THE WEE
BLUE B O O K 2015 - 2016 S E O C I TAT I O N A N N U A L
W H AT I S S E O ? Simply put, SEO - Search Engine Optimisation - is the process of getting your website shown higher in the search engine results page for certain keywords. There’s a whole range of ways to make your website look better but we’re here to show you one of the best: cirations. Citations are entries on websites like Yell and Thomson Local that include your name, address, phone number and web address.
Think of citations as signposts. The more signposts you have the more visitors will make their way to your site. The more visitors you have on your site, the more conversions you can drive and the higher you can push your profits. The tricky part is finding all the best websites that offer citations. Thankfully for you, we’ve done just that.
W H Y I S I T I M P O R TA N T ? Say you own a carpet fitting business. If a user does a Google search for carpet fitters, your site might appear on the second page. That’s no good for anyone. Very few users click onto the second page so unless you’re on that first page you’re getting ignored by 99 percent of people looking for your service. It’s not just getting on the first page that’s important either. The first position in Google
gets 33 percent of all the traffic. The second position gets 18 percent. The third only gets 11 percent. Good SEO makes your website look better to the search engines and helps it rank higher than your competitors. That increases the amount of traffic coming to your site, boosting your conversions and maximising your revenue.
ABOUT DIGITAL IMPACT Will Craig founded Digital Impact in 2008, quickly growing his team and converting an empty office into a digital powerhouse. Since then we’ve stamped our mark as one of the finest digital agencies in the country. We’re looking forward to proving to you why we deserve our reputation. Over the years we’ve built hundreds of websites for hundreds of clients and have worked with everyone from local brickies to multinational engineering. After years spent consulting, brainstorming, designing, building, testing, refining and presenting, we’ve got pretty good at the whole thing too. (Not that we’re boasting or anything. We just thought you ought to know.)
SCOTTISH DIRECTORIES iScotland
WWW.ISCOTLAND.CO.UK
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Rampant Scotland
Launched in 2004 as iDorset, this chain of directories has expanded to cover the whole of the United Kingdom.
WWW.RAMPANTSCOTLAND.COM
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Scotland
Rampant is a collection of 13,000 sites personally curated by site owner Scottie.
WWW.SCOTLAND.COM
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Scotland Business Directory
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This website claims the be the official website of Scotland. (We’re not entirely sure that claim checks out.)
SCOTLAND-BUSINESSDIRECTORY.COM
Scotland Business Directory verges on the spammy but this is probably just growing problems for a fairly new site.
Scotland Internet
WWW.SCOTLANDINTERNET.COM
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Scotland Listings
WWW.SCOTLANDLISTINGS.CO.UK
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ScotsWeb
Scotland Listings is the creation of Denny’s Swell Designs and is one of the prettiest websites on our list.
WWW.SCOTSWEB.COM
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Scottish Business
Not to be confused with ScotWeb, this ‘uniquely’ designed site offers free listings to any business in Scotland.
WWW.SCOTTISHBUSINESS.BIZ
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #1
Every month Google performs 11.9 billion searches, that’s 1.7 searches for every man, woman and child on Earth. - Search Engine Land, 2014
A pretty solid directory but quite particular with what businesses they feature so submissions can be hit and miss.
While its website may be a little hard on the eyes, Scottish Business offers a good listing system and quality backlink.
ScotWeb
WWW.SCOTWEB.COM
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The Scotsman
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Wokkie
One of the more straightforward websites - an online directory and nothing more. It’s also edited by real people.
WWW.FINDIT.SCOTSMAN.COM
Not to be confused with ScotWeb, this uniquely designed site offers free listings to any business in Scotland.
WWW.WOKKIE.COM
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Sadly not a Star Wars allusion as we first thought but in fact a free business directory covering the whole of Scotland.
DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #2
Search engines send over 300 percent more traffic to websites than social media. - Search Engine Land, 2011
GLASGOW DIRECTORIES Glasgow Business Club
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Glasgow Company
GLASGOWBUSINESSCLUB.CO.UK
The Glasgow Business Club offers organisations a way of networking with others across the city.
WWW.GLASGOWCOMPANY.CO.UK
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Glasgow Directory
Glasgow Company is part of the Recommended Company network so isn’t quite as geographically specific as others.
WWW.GLASGOWDIRECTORY.INFO
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Glasgow on the Web
The Glasgow Directory is edited by a real life person which keeps the volume of spam very low.
WWW.SCOTSWEB.COM
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Glasgow on the Web claims to be the most comprehensive guide to the city on the Internet.
Glasgow Search
WWW.GLASGOWSEARCH.CO.UK
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Glasgow Trading
WWW.OKUKGO.CO.UK
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Touch Glasgow
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What’s On Glasgow
This directory represents all businesses across Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
WWW.TOUCHGLASGOW.COM
Touch Glasgow is, unsurprisingly, part of the Touch Local network.
WWW.WHATSONGLASGOW.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #3
Mobile internet traffic overtook desktop in 2014. Today over 60 percent of all traffic comes from mobiles. - Small Business Trends, 2014
Glasgow Search is part of a larger organisation directory company, UK Search Network.
