The top 47 free local search directories

Local SEO is not only budget-friendly for a small business, but it offers the opportunity to connect with the most relevant customers. It is possible to achieve great local search rankings without a large SEO outlay. Whether you hire an SEO company or do it yourself, you must invest the time. Local business listings, when optimized, can quickly achieve first page exposure and will produce a superior ROI to traditional advertising. While Google is still the dominant player in local search – and has been since the inception of Google Maps – the landscape has altered somewhat since the addition of Yahoo! and Bing, as well as many new local options such as FourSquare, Yelp, Merchant Circle, Judy’s Book, and Urban Spoon.

And Yet, Local SEO Still All Harkens Back to Google

Having an accurate and consistent representation of your business’ name, address and phone number is paramount. The importance of what local SEO’s call “NAP consistency” (Name, Address, Phone Number) cannot be overstated. While these directories can generate traffic to your site, they also serve as references or “citations” for your Google+ Local listing. If Google sees that you are listed differently (i.e. different address or phone number) across these top local directories and others, it decreases the relevancy of your business in Google’s eyes and they will not prominently list you in the search results.

Here are the top 33 47 local search directories (outside of Google) to submit your local business listing to:

1. Yahoo Local
2. Bing Local
3. Yelp
4. Localeze
5. InfoUSA
6. Yellow Pages
7. City Search
8. Super Pages
9. Manta
10. Insider Pages
11. Merchant Circle
12. Best of the Web, Free Version
13. YellowBot
14. YellowBook
15. Local.com
16. Mojo Pages
17. EZ Local
18. Kudzu
19. USCity.net
20. Tupalo
21. Show Me Local
22. Cylex-USA
23. Hotfrog
24. Locality
25. iBegin
26. Local Database
27. LocalStack (formerly Local Pages)
28. 2FindLocal
29. MyHuckleberry
30. Wherezit
31. Thumbtack
32. MyLocally
33. Chamber of Commerce
34. Brownbook.net
35. Judy’s Book
36. HERE
37. TomTom
38. WhereTo
39. Yalwa
40. YaSabe
41. Foursquare
42. CitySquares
43. MyLocalServices.com
44. Latinos.us
45. N49
46. Navmii
47. Opendi

Article updated April 30, 2017photo credit: smysnbrg via photopin cc