The Bare Bones List of the Best US Local Citation Sources
The Local Ranking Algorithm is generally centered around the regular on-page and off-page factors attributed to traditional or organic search engine optimization, in addition to an all important factor around local business citations. David Mihm provides a great explanation about why Citation is the New Link. As local search becomes increasingly more social, user reviews and local business citations are becoming very important in securing top local ten-pack listings.
We’ve compiled a list of 20 + 1 of the most important local seo citation sources for you to submit your business to.
Judy’s Book
Judy’s Book is a book of local secrets that helps you to make decisions.
Add Your Business to Judy’s Book
ShopCity
The smarter way to shop locally. Find out more here! Unlock the Potential of Local Internet Marketing.
Add Your Business to Shop City
Yellow Bot
YellowBot is essentially a local search site for finding and reviewing the places you go to in your community (and elsewhere). As an integral part of the site we are building ways for patrons and business owners to exchange tips and experiences.
Add Your Business to Yellow Bot
Super Pages
Online business directory services with business and residential listings from coast to coast. Includes phone listings, driving directions, maps
Add Your Business to Super Pages
Dexknows
Find local business listings, driving directions, maps, people and local information at DexKnows.com.
Add Your Business to Dex Knows
MagicYellow
Add your business to our data base and make it accessible to millions of potential customers who are searching for products and services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Add Your Business to Magic Yellow
Zidster
The easiest way to find local products, services, and businesses. Zidster.com, a local directory like no other!
Info USA
InfoUSA has 30 years’ experience providing mailing lists and email lists to businesses of all sizes.
Localeze
Localeze is the largest online local search engine content manager serving businesses, local search engines and ready-to-buy consumers.
Yellow Pages
Find online Yellow Pages business listings, phone numbers, addresses, maps, driving directions and more in the YELLOWPAGES.COM online directory.
Add Your Business to Yellow Pages
Yelp
City Search
Use Citysearch® City Guides to get reviews, recommendations and directions to the best hotels, restaurants, events, night clubs, shops, services and more.
Add Your Business to City Search
Yellow Book
Find local businesses at YellowBook.com! Yellow Book is the leading source for free online yellow pages.
Add Your Business to Yellow Book
Insider Pages
Reviews of Local Businesses Written by People Like You! The Inside Scoop on Restaurants, Beauty Salons, Dentists, Preschools, Spas, and More.
Add Your Business to Insider Pages
Kudzu
Kudzu puts you in front of local customers — at the very moment they need you. And it helps you unleash the power of word of mouth.
Local.com
Find local listings of businesses and services near you. Get driving directions, reviews and ratings, phone numbers, addresses and more on Local.com
Add Your Business to Local.com
MerchantCircle
MerchantCircle is the largest social network for local business owners. Services include free online business listings, free marketing tools, …
Add Your Business to Merchant Circle
CityVoter
View CityVoter’s “Best Of” Lists – Best Restaurants, Shops, Hotels, Bars, Entertainment, Salons and hundreds more.
Add Your Business to City Voter
CitySquares
Local Businesses, User Reviews and Recommendations of Top Restaurants, Shopping, Nightlife, Entertainment, Services and More at CitySquares.
Add Your Business to CitySquares
Foursquare
Foursquare on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things.
Add Your Business to FourSquare
What Does This Mean for Local Search Engine Optimization?
Lots of us in the Local space proselytize about the need to verify your Local data with third-party information providers like InfoUSA, SuperPages.com, and InsiderPages.com that Google and Yahoo draw on to populate and confirm their own databases.But the rise of citations suggests that this process should be taken one step further. Not only should you verify your data with these larger data providers, but Google seems to be actively spidering smaller sites both in your keyword niche AND your geographical niche. These range anywhere from knock-off YellowPages to the homepage of your grandma’s knitting circle. So take the time to submit to sites that you might not have thought were worth it before.
Also, mine your competitors’ citations. If you’re not ranking well in Local, study the Web Pages tab on your competitors’ listing. In many cases they’re local directories that are free to submit to or create a listing. In traditional SEO, it’s NOT usually a good idea to have the same link footprint as your competitor. But in Local SEO, it seems that there is a certain set of standard sites (which vary by area and by industry) in which Googlebot expects every relevant business to be listed.
I mentioned Steve Espinosa’s blog post about leveraging Yahoo Local for better de facto rankings in the Google organic search earlier in the introduction. Well, guess what–there’s another reason to optimize your Yahoo Local listing–the Google Local algo seems to count Yahoo Local as a trusted citation
