Claiming free listings on local search directories is a great way to get more visibility for your business. You have probably used at least one of these websites before, when trying to find a place to eat, or searching for a doctor to use. The following are free local business listings you can claim, to help you increase exposure for your business.

32 FREE LOCAL BUSINESS LISTINGS

1. Google My Business

Google My Business is one of the most popular search services on the Internet. Whenever someone searches Google for your business, your listing will be included as a result. Google may also use your business listing as a search result when keywords relating to your business are searched. You can think of your business’ Google My Business listing as a bonus search result on Google. We have a blog post that goes into detail why and how you should use Google My Business.

2. Bing Places

Bing is another search engine that also has a platform for business listings. With Bing Places for Business, Bing users will also have a chance to come across your business. If you have already set up your Google My Business listing, you can easily import it to Bing Places in seconds!

3. Yelp

Yelp is commonly used as a reviewing tool for businesses like restaurants and shops, but just about any business can have a listing on the site. This website is a great option because the searchers are actively seeking for a highly rated place to go. Yelp is currently the most popular business review site, which increases the likelihood of your listing bringing in leads.

4. Yellow Pages

When Yellow Pages started their website, after years of only printing books, they added a new feature. The Yellow Pages website is incredibly similar to Yelp in that it is also a reviewing platform. Yellow Pages website visitors are searching for a business to use, which helps you generate leads for your business.

5. Manta

Manta is a website that specializes in gaining visibility for small businesses, so much so that their slogan is, “The place for small business.” As a result, Manta greatly helps small business owners, as large corporations are not heavily supported on the site. You can also search by category, rather than just keywords, which is unique.

6. Super Pages

When you first visit the Super Pages website, you will see it has a different layout than other listing platforms. It is more of an awareness tool, rather than a rating tool. If you want more calls to your business, this is the website for you. Each listing has a big button with the business’ phone number. This unique feature may increase your leads.

7. Local.com

On Local.com, you will see a search bar for keywords and a location. You will also see that they publish content for their blog. This is very different than most of these other websites because Local.com gives recognition to businesses in their blog posts. Their blog also helps drive traffic to their website, increasing the chance for your listing to be seen.

8. Cyclex

In addition to the option of searching for keywords, on Cyclex, you can browse popular searches, cities, brands, and more. It’s a great idea to publish a listing on Cyclex, if you notice your business category is one of the most popularly searched.

9. Foursquare

Foursquare is arguably the most unique website on this list. Users can choose between the “Swarm” and “City Guide” features. Their Swarm App helps users remember the places they have been by checking into businesses and reviewing them. Their city guide is more similar to Yelp or Google My Business. Creating a listing on Foursquare is a great option for business owners because of their two innovative search features.

10. Lacartes

This website not only allows you to create a listing for your business, but it also has a marketplace too! On the Lacartes website, businesses are able to sell their products as well as create business listings. If you sell tangible products, this might be the perfect business listing website for you!

11. Hotfrog

Hotfrog is another free business listing website that allows users to search by keywords and locations. On their website, they say 1.6 million people use Hotfrog every month!

12. YellowBot

This website allows users to search based on popular categories, just like Cyclex. If your business falls under one of these categories, it’s a great idea to create a free listing for your business. YellowBot features the most recent reviews on its website, which increases the chance of your business being found!

13. Tupalo

Tupalo is a multi-feature website that gives users a few different abilities. Their users can search for local businesses just like the rest of the websites on this list, as well as make journal entries. These journal entries allow the user to jot down businesses they want to visit in the future. This is a great feature that could lead users to try your business.

14. CitySquares

Should You Have A Blog? – Click here to read the post.

This website is unique because they identify as a “local city guide” and feature business on the front page. CitySquares does not focus on showing reviews. They just focus on giving businesses more visibility.

15. Brownbook

Brownbook features business related reviews, comments and edits. This feature gives a great opportunity for your business to be seen on the website as soon as you create your business’ listing.

16. Facebook

Although primarily associated with its function as a social networking site, you can also create a Facebook business listing for free. Creating a business profile will allow you the opportunity to build more awareness about your brand, engage your customers, garnish reviews, and more.

17. City-Data

City-Data is a website that can be used to locate information on any U.S. city. Creating free local business listings on this website is extremely beneficial to your business, particularly as it is a go-to for many tourists visiting an area for the first time. City-Data distinguishes itself from some other directories in that it features many smaller towns that can otherwise get lost in the shuffle.

