Listing Errors Stop 63% Of Consumers Choosing A Local Business
Business listings and citations have been a part of Local SEO from the very beginning. Once upon a time, you could dominate local search rankings simply by getting your business listed on every directory out on the web. Fast-forward to today, where having your business listed on the main business directories is the very least a business needs to do to rank.
How much does Google use business listings when deciding where to rank local businesses? Well, that’s a blog post for another day. However, its importance to local search is not to be overlooked – especially when it comes to how much consumers are really using listings in their searches.
BrightLocal surveyed over 1,000 US-based consumers to learn about their challenges and to give local marketers some data that they can use to help create a strategy for 2022.
According to BrightLocal’s Business Listings Trust Report, 94% of consumers used an online directory to get information about a business that they have used in the past or that they are considering using. 2/3 of those consumers used a business information site to either find a new business or a business that they knew of, but hadn’t yet used.
Before we go any further, let’s quickly define what we mean by an online directory or a business information site. These sites include search engines like Google and Bing, map sites/apps such as Waze, Mapquest, Apple/Google Maps, social media networks like Facebook and Instagram, voice assistants Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, and online directories like Yelp, TripAdvisor and the Better Business Bureau.
One other nugget from the survey is that 48% of those consumers said they use business listings to get information about businesses that they’ve used in the past. This might be checking the business’s address or phone number, or seeing what hours the business is open.
Having accurate information about your business on these sites isn’t just about helping potential customers find you. Inaccurate information in listings can have a negative effect – and BrightLocal’s survey confirms that with 63% of consumers stating that finding incorrect information would stop them from using that particular business. On the flip side, only 8% of consumers surveyed said that incorrect listings definitely wouldn’t prevent them from using a business. This is a prime illustration of the importance of fixing business listing errors.
At SEO Rocket, we have a specific service designed to identify and address this issue. Our foundational Local Search Google Business Profile Optimization and NAP (GBP & NAP) Service helps businesses achieve consistent name, address and phone number (NAP) data across the major data aggregators and with 3rd party citation sites. With this service, we also optimize the data in your Google Business Profile. This optimized data can appear in a number of places across Google including the Knowledge Panel, Google Maps, and the Google Local Pack for brand and category searches. If you want to ensure that your business information is accurate and consistent across the web, call SEO Rocket today.
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