Business words don’t just fly around – it takes a conscious effort to get your business known on the web. And the main way that people will do that is by making a website or increasing your social media presence.
While these are both things that are important, one of the biggest ways that businesses gain traction on the internet are through business listings. However, lots of companies do not claim listings or even have knowledge of what a business listing is. Well, worry no more, today we’ll be answering the big question of “what is a listing?” And the answer could be the key to growing your business’ online presence!
A listing, also known as a business listing, is any place that contains all of the important information about your business. Essentially consider a listing as an online display about your business, a sort of virtual three-fold that tells people what you do, where to do it and how you do it.
Business listings all contain information that is distinct to their platform, however almost every business listing has one thing in common: the NAP. The NAP is a short way of saying your three pieces of information that most define your business: your name, address, and phone number. This information is super important – and so it’s on almost every listing!
The most important listing that you can claim is your Google My Business listing. Google My Business is Google’s way of gathering and displaying information about your business if it comes up in search queries. These contain local pack results and Google Maps listings, among other things. The cool thing about Google My Business is that it’s completely customizable and contains a bunch of different components like a reviews section, Q&A portion, as well as photo galleries and posts. It’s the best way to improve your local SEO and gain traffic in terms of listing management.
There are many other places you can claim business listings as well. The two most important that aren’t GMB are Yelp and Facebook – but there are hundreds of listings sites that can all be updated. And it’s a good idea to claim them all! More business claims lead to more citations (link to citations article) and therefore to more traffic.
Plus, listings frequently spread between sites, taking information from others so they can expand their own sites. This is called “listing propagation” and it’s a great thing for businesses. It can lead to some troubles if it isn’t managed properly. It’s basically a big “ecosystem” of listings sites, all which interact with the others. And the more listings you claim, the more the ecosystem works for you! Listings are your chance at spreading the word about your business online without having to constantly contact clients!
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