Most people have heard of What’s On Glasgow but few people know that it has a local directory.
EDINBURGH DIRECTORIES Edinburgh Company
WWW.EDINBURGHCOMPANY.CO.UK
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Edinburgh Directory
Edinburgh Company is part of the Recommended Company network. They employ editors to check submissions.
WWW.EDINBURGHDIRECTORY.INFO
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IMAD Edinburgh Business
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ScotsWeb
Another human-edited directory for businesses in and around Edinburgh. They currently host 5,776 live entries.
EDINBURGHBUSINESSES.CO.UK
Created by IMAD, this site was designed as a directory of Edinburgh business services for tourists and residents.
Lothian Links
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Only in Edinburgh
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Places to See Edinburgh
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Like Edinburgh is a collection of information for all things local to the city, featuring businesses, deals and more.
DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #4
On average eCommerce websites acquire 39 percent of their customers via search engines. - Marketing Charts, 2012
Lothian Links is a barebones directory covering a handful of categories. Unfortunately only paid listings feature a link.
WWW.ONLYINEDINBURGH.COM
WWW.LIKE-EDINBURGH.COM
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WWW.LOTHIANLINKS.CO.UK
Out in Edinburgh covers everything from shopping to nightlife. It also has a directory section for savvy companies.
PLACESTOSEEEDINBURGH.COM
Places to See Edinburgh is another website from IMAD and provides information on tourist activities and businesses.
ABERDEEN DIRECTORIES Glasgow Business Club
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Glasgow Company
GLASGOWBUSINESSCLUB.CO.UK
The Glasgow Business Club offers organisations a way of networking with others across the city.
WWW.GLASGOWCOMPANY.CO.UK
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Glasgow Directory
Glasgow Company is part of the Recommended Company network so isn’t quite as geographically specific as others.
WWW.GLASGOWDIRECTORY.INFO
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Glasgow on the Web
The Glasgow Directory is edited by a real life person which keeps the volume of spam very low.
WWW.SCOTSWEB.COM
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Glasgow on the Web claims to be the most comprehensive guide to the city on the Internet.
Glasgow Search
WWW.GLASGOWSEARCH.CO.UK
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Glasgow Trading
WWW.OKUKGO.CO.UK
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Touch Glasgow
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What’s On Glasgow
This directory represents all businesses across Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
WWW.TOUCHGLASGOW.COM
Touch Glasgow is, unsurprisingly, part of the Touch Local network.
WWW.WHATSONGLASGOW.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #5
SEO leads have a 14 percent close rate, compared to 1.7 percent for outbound calls such as cold calls and print advertising - Think Intuitive, 2014
Glasgow Search is part of a larger organisation directory company, UK Search Network.
Most people have heard of What’s On Glasgow but few people know that it has a local directory.
GENERAL DIRECTORIES 192
WWW.192.COM
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2FindLocal
The UK’s most awarded online directory and home to millions of listings. 192 covers people, businesses and places.
WWW.2FINDLOCAL.COM
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Applegate
An international directory primarily focusing on the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
WWW.APPLEGATE.CO.UK
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Approved Business
Over 300,000 users visit Applegate’s website every month. The directory is even certified to ISO 9001.
Approved Index
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Best of The Web
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2
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Best of the Web is another of the old guard directories and looks a little dated nowadays.
WWW.BINGPLACES.COM
Bing Places
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Bizzy
Bing Places is tightly integrated with Bing Maps so if you want to appear on their map, you’ve got to get on their directory.
WWW.SECURE.BIZZY.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #6
Half of all users who perform local searches will visit the store within one day. - Google, 2014
Founded in a disused East London brewery back in 2004, Approve Index is now one of the biggest directories.
WWW.BOTW.ORG.UK
43
WWW.APPROVEDBUSINESS.CO.UK
Approved Business focuses solely on the UK and includes over 30,000 products and services.
WWW.APPROVEDINDEX.CO.UK
Bizzy compiles company information for businesses across the UK. You can submit one listing for free.
Jasmine Directory
WWW.JASMINEDIRECTORY.COM
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Brown Book
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Kompass
Jasmine Directory promises businesses a better chance to stand out from the crowd.
WWW.BROWNBOOK.NET
An international directory with 25 million listings scattered across the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK.
GB.KOMPASS.COM
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IMAD Edinburgh Business
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Kompass compiles key company information for almost five million companies across the world.
EDINBURGHBUSINESSES.CO.UK
Created by IMAD, this site was designed as a directory of Edinburgh business services for tourists and residents.
WWW.LINKEDIN.COM
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As the only social network geared towards professionals LinkedIn should be one of your first ports of call.
Local Data Search
WWW.LOCALDATASEARCH.COM
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Local Life
WWW.LOCALLIFE.CO.UK
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Local Store
Local Life is a network of super local directories covering the whole of the UK with each city getting its own directory.
WWW.LOCALSTORE.CO.UK
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Member Links
Local Store only accepts companies that sell products directly to the public and have a shop open to the public.
WWW.MEMBERLINKS.CO.UK
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Mister What
A slightly smaller business directory run by Paul Evans, which supports both free and paid advertising.