18. LinkedIn Company Directory

Another social networking site, LinkedIn is a great place to network, find new employees (or employment) and to generally build awareness around your company. Creating a LinkekdIn company profile is completely free and can direct a lot of new traffic to your business.

Creating listings on these free websites can help your business gain awareness by potential customers and clients in your local area. #Marketing #FreeListings CLICK TO TWEET

19. Better Business Bureau

The BBB has been around for a long time and has established itself as a trusted source of information for consumers. Although you do need to go through an application process to receive accreditation, your actually listing is completely free and can do wonders to build your businesses rapport.

20. 411

411 is typically associated with searching for contact information on individuals, but did you know that they also have a free business listing directory?

21. EZ Local

EZ Local features a local business directory that has over 2 million indexed pages on Google. They also offer additional features (at a cost) to manage map listings, monitor social reviews, and more.

22.Angie’s List

Angie’s List has built a big name for itself over the past years as a trusted source to find top-quality, consumer-rated businesses. To leverage this platform most adequately for your business, make sure to get reviews from your best customers, as this is what will drive free business listings up in rankings.

23. DexKnows

Part of the DexMedia Group Inc., along with Superpages, DexKnows allows users to search for businesses by category, proximity, current promotions and more. While you will have to call them directly to claim your listing, it can be well worth it for the link to another reputable site.

24. Yellowbook

According to Yellowbook’s site, they have upwards of 20 million listings in their online directory. While it’s not exactly clear whether or not listing on Yellowbook is 100% free, they do offer a free consultation that can help you to determine whether or not listing here is right for your business.

25. Merchant Circle

Merchant Circle distinguishes itself from other listing platforms through its offering of free marketing tools and some specific features typically reserved for social media. In other words, the big benefit of listing here is that you are also gaining access to a bunch of free information that will aid you in your efforts to promote your business.

26. eLocal

In addition to offering businesses a free place to list, eLocal also has many advertising options available (at an additional cost, of course). This site has grown exponentially in popularity recently, making now a good time to get your business listed.

27. AreaConnect

AreaConnect brings all of the various yellow pages, white pages and local directories into one place for 3,594 cities and towns (and growing) in the United States. This gives your business exposure on several sites with minimal effort on your part.

28. B2B Yellow Pages

Receiving over 300,000 site visits per month, B2B Yellow Pages boasts over 16 million businesses in their online directory.

29. ShowMeLocal

This platform is especially helpful for businesses who are trying to reach a more globally-defined market. The 19 million businesses listed on the ShowMeLocal website (of which only 678,000 have been claimed so far) hail from Canada, the United States, the UK and Australia.

30. Nextdoor

In its relatively short existence, Nextdoor has become another trusted source for information on the best (and worst) local businesses. In fact, about 67% of users are prone to share their experiences with businesses. Claiming your free listing on this site allows you to interact with your local community, get reviews, and, should you choose to budget a little extra, advertise!

31. Spoke

Spoke is an online forum where users search for and discuss companies, news, et cetera. It receives over 80,000 visitors each month and allows users to create a free business or personal listing.

32. My Huckleberry

Is Your Website Indexed by Google? – Click here to read the post.

My Huckleberry allows you to create a business profile, act as an expert in your field by answering questions for site visitors, gather customer reviews, and, for a cost, advertise any coupons you create to your local audience.

33. MapQuest

Formerly a standalone platform, MapQuest eventually partnered with Yext to give consumers more control over their search of business listings. MapQuest gives you the opportunity to search for your business on several different websites. It lets you freely scan your listings on more than 50 online services, including Google and Bing. You can differentiate your search depending on the type of business you have, whether it is a one-location business, a multi-location business, or a marketing agency.

34. American Towns

If you run a non-profit organization or a community group, you can get a free listing on American Towns. This directory is very intuitive as you can submit personal requests when performing a search. It is easy to create an organization page on this site, and afterward you can add events to the calendar and state the venues your events will be in.

35. GlassDoor

Sometimes customers will become curious as to how employees are treated by their bosses in a company. Establishing good morale between employers and employees is very critical to the success of a business. With the help of a directory like GlassDoor, customers can get insight as to how well companies are doing internally. GlassDoor is a review site for both companies and employees, and companies can only be registered after employees submit a review about them.

