Listing Management Best Practices for 2021

Charles Stiles, President Business Evaluation Services

76%of people who conduct a local mobile search visit a business within 24 hours. Every day, consumers search for local businesses to make purchases online and in-store. Local listings are a vital source of information connecting consumers to your business. It’s imperative that your listings are up-to-date and optimized with the latest information.

1. Keep Your Information Up-To-Date

86% of consumers reportedly have used a search engine to find local business information. Each listing should contain your business name, address, phone number, website, categories, hours, and description. Remember to include links or buttons for any delivery and appointment booking services available.

It’s important to routinely refresh your business listings, especially with the holiday season and COVID-19 in play; it could be out of date. An estimated $10.3 billion worth of sales are lost every year due to wrong or missing information. Keeping your listings optimized will help maintain revenue streams, brand credibility, and consumer awareness for 2021.

2. Remove Duplicate Listings

Duplicate listings are multiple business listings for the same location on a directory like Facebook or Google My Business. The duplicate listings from the average large enterprise brand range from 3,500 duplicate listings to over 100,000 duplicate listings. Local business listings get duplicated for various reasons and are costly, leading to a loss in online traffic or revenue. Aside from creating confusion among consumers and search engines alike, they can impact your rankings too.

If you’re a client, our listings management services ensure that all of your local listings are protected from duplicates, inaccuracies, or bad data.

3. Think Quality over Quantity when it comes to Citations

The secret to success with business listings is to focus on quality over quantity. You might wonder, “well wouldn’t I want my business to be visible in as many places possible online?” Although that’s a valid statement, it’s more important for expanding your presence on high-quality, tier 1 directories.

Consumers regularly visit and interact with tier 1 directories such as Google, Facebook, Yelp, Bing, and Apple Maps. These directories hold a lot more weight because they receive far more views than insignificant directories. As a result, the search algorithm from large search engines focuses on these tier 1 directories.

Businesses with photos receive more requests for driving directions and click-throughs to their website. High-quality images regularly added to your business listings will help you stay ahead of the competition and stand out to consumers.

When adding images to your listings, think of what will attract consumers to your business; products, events, the inside of your building, and surrounding areas should be standard within every business listing. Also, show how your business is handling COVID-19.

Another benefit of updating photos is that it can drown out any user-generated content submitted by customers that might be unflattering or completely unrelated to your business.

5. Utilize Google My Business Features

Google My Business (GMB), a tier-one directory, is single-handedly the most important tool any business owner can use. Whitespark’s recent survey of the 2020 Local Search Ranking Factors revealed that Google My Business signals carry 33% of the weight as the most influential ranking factor on Google search.

Google has invested heavily in expanding features available in GMB. Newer features include “Virtual Care,” “Online Care,” “Curbside Pickup,” and more than your business can choose to share specific information.

Google Posts makes it easy to share actionable content to boost engagement with consumers. The different types of Google Posts include:

COVID-19 Update: This post type can be used to share any business changes or information related to COVID-19. Add Offer: Share any special promotions and include a “Call to Action.”

Add Update: This post type can discuss business information, highlight product & service offerings, or other company news.

Add Event: You can highlight special events at your business.

Add Product: You can leverage photos for products you sell. They include buttons directing consumers to book, order online, buy, sign up, and more.

Are you active on Google Q&A? Google Q&A is a feature on GMB Profiles where anyone can ask and answer questions. While Google Q&A is an excellent way for consumers to find answers to their questions, these answers can be wrong and become a threat to brand consistency. Actively monitoring your Google Q&A will ensure you have brand-verified answers, as well as ask and answer your questions.

Listing Management Success in 2021

Managing your listings is a necessary aspect of growing your online presence and reaching consumers. Once your listing management strategy is set in place, make sure to monitor your listings, responding to reviews daily, and regularly updating and fact-checking your information.

With Business Evaluation Services, you can ensure that each of your business listings is entirely up-todate and monitored. Want to get the complete picture of your local listing accuracy? Find out with an instant brand audit for free.

For more information contact Business Evaluation Services, PO Box 507, Arroyo Grande, CA 93421, 888-300-8292. ❚

888-300-8292

https://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/solutions/

https://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/