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Best Local Citation Building Services
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Hi, have any of you ever used a local citation building service? Are some better than others, any recommendations? Any bad experiences or companies to avoid?
I'm fairly new to the process and it looks like there's a lot of snake oil salesmen in this vertical, so any and all insight you could give me would be great! Thank you in advance, I look forward to hearing feedback from all of you!
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Whitespark....Darren's got Nyag there and he can build with the best of them!!!
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One thing I have found with all these local citation building services is that they focus on the big core group of directories that apply to every business but they leave out the niche directories that exist for each vertical. I think the niche directories are really key to helping Google categorize your business better. One tool I've been just recently using is Link Prospector. For $1-2 you can run a report that gives you a list of the niche directories related to the keyword/industry you are looking to rank for.
If you do a report for the directories category and list the keywords (include the cityname) you want to rank for, it will pull a list of all the directories related to that keyword/industry. So, for example, if I was a plumber in Seattle I would list "plumber seattle" as the "phrase". Whitespark helped build this tool as well.
We also use Moz Local. It's really fast and easy to use. Much cheaper than Yext.
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Matt-Antonino and Matt-Williamson have narrowed down two options that are highly respectable and well thought of - Bright Local and Whitespark. You should also consider Moz and Yext.
Moz offers a basic citation building service that helps you claim the most important listings – the ones that require manual verification. It gives you quick and easy access to all the local data aggregators (the sites that feed a majority of local directories). It's the most affordable.
Yext is limited in it's reach and least affordable. It will however, get your citations built fastest.
Whitespark and Bright Local can get you the most citations. They're both reasonably priced, accurate, and can speed up or slow down according to your needs.
This previously asked, answered and Moz staff endorsed question on the Moz Q&A forum compares Moz Local vs Whitespark vs Yext. The discussion was prompted by a question about UK citation building services, but I think you'll find it helpful.
I wrote a post a while ago that compares local directory submission services that you might like simply because of the simple chart shared under recommendations. It compares your options at a glance.
This forum has a brief back-and-forth discussing Bright Local vs Whitespark. It's just one thread, so don't give it too much weight in your decision. But, depending on your need, I suggest searching for similar feedback on this subset of services, checking out their websites, and then making a decision.
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Matt gives you some good advice below - I thought I would just throw http://www.brightlocal.com/ into the mix for you to consider...
Hope that helps!
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You'll definitely find a variety of providers. It depends what you're looking for & willing to pay, I suppose. For instance, we have a team dedicated to citations (mostly AU but some US, NZ, HK, etc.) Our team does nothing but - so they're efficient, organised and we've built tools specifically to help them do their job faster & with fewer problems/mistakes.
But any old SEO hack can download a list of "top citations" off whitespark and get to work. Be careful choosing, get a few references or reasons to trust them and you should be ok. I don't have any specific good/bad examples but beware of those who don't have their own citations in order.
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