Directory listings for Cleburne and Johnson County businesses

Why matching details matter

Google checks your Google listing against the other sites that mention you. When they agree, that’s one more sign you’re a real business at a real place. Each one that disagrees, even by a single word in the spelling, makes Google a little less sure the listings are all about you.

To be straight about the size of it: directory listings are a smaller piece of map ranking than your Google listing itself. They matter in other places, though. Yelp’s listings feed Apple Maps and Siri, so an iPhone user asking for a plumber may be reading your Yelp details without ever opening Yelp.

And the customer reads them too. If one site sends people to a phone number you stopped answering years ago, that’s a call you never knew about.

What I’ve found on listings around Johnson County

When I look up local businesses across the directory sites, the mix-ups are usually easy to spot once you look. A few from September.

• One business showed up under two different names at two different addresses, with at least three phone numbers spread across the sites.
• Another had its website link on two directory sites sending people to two companies that aren’t theirs. One was a gutter cleaner in Massachusetts.
• A third showed three different addresses depending on where you looked, including a post office box.
• Two had BBB listings with no website on them, though both have one.

None of those owners did anything wrong. Listings drift on their own, and checking twenty websites isn’t how anybody wants to spend a Saturday.

Which sites I start with

Not every directory takes every business. Some want a storefront, some charge, and some only update businesses they already have on file. Here’s where things stood when I checked in September.

After those, I look for the directories Google already trusts for your trade in your town. I search your main service with your town, then go down the top 20 results and note every directory or list site that shows up. If Google is ranking a directory for your search, it’s worth being on.

One tip from doing this in Cleburne: search the broad name of your trade, as well as the exact phrase. When I searched the exact phrase for my own trade, I got nine results and no directories at all. The broader category phrase turned up three in the top nine.

How the work goes

1. Find every listing out there. I search your business name, your phone number, and any old addresses or numbers you’ve had.
2. Settle on one exact version. "Suite 2" or "Ste 2", "and" or "&". I pick one and write it down, matching your Google listing.
3. Fix what exists. I update the listings you already have and get duplicates merged or taken down.
4. Add the core sites from the table above that fit your business.
5. Add the directories that rank for your search in your town.

Some sites send a code to your email or phone to prove the listing is yours. When one of those is coming, I’ll let you know so it doesn’t get lost in your inbox.

If you don’t show your address

Every one of these sites wants a real address first, even the ones that let you hide it. You enter it, it gets checked, and then it gets hidden. Leaving the address blank at signup doesn’t work.

Keeping them right

Listings rot. When your hours, phone or address change, I update every profile you hold, so old details aren’t left sitting on the internet contradicting you. That’s also why I keep a plain list of every site you’re on, so nothing gets missed next time.

Your Google listing is the one everything else should match, so it’s worth getting that listing right first. And if you want to know whether any of this moves you on the map, that’s what the monthly map comparison is for.

Questions about directory listings

What’s a citation?

Any website that lists your business name with your address or phone number. Yelp, the BBB, map apps and local directories all count. "Citation" is just the SEO word for it.

How many listings do I need?

There’s no set number to hit. I start with the handful of core sites that fit your business, then add the directories Google already ranks for your search in your town. Where your competitors are listed is a good guide too.

Do I have to pay for these?

Most are free. Foursquare charges a fee. Yelp is free to list, though they’ll likely call to sell you ads, and you can say no.

I changed my phone number years ago. Does that still matter?

Yes. Any site still showing the old number is sending people to a dead end, and it’s telling Google two different stories about you. I find those and update them.

Should I delete old or duplicate listings?

Duplicates, yes. Two listings for one business split your reviews and confuse Google. I get them merged or removed wherever the site allows it.

I don’t have a storefront. Can I still get listed?

On most of the sites, yes, with your address hidden and your city showing. Apple is the main exception. It turns away businesses without a storefront.

Do you do this for businesses outside Cleburne?

Anywhere in Johnson County. This is the full list of towns, and the Cleburne page has more on how searches work here.

See what’s out there about you

Send me your business name. Along with your Google listing and your spot on the map around town, I’ll point out anything I spot that doesn’t match. You get a short video made for your business. I email it within 48 business hours. Watch it, and if nothing in it looks worth fixing, that’s the end of it.

Call 682-457-8510 or send me your business name.