What Is a Free Business Directory Online?
What is the perfect ROI for any business?
An investment of $0.
But many might ask, “How is it possible that I could actually spend no money to acquire potential valuable leads and clients?”
Three words: free online directories.
Many of the biggest online directories offer an opportunity to promote your business and reach new, potential customers for free.
And as business owners, free advertising to attract new customers is a strategy that many of our competitors still don’t exploit to full advantage.
Online business directories are the best way to capture the attention of those searching directly for your services, but the key to being found online is to be visible where your potential clients search.
That means making sure you’re visible in as many of these directories as possible that apply to you:
- Google My Business (GMB)
- Yelp
- Bing Places for Business
- Local.com
- Better Business Bureau
- YP (Yellowpages)
- Nextdoor
- Facebook Business Pages
- LinkedIn Business Pages
- Foursquare
- Manta
Click here for an AI-generated podcast about this blog on free online directories.
Why Free Directories for Business?
“Claimed and verified business directories that are complete and up-to-date are essential to increasing visibility and ensuring that prospective customers can find your business online,” explains Scott Schalin, COO of the Avita Group, a five-star rated digital marketing agency in California.
In addition, having a professional directory page across several directories, with not only contact info, but also content about your business, reviews and other info assures the viewer that your business is legit and worthy of contacting.
You can create these listings yourself or hire a digital marketing agency to handle the time-consuming task of creating proper, professional directory listings.
If you take a DIY approach to directory management, there are several tools that can ease the pain of submitting your business information manually one directory at a time.
We recommend this tool from SEM Rush that allows you to manage multiple directory listings all in one place. For a small monthly fee, you can set up your profile in biggest directories like Google Business Profile and Yelp along with many smaller directories that can be equally important.
Click this banner to get started with DIY directory management. Full disclosure: this is an Avita affiliate partner.
Now, if you’re not in the DIY mood a professional digital agency can manage these listings for you and make timely updates to assure the listings are accurate and up-to-date.
Avita Group has worked with hundreds of companies in multiple industries, but one sector where we’ve found the most success in leveraging the power of free local business directories is family law firms.
In our experience with local SEO for lawyers, making sure the firm is represented in Google’s local pack and ranks high for any search involving “law practice name + local city location” is vital to beating the competition.
In another instance, a new client retained us for a variety of SEO services recently. They were an adoption law firm who had no visibility in directories to that point.
While we worked with them on many new SEO strategies, one of our first directives was to set up their Google Business Profile page and also get them listed in many directories that related to their business such as Better Business Bureau and several legal directories.
After doing so, they saw engagement with potential new clients increase within a matter of days after those directory profiles were set up.
No matter your industry, let’s explore several of the most powerful online directories that should be created and updated often to keep your visibility active and fresh.
Oh, and make sure that once people find your website in a directory, that your site has been built with a professional look, feel and navigational flow. If you need help it that area, check out these best free AI tools to make your p[rersentation top notch.
Using free online directories can boost your business and generate new leads
Best Online Directories To Use for Your Business
1 – Google Business Profile (GBP)
When talking about basic “SEO near me”, Google always places at the top of any list when it comes to your business being found online in local, geographical search results.
The GBP directory is a free business listing that allows your business to be more visible on Google search results.
Here’s another informative article on ways to get your business listed in Google’s local pack.
You can include information directly related to your business such as hours of operation, links to your website, images and directions to your business. You can also add new content often such as topics or promotions that link back to your actual business website.
You’ll need to activate your listing if you haven’t already. And then you can start optimizing your business listing.
List your business on Google Business Profile
2 – Yelp
Between desktop and mobile users, Yelp boasts nearly 175 million unique visitors every month.
That easily makes Yelp one of the most powerful directories to help people find and connect with your business.
Make sure that you have an active listing on Yelp and encourage satisfied customers to write positive reviews about your business.
It’s important to monitor your Yelp account to ensure that information is correct and see what customers are saying about your business.
Online reputation management experts always stress that responding to all reviews – good or bad – protects your web reputation and shows you are dedicated to providing the best services to your customers.
3 – Bing Places for Business
Bing is the second most popular search engine after Google – but that’s way after Google. While Bing may only boast 3% of the worldwide search engine market share, the service has seen an 11% user growth since 2019.
Bing is the default search engine for Microsoft products which still dominate the desktop market. So, having a Bing Places account helps you reach more PC users.
Similar to its Google My Business counterpart, Bing Places listings appear in Bing Search and Bing Maps with your business name, address, hours of business and links to your website.
List your business on Bing Places for Business
4 – Local.com
Local search has become the benchmark of businesses really trying to stand out in their target community. In fact, 86% of users rely on local search results to find the business they’re looking for.
