{"id":17514,"date":"2022-01-20T04:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/?p=17514"},"modified":"2022-01-20T04:00:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T10:00:15","slug":"why-business-listings-are-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/why-business-listings-are-essential\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Business Listings Are Essential for Local Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week we covered voice search and its relevance in 2022<\/a>. We always like to kick off each year with landing a solid foundation for location businesses, and that\u2019s why we want to talk about the importance of creating business listings<\/a> for the local businesses you represent this week.<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/a><\/div>\n

Business Listings Are Essential<\/h2>\n

Yes, we are back on the bandwagon about local business listings. Why, you ask? Well, they are important \u2013 pay attention and we\u2019ll outline just how important.<\/p>\n

While surveys like the 2021 Local Search Ranking Factors<\/a> indicate that citations are not as influential as other SEO factors, they play an essential role in the Local Search Ecosystem.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve discussed business listings \u2013 also referred to often as citations \u2013 on the regular. Our results, along with the results of our clients, only back up the importance of citations as an SEO signal.<\/p>\n

While Google isn\u2019t as dependent on citations to establish a business\u2019 trust and authority, search engines Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave and other data sources depend on them.<\/p>\n

Data Sources Search Engines Trust<\/h2>\n

Damian Rollison explores this topic in detail on Street Fight<\/a> and outlines some of the data sources these search engines count on.<\/p>\n

Bing<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Bing, the data source for business listings is Bing Places \u2013 makes total sense. Bing uses TomTom for maps, and for reviews and photos they rely on TripAdvisor, Facebook, Foursquare and others.<\/p>\n

DuckDuckGo<\/strong><\/p>\n

DuckDuckGo uses Apple MapKit to display their local results. They use Apple Maps for mapping and navigation. While much of their data comes from Yelp and TripAdvisor, this is sourced via Apple Maps.<\/p>\n

Brave<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brave uses Leaflet, Stadia Maps, OpenMapTiles and OpenStreetMap for their map listings. Local business data is obtained from sources including Yelp, The Infatuation, TripAdvisor, plus the listed business website.<\/p>\n

What Data Sources Do Others in the Local Ecosystem Trust?<\/h2>\n

Have you considered where Apple Maps, Yelp, TomTom and BingPlaces get their data? These places get business data from listing management companies like Advice Local. Businesses can also go directly to these citation sources, but most of the data is received from listing management companies, data aggregators and similar sources.<\/p>\n

For another example, picture this\u2026<\/p>\n