What is Local Listing Optimization?
Local Listing Optimization (LLO) is the management of a businesses’ information on online business directories. This monitoring program helps to correct and optimize information across over 70 of the top directories online, such as Google My Business, Apple, Amazon Alexa, and Waze, just to name a few.
What goes into Local Listing Optimization?
The main pieces of information that LLO works to optimize are a business’s Name, Address, Phone Number, sometimes referred to as NAP. These are the most crucial pieces of information about a business, so it’s important to make sure they are correct and consistent across the web!
We can also add other crucial information like hours of operation, services or products offered, payment methods accepted and more. All of this information works to make a complete picture of the business across these directories, including ones that allow for verbal searches like Siri or Alexa. This has become even more important over the years as the popularity of these services has grown.
Depending on the type of business, there is also the opportunity to add extras like photos, food menus, delivery or service areas, or appointment links to really give online users a full picture of a business and what they have to offer.
Why is it important?
Being easy to reach is crucial for a business. If customers are looking for a business online and see multiple name variations, different phone numbers, and conflicting information on where they are located, it’s going to cause confusion and frustration for them. In addition to customers losing trust in a business if they have conflicting information, so do search engines. Google works to pull information from across the web, including other directories, when search results are being shown. If conflicting information is found, then a business is much less likely to be shown in search results, negatively affecting them and their reach.
Who should have it?
Local Listing Optimization can be especially helpful for new businesses that are just getting started. Having LLO best practices in place can help them start their online presence off on the right foot, with consistent and accurate information across the web from the beginning. Along those same lines, if a business has recently moved to a new location, LLO will be crucial to ensure their new address is getting pushed out to directories across the web. Overall, Local Listing Optimization is an important product to have in place for all businesses with a physical location! Keeping online data correct and consistent is important to keeping your business easy to reach for customers as well as accurate and consistent for online search engines. Contact our team today to learn more about Local Listing Optimization and how it can help you and your business!
