standard listings tool. Their mission involves aiding companies in the continuous evolution of their local brand visibility, customer acquisition, and sales growth. They allow clients to manage and optimize business details and content, ensuring uniformity across devices and platforms, consequently boosting visibility and conversion rates.
Having Uberall manage your business listings ensures that all changes, from address updates to phone number alterations, are implemented quickly and simultaneously on multiple platforms. It works by generating a map of a business' service area, as well as optimizing its listings for global and regional directories. This helps businesses attract potential customers from both nearby locations and those further away, which may make this tool attractive to Enterprise-level companies with multiple physical locations. It’s no surprise then that their client list is internationally rich.
Whitespark is a leading listings management company that also provides a variety of additional local search tools that let you easily research, track, and manage local citations - including structured data markup. Their service is more manual than automated, with the average order taking 4 weeks to complete. Their one-time-fee model also includes the delivery of all created account information upon completion. With a deeper-than-average set of organic search engine optimization and reporting capabilities, a unique service model, and a distribution network focused on both global and regional directories, Whitespark is definitely worth a look.
With one of the most diverse citation networks around, Yext is a business listings tool that helps maintain accurate information across leading local search sites, social networks, maps, search engines, and apps. Business owners can control how they appear across more than 100 digital services such as Apple Maps, Facebook, and Bing without needing to update information in multiple places and will quickly push any critical information updates out to hundreds of distributors. Yext is probably the best-known local listings service, with a client list full of big brands.
The amount of time a listings management service can save you depends on various factors, including the size of your business, the number of locations you have, the complexity of your online presence, and the specific services offered by the provider. Listings services can save significant time and resources as opposed to manual NAP management.
By automating business info updates, a listings management service can streamline tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming. This includes creating/updating profiles on various directories, ensuring consistency of information across platforms, and analyzing performance metrics.
Instead of spending hours manually updating listings and monitoring online reputation, you can leverage the efficiency and expertise of a listings management service to handle these tasks for you. This allows you to focus your time and resources on other aspects of running your business while still maintaining a strong online presence. Overall, the time saved can be substantial and can vary depending on your specific needs and the capabilities of the service provider.
Before we wrap things up, there’s one critical fact to be aware of: With many of these listings services, especially due to the technology behind the required citation distribution automation, your local listings are unlikely to exist in perpetuity after a cancellation.
Simply put, if a service has created 25, 50, or 100+ listings for you, and you cancel that tool/service, those citations are likely to instantly disappear. Providers rarely wear the details of what happens at the end of a contract on their sleeve. Widewail, however, ensures any changes made to your listings during the time of service will not be rolled back or held ransom.
Whether your local listings are deleted or automatically removed is therefore an important question any business will want to ask of a provider, before engagement, to avoid an unpleasant surprise down the road.
The services above are all viable options for managing your business listings and other facets of an online local presence. Whether through business listings management tools or specialized services, these various platforms offer an abundance of features for businesses to utilize and work to their advantage. This list is only meant as a shortcut or starting point, however, and additional research has to follow before any decision is made.
Regardless, if you aren’t planning to build and maintain local business listings internally, it’s important to look into and choose a related outsourced solution. Be sure to consider the size of their site and directory inventory, contract lengths, cost, and - especially - what happens to your listings should you cancel a tool or service.
It is also crucial to consider the rest of your tech stack and other reputation management tools you may be using or interested in. Not all listings management tools are integrated into a centralized suite of solutions like Widewail's Trust Marketing Platform that includes review generation, review response, social media monitoring and video testimonial collection on top of listings management.
* This post was originally published on January 10, 2023 and updated on February 19, 2023
U3GM Blog Post Comments