Climb the rankings with online directories
Most businesses are now familiar with online directories and recognise that they are quickly replacing traditional paper directories like Yellow Pages.
In my mind, they are becoming more and more popular, especially for smaller businesses, for two very simple reasons.
Firstly - for the consumer - they provide the results quickly (when was the last time you dug out a Yellow Pages, lugged it onto your lap and leafed through to find the right section?) and they offer so much more information - links to websites, maps and directions for starters.
Secondly - and here’s the crucial bit for SMEs - they frequently appear on the first page of search results. This means that for businesses who would normally struggle to have such a high natural ranking, they have a very cost effective way of reaching target audiences.
Run a search on a business and look at the results - how many of them online directories?
Don’t forget that as well as general directories, there are also more specialist online directories emerging that feature well on local searches. These are dedicated to a certain type of business, ranging from accountancies through veterinary care practices, and offer a great opportunity for SMEs in a specific industry sector to be found online.
There are also opportunities for enhanced listings within any directory, so it’s worth shopping around. You can check out some of the single industry sites here, or hunt around on Google or Yahoo!Local to see what may work best for you in your local area.
Tags: Online directories
January 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
[...] Is this finally the push that small businesses need to recognise that print directories are a thing of the past? (You can read more about the growth of online directories here) [...]
February 11th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Hi there.
I was reading with interest your more recent articles about 2009 trends etc, but then this piece caught my eye and i felt i had to respond.
I find the trend towards returning a whole page of results that invariably feature nothing more than a collection of different directories quite off-putting.
It is not only denting the real hard graft seo efforts of smaller businesses (like ourselves) by pushing them off of the first pages, but i suspect denting consumer confidence that they will find what they were searching for in the organic listings.
We’ve all been there - clicked on an organic link only to get lost in a maze of directories that don’t actually deliver what we were searching for and usually giving up out of frustration in the end.
This is leading to more and more home browsers becoming increasingly ’savvy’ to the fact that paid sponsored links (pay-per-click) do take them to the product/service/info they were looking for.
I think this has more to do with the increasing popularity of ppc and why revenues are increasing.
If an organic search result talks about what you were searching for in its title and description, then it should take you to that page and you shouldn’t have to spend ages hunting around. Most directories are worthless apart from their obvious seo benefits.
The downside for most small businesses is the cost of sustained ppc campaigns hence, the reliance on directory listings still. I still believe there’s no substitute for good content. Something the directory sites often lack.
Jonathan.
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