Agencies hire listing management providers to get client information published accurately across dozens of directories and apps. But few ask what happens to that information after the service ends. Whether it stays or disappears depends on how the provider has submitted the client data, and whether or not it stays accurate will depend on if anyone is managing it. This is something every agency should consider when choosing a listing management company.
What Happens to Business Listings When Service Ends
Listing management companies push client details out to a network of platforms, and update them when the information changes. If the service is canceled, the results won’t be the same for every platform. One listing could sit unchanged for months, while another could start showing an old phone number or address. The listing might not disappear, but that doesn’t guarantee it will stay correct.
The outcome depends on how the data reached the publisher, and whether anyone maintains it. Companies use different mechanisms to distribute and manage data, but agencies often don’t think to ask which one their provider uses until offboarding. And be assured, this is a question to ask when comparing listing management companies, not when a client campaign ends and it’s too late to change.
How Paid Inclusion and Paid Insertion Differ
What a listing management service offers depends on how it gets data onto a platform. There are two main methods, and each one determines what a client keeps at cancellation.
Paid Inclusion
- The listing provider connects to platforms via an API connection.
- While the subscription is active, accurate data is sent through a continuous data stream.
- After cancellation, the connection ends and listings can revert to old data or even disappear.
Paid Insertion
- The listing provider uses manual or automated submissions directly to the publisher.
- Once submitted, the client’s data is added to the publisher’s own records.
- After cancellation, nothing is withdrawn and the data stays in place.
Advice Local uses paid insertion, so data stays active on the directories in the network. It’s worth considering the two approaches when using a listing management service. While two services might submit to a similar network, what a client is left with when the service ends can be very different.
Why Published Listings Still Need Management
An agency looking at a paid insertion service could reasonably ask why they need to stay subscribed when their client’s data stays in place. The answer is that published data and accurate data can be very different things. Without a listing management service submitting corrections, directories may accept updates from data aggregators, user-suggested edits and their own automated systems.
A business also changes on its own, whether it’s new hours, a different office, a replaced phone number, or a service it no longer offers at one location. Duplicate listings created by employees or third-party tools add another set of conflicting details. Ongoing listing management gives an agency a way to spot those discrepancies and submit corrections before a client’s customer runs into them.
What to Ask Before Choosing a Listing Partner
Finding the right listing management partner calls for going through a few questions. Start with the method that a provider uses, whether that’s paid inclusion, paid insertion or something else. Then ask what happens to client listings and data when the service ends. It’s also important to know who controls account access and login credentials for the directory listings.
The size of a provider’s network does matter, as wider distribution puts client information in more of the places people search. But don’t let a platform count distract you from how that data is submitted, whether or not it can be updated, and what’s left when the service stops.
Work With a Listing Management Service That Protects Your Data
Advice Local is a leading provider of local citation and listing management services. We help agencies and local marketers distribute and update listings across data aggregators, directories, mapping apps and answer engines. To try our dashboard solution, call (214) 310-1356 or request a demo today.