Take a Family Law firm for example. Potential clients will most likely be searching for phrases such as “family lawyer near me” or “family lawyer in Sarasota”.
When trying to maximize winning SEO services for lawyers, it’s important to also include registration in local directories.
Local.com is the ideal solution. This online directory helps users find businesses in their area with information such as driving directions, contact information, reviews, ratings and more.
This is a vital directory to boost local SEO.
List your business on Local.com
5 – Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) serves as an ethical marketplace for consumers. BBB is one of the top 1,000 websites in the U.S. and in the top 4,000 globally.
Thus, having an accreditation through this site is a great way to increase trustworthiness with potential customers.
You can start by getting your business listed and then monitor any complaints so that you can improve customer relations.
This is also an important way to protect your online reputation on social platforms.
You’ll first need to apply for accreditation, but once your business is approved your customers can visit the site to ensure that you are a business they can trust.
List your business with the Better Business Bureau
6 – YP (Yellowpages)
Yellowpages – the same company that used to drop off those large, yellow business directories on your doorstep – has been exclusively online for three years.
Claiming your business is free and beyond a business listing YP stays relevant by offering coupons and regularly posting blog content to drive internal links back to their directory pages.
This site has a high conversion rate because the people that visit YP.com are specifically looking for contact information. 60 million people visit YP.com each month with 91% of those customers contacting a business within 24-hours.
List your business with Yellowpages
7 – Nextdoor
Nextdoor has evolved from your friendly neighborhood website to a viable business directory.
The platform has a highly engaged user base with 67% of members sharing business recommendations on the site. It’s free to create your business listing and offers advertising options or business posts to attract customers.
The look and feel are very similar to Google My Business posts, but come with the advantage of appearing in the feed of everyone within 3 miles of your business. And with over 100 million visitors each month, Nextdoor ranks as one of the top 100 websites in the United States.
List your business with Nextdoor
8 – Facebook Business Pages
Facebook Business Pages offer a free opportunity to increase brand awareness and generate sales using Facebook. As a social platform directory, it’s geared toward B2C businesses.
To create a Facebook Business Page you need to have a personal Facebook account and click on “Create a page” from the drop down menu and follow the steps to build your business profile. This profile includes business category, contact details, customer reviews, photos, videos and upcoming events.
List your business with Facebook Business Pages
9 – LinkedIn Business Pages
A LinkedIn Business Page is similar to a Facebook Business Page, but is targeted at businesses instead of customers.
This B2B social platform proves a powerful way to drive brand awareness and increase quality engagement with professional audiences. Creating a LinkedIn Business Page allows you to promote your products and services, post job opportunities and more.
Posting on details pertinent to your business or industry also helps create authority in the eyes of people who search for your page.
List your business with LinkedIn Business Pages
10 – Foursquare
Foursquare is a location type app that lets visitors find a variety of businesses in their area. It helps potential customers discover and share information about businesses and attractions.
While not nearly as popular as Yelp, Foursquare does provide listings for various businesses and is visited by over 20 million people monthly.
List your business on Foursquare
11 – Manta
Manta is one of the largest online business directories that is dedicated to helping small businesses become more competitive and visible in the marketplace.
Business owners can claim their own page and customize it with contact info and details about your business’s areas of expertise to reach a wider audience.
Which Free Online Directories Are Best for Your Business?
These online directories will help you boost your business and increase visibility with potential customers. Achieving top rankings and engaging prospects requires dedication to online marketing.
We have also identified seven lesser-known online directories that will also help boost your brand.
Ultimately choosing which online directories you should create listings with for your business depends on two key factors:
- Will the listing increase the chances of your website being seen by more potential customers?
- Will a listing on the site deepen consumer trust in your business?
Understanding your audience is key when determining which online directories will be best for the overall growth of your business.
Creating a free business listing with a variety of online directories listing the same information ensures the search engines confidently shows your profiles more often and helps to massively drive your SEO, increasing visibility to potential clients.
Avita Group – Digital Marketing Agency Los Angeles
Avita Group is a long-tenured, digital marketing agency in Los Angeles. Our clients often have had previous agency experiences and ultimately find a long-term home with Avita Group.
We offer fractional CMO services to boost your brand and your business specializing in organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign management, Online Reputation Management (ORM), and ways to become a LinkedIn ads expert to boost your business.
The Avita Group team boasts a collective experience of over 30 years in the industry led by Founder and CEO, Brad Weber, and has worked with a variety of multi-million dollar companies to help them improve their ROI, build better brand awareness, and mitigate negative online reviews.
Contact us for a free consultation to evaluate how we can transform and elevate your business.