The Importance of Accurate Local Business Directory Listings

If your patients or clients were to search for your practice right now, would all your local business directory listings be accurate? Consistency is essential for your local business directory listings.

Each directory listing website that features your practice – including Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, etc – should have correct information about your practice so your business can easily be found online.

All of your contact information, including your NAP (the name of your business, your practice address, and office phone number), your website URL, and business hours should be correct. Your online citations should all contain the same information so your patients or clients know the best way to reach you. But that’s not the only reason; local business directory listings can help with your overall online presence and increased visibility.

Business Listings

Why Accurate Local Business Directory Listings Are Important

If you haven’t made an effort to correct your practice’s local business directory listings, we’re here to tell you exactly why you should get on top of them as soon as possible including what impact local directories have on SEO.

Your Online Presence Will Improve

The more local business directory listings that your practice has, the better! But, only if you make the effort to ensure each one is precise. Think of online listings as a sort of free advertisement for your business. Your practice’s name is listed there, with all of your contact information available for web visitors to use and get in touch with your office.

If these “ads” are free, why not utilize this free promotion? Capitalize on the websites that your contact info is featured on already and make sure it’s updated. Did you recently move to a new location? Change your phone number? Change the name of your practice? Your directory listings should reflect these updates.

The more websites that you are listed on with up-to-date contact info, the more frequently you will appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs). This helps to improve your online presence.

Web Traffic

Your Website Will Get More Traffic

When someone is searching for a practice near them, they’re more than likely in need of a service that the practice offers. And more often than not, they’re interested in booking an appointment for that service. As the name of your business appears in search results, it is critical that your website URL is correct so that those searching for a practice near them end up on your website.

The more your web traffic increases, the better chance you have for someone to contact you for further questions about the services you offer or to schedule a visit to your practice.

According to Social Media Today, 76 percent of people who searched for a business visited that business within a day.

We live in a time where people are looking for instant results, so if they need a local chiropractor AND your online listings are accurate, not only will the traffic coming to your website increase, but so will your conversion rate.

You’ll Receive More Phone Calls

Most of the people who are searching for a business near them are doing so via mobile devices. When they discover your local business when searching on Google, a phone icon will appear next to your business’s name in the maps section and they will have the option to call your number directly from the results page.

Finding every place that your business’s phone number is listed is important if you want to increase the number of people who are booking an appointment with you. If your number is correct, you’re on your way to securing a new appointment for your practice. But, if your contact information is incorrect, or not up to date, you missed an opportunity to get a new patient or client into your office.

Trust

Your Accurate Listings Build Trust

How often do you think people look for businesses near their homes? Let’s say you own an emergency veterinary hospital and someone needs your services as soon as possible because their pet is really sick.

If they Google “emergency vet services near me” and you come up in the search, great! You’ve got a new client. But wait! They try to call the phone number listed online and on the other end they hear, “We’re sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”

Their pet still needs care but now they are forced to go to a different office because they could not contact you. If your online info was correct, this wouldn’t have been the case. They would have called the number you had listed, got in contact with you, and brought their pet in to be seen.

When you have an accurate phone number, address, website URL, etc., clients know they can trust you to have everything in order because you’re located where your listings say you are, you’re open during the hours stated online, and your number is in service.

80 percent of people lose trust in businesses that show inaccurate details online. – Bright Local

Your inaccuracies negatively affect the opinions of potential patients or clients for your practice. Cleaning up your listings can help to increase the trust patients have in your business and encourage them to book an appointment.

Bonus Tip: When you find inaccurate listings, don’t have them deleted. Claim and correct them so you can appear on as many listing sites as possible.

Reputation

Correct Online Listings Refine Your Practice’s Reputation

Do you want to be known as the practice who has multiple inaccuracies in their online listing and make it difficult for people to reach them? Or, would you rather be renowned as the practice that is always reliable and provides up-to-date NAP info?

Your business’s reputation means so much and has the ability to make your practice even more successful or leave a stain on your name that can be very hard to remove. Managing your online citations shows that your reputation is important to you and how people view your practice.

Patients or clients need to know they can rely on the listing information you’ve provided in order to contact you. You do not want to jeopardize your opportunity to gain a new client while also risking the relationship you have with existing clients.

Read On: The Do’s and Don’ts of Building a Powerful Brand Reputation

What Impact Do Local Directories Have on SEO?

When your online directory listings are consistent across all listing websites, in addition to additional SEO measures, Google recognizes your website as being a trustworthy authority in your field.

Search engines like Google trust business listing sites such as Yelp to provide visitors with accurate contact information. So, if your NAP is correct, they’ll prioritize your business listing above those that have inaccuracies online.

Read More: How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

Correcting Your Online Listings

Providing current and potential patients and clients with readily accurate info can help to not only improve your search engine ranking but encourage more people to come to your business. Whether it’s Yelp, Google My Business, or another website, they all play a role in helping to build trust in your brand and managing your reputation.

We know that it can seem overwhelming to have to find out every website that your practice is listed on and make sure they’re all updated, but it doesn’t have to be. Local directories can affect your SEO but don’t worry! We offer a listing pro tool that can help you avoid mishaps and find all your incorrect listings!

Do you want to claim all your online listings?

Our business listing solution can find all incorrect online listings and make it easy to be found. In addition to a responsive website for your practice, you could find every place that your business is listed online and correct any inaccurate information.

Call us today at 800.792.8384 or click here to learn more about our listing solutions!

Let Us Help You Gain And Retain More Ideal Patients

SCHEDULE CONSULTATION COMPARE PLANS
X