WWW.MISTERWHAT.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #7
Over 80 percent of searchers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. - BrightLocal, 2014
Powered by the Local Data Company, this directory features over half a million businesses.
Founded in 2009, MisterWhat has spread to over 15 countries and receives over 7 million unique users every month.
My Local Service
Scoot
WWW.MYLOCALSERVICES.CO.UK
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My Search Local
My Local Services provides business across the UK with free advertising. It also has a nice review system too.
WWW.MYSEARCHLOCAL.CO.UK
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MySheriff
My Search Local is quite a new site but it’s committed to finding and featuring the top-rated UK businesses.
WWW.MYSHERIFF.CO.UK
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Near
The concept behind MySheriff is simple: businesses give them quality content and they provide quality advertising tools.
WWW.NEAR.CO.UK
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Opendi
Another site that integrates a review and directory service. It’s still in beta so we’re interested to see what’s coming.
WWW.OPENDI.CO.UK
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An international directory with a website for the United Kingdom, which receives over 9 million visitors each month.
WWW.SCOOT.CO.UK
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Search4Me
WWW.SEARCHME4.CO.UK
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SearchMe4 compiles company information on businesses based in the UK.
Smart Business Directory
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SMARTBUSINESSDIRECTORY.CO.UK
This four-year-old directory is already streaking ahead of more seasoned competitors powered by its own dev team.
WWW.SOOPAGE.COM
SooPage
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The Disc Directory
While SooPage’s domain doesn’t carry the most weight, it has regional subdomains in a huge number of countries.
WWW.THEDISCDIRECTORY.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #8
Almost 20 percent of mobile searches will result in a sale. - Google, 2014
Scoot and Touch Local operate the largest online business directory network in the UK.
The Disc Directory is a place for businesses to show off testimonials, which received two million visitors each year.
The Good Web Guide
WWW.THEGOODWEBGUIDE.CO.UK
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The Local Web
The Good Web Guide took on the task of reviewing the Internet, poring over all the sites and picking out the best.
WWW.THELOCALWEB.NET
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The Time Now
The Local Web is definitely not the prettiest entry on our list but with 35,000 unique daily visitors it’s very useful.
WWW.THETIMENOW.COM
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The Trade Finder
The Time Now isn’t just a way to search the time and weather in different city but a secret directory too.
WWW.THETRADEFINDER.CO.UK
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The UK Web Directory
The Trade Finder is powered by the Unitel Direct directory and supports countless businesses in cities across the UK.
WWW.THEUKWEBDIRECTORY.COM
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Like Edinburgh is a collection of information for all things local to the city, featuring businesses, deals and more.
Thomson Local
WWW.THOMSONLOCAL.COM
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Touch Local
WWW.TOUCHLOCAL.COM
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Ufindus
Working with Scoot, Touch Local has helped create the country’s largest online only business directory.
WWW.UFINDUS.COM
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UK Business DB
Back in 2008 Ufindus was bought over by BT. Since then it has grown its directory hugely and now offers a brilliant service.
WWW.UKBUSINESSDB.COM
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UK Local Search
One of the smallest directories we have included but a solid offering for companies based in the UK.
WWW.UK-LOCAL-SEARCH.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #9
Over 60 percent of users will click on the first three search engine results. - Business2Community, 2014
The sole competitor to the Yellow Pages through the 1980s and 1990s. Thomson moved to digital in the ‘90s.
The UK Local Search website was recently sold to new owners so we’re intrigued to see what’s coming.
UK Places
Yalwa
WWW.UKPLACES.COM
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UK Small Business Directory
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Wampit
UK Places collects information for businesses and places of interest across the country.
WWW.WAMPIT.CO.UK
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IMAD Edinburgh Business
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Where’s Best?
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UKSMALLBUSINESS DIRECTORY.CO.UK
Based down in Warwickshire, this site aims to connect visitors with small companies across the country.
Run by dynamic duo Adam Purrier and Paul Holland, Wampit aims to collect and publish the best rich content ads.
EDINBURGHBUSINESSES.CO.UK
Created by IMAD, this site was designed as a directory of Edinburgh business services for tourists and residents.
Yell
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Yellow Leaf
Yell is the online version of the Yellow Pages and is perhaps the best known directory out there.
WWW.YELLOWLEAF.CO.UK
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Places to See Edinburgh
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Yelp
Another UK-specific directory targeted at the small and medium-sized enterprises out there.
PLACESTOSEEEDINBURGH.COM
Places to See Edinburgh is another website from IMAD and provides information on tourist activities and businesses.
WWW.YELP.CO.UK
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DIGITAL MARKETING FACT #10
Around 80 percent of users ignore paid adverts and focus on the organic results. - Search Engine Land, 2014
Yalwa operates business directories in over 50 countries around the globe. Yalwa is the English speaking website.
WWW.YELL.COM
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WWW.WHERESBEST.CO.UK
Where’s Best? is a huge directory of pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels and other places in the hospitality sector.
WWW.YALWA.CO.UK
Originally set up in America by two former PayPal boffins, Yelp has grown into one of the biggest directories.