The core of everything we do at Local Net Results begins with the question: “what do people see when they look you up online?”
You’re already there. The owner of a small business once said to me “I don’t want to be on the internet.” I can appreciate that. But the fact is, his business was already there. He assumed that because he didn’t have a website he wasn’t online. I showed him a half a dozen local directories that had his information on it – and some of the information was wrong.
If you have a registered business, your company information is online. And not just on the state of New Hampshire website. Data aggregators harvest basic information of local businesses and push it out through feeds to be picked up by various online directories like Yelp, Manta, YP.com, etc. They don’t ask your permission, they just do it.
In the search marketing industry we call this “NAP consistency” (Name, Address, Phone number). NAP consistency is important for: navigation, optimization, and reputation.
- Navigation – If you receive customers at a storefront location, they may not be able to find you
- Optimization – if the NAP information online is inconsistent with the information on your website, it can affect your website’s ability to rank high in search.
- Reputation – many of these directory sites encourage user reviews of your company claiming and verifying these listings is the first step to taking charge of your online reputation.
How do you fix this? Most of these listings are available free to the business owner to verify and edit with their own information. There are other local search services that provide verification for a monthly fee; however, they will “lock up“ your current listings and replace with their listings within their platform. When you stop paying the monthly fee, everything falls back to the way it was. You gain nothing, and have to do it all over again.
At Local Net Results, we manually verify the top online directories and optimize them with enhanced content, as the directory allows. Once these are set up, our clients receive the logins to these directories. We do not hold them hostage. Over time, data feeds can change the information on directory sites. In our Local Visibility program, we combine this service with social platforms for maximum SEO benefit. Our Location Management services will monitor and maintain consistent directory NAP information so you don’t have to worry about customers finding you.
Don’t know what you look like online? Contact us today for a free, no-obligation visibility report that you can use to fix your inconsistent NAP information – or, hire Local Net Results to do it for you!