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Creating listings on these free websites can help your business gain awareness by potential customers and clients in your local area. We recommend you create a listing on as many of the above websites as possible if you are trying to get more visibility.

How You Benefit From Free Local Business Listings

As a business owner, you are looking to expand your reach to a target audience on the internet. And there is more that goes into using a free online business directory than just viewing them as the digital equivalent to the Yellow Pages. These directories are comprehensive avenues of communication for your business. This enables potential customers and fellow business owners to identify and contact businesses that best suit their needs.

The following is a list of benefits you can have when you use free online business directories.

Online Presence

1. Expand Your Online Presence

Searching for your business on general search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing is smart. When doing a search, you may come across listings of your business on numerous directories. These directories, in which you show up, are often places you never even thought of submitting your business details to. Many times you show up in these directories because many of them will extract your details from larger and better known directories. If your business gets listed on one online directory, then you will likely be listed on many more.

However, it is important to note that accurate details about your business do not always get updated by these secondary directories. You can avoid inconsistency with your listing details. You can do this by regularly checking your listings and repair your online presence accordingly. Alternatively, you may consider using a software like BrightLocal, to help you manage the accuracy of your free local business listings.

2. It Becomes Easier to Find You

Once you make sure your business details are accurate, on multiple different online directories, you can improve your odds of getting discovered whenever potential customers search for products or services. With accurate information your business can be better positioned to be found, even if customers do not directly search for you. Many customers typically do not search for a specific business name when trying to find a service or product. Examples of search phrases that are not brand specific include “car mechanics near me” or “best coffee shops in Pensacola.”

Using the two examples above, if you fall in one of those categories, and you list your business in auto or coffee shop directories, this can help you show up in search engines.

3. Improves Local Visibility

You will notice a common theme shared by many free online business directories. They offer advanced filter options that will allow your customers to contact you in your area. Targeting customers in a particular local community becomes a simplified task with local business directories. If you intend to promote your product or brand on a national or global level, you may need to first win over the local crowd.

4. Establishes More Brand Awareness

If you heavily rely on marketing campaigns to get the word out about what you offer, or your brand, you will end up loving free online business directories. When a search is performed in an online business directory, a customer will be shown a list of matching results. These results will contain a snapshot and the available business details. It only takes a single click of the mouse to learn more about a business. Even if customers do not click on your business name, their attention is still driven towards your business. Whenever a new customer sees your business, awareness of your brand increases. Since they now know of your company’s existence, prospective customers will be more inclined to give you their business.

Improve Your SEO Rankings (1)

5.Strengthen Your SEO

Online business directories, and even free local business listings, can help your already existing web content get noticed by validating it. This is integral in winning the trust of search engines, because a platform like an online business directory can confirm the authenticity of your business. As a result, many business owners will specifically add their businesses to directories with the sole intent of helping them rank better in search engines.

6. Makes Google Happy

One clear way to make Google happy is to establish a healthy SEO practice for your business, which will prompt Google to put your business on the first page of its search results. However, it can take as long as six months, or even longer, to start seeing real results. Online business directories can be used as a trusted and valuable source of information by Google. Online business directories generate high amounts of traffic, and are known for lasting many years in operation. Google loves these traits and will typically contain pages from online directory sites on its first page of search results.

7. Promotes Word of Mouth

Customer reviews make up the backbone of most online business directories. Customer reviews promote word of mouth, which has always been a trusted source for consumers. Reviews can now be published in a quicker fashion due to real time sharing capabilities of mobile devices. Regardless of whether customers submit positive or negative reviews of a company, word will get around about these reviews.

8. You Receive More Backlinks

Also known as inbound links, backlinks are links that go from another website to your website. This can include free business online directories that are linking to your website. If you increase the number of backlinks you have from quality directories, you can simultaneously improve your websites’ reputation in the eyes of search engines. As a result, the search engine performance optimization of your website can flourish. Free business directories serve as a good starting point for receiving backlinks, if you want more customers to pay attention to your business.

How to Get More Leads to Your Business

Many businesses waste tons of money and/or time on ineffective marketing. If you need help getting a positive return on your marketing investment, let us know. We’d be happy to help with your digital marketing.