The Most Important Local Business Directories For SEO

We looked at directories that had the best SEO.

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 There have been a lot of ups and downs in the local directory world since, thanks mostly to Google and a number of start-ups who have done well with SEO (e.g. Thumbtack), so we figured it was time to update the list. This time instead of using Compete, we opted for combing through WhiteSpark’s lists of top citation websites and finding which directories appeared most often as a good proxy for SEO strength in 2016.

We attempted to categorize them so you could easily find the best ones for you business. Here’s how they broke down:

  • National IYP – 22%
  • Travel – 10%
  • Health – 9%
  • Job Search – 8%
  • Food/Restaurants – 7%
  • Home Improvement – 7%
  • Weddings – 3%
  • Automotive – 2%

Interestingly, there were several non-traditional directories in this list. For example JCPenney’s store locator is one of the top citation sources. Given how Google is continuing to move towards favoring “brands” in the SERPs, we would expect to see more non-directory brands make this list next year.

So now without further ado, we am pleased to present the new top 100 online local directories for SEO:

# Citation Source # of Times Seen Directory Type
1 www.yellowpages.com 69 National IYP
2 www.yelp.com 69 National IYP
3 www.facebook.com 63 National IYP
4 www.manta.com 57 National IYP
5 www.indeed.com 51 Job Search
6 www.angieslist.com 45 Home Improvement & Health
7 www.mapquest.com 43 National IYP
8 www.superpages.com 43 National IYP
9 www.bbb.org 39 National IYP
10 local.yahoo.com 32 National IYP
11 www.linkedin.com 30 Job Search
12 www.youtube.com 30 Video
13 www.thumbtack.com 29 Home Improvement & Services
14 www.yellowbook.com 25 National IYP
15 www.groupon.com 22 National IYP
16 www.tripadvisor.com 18 Travel
17 https://jobs.monster.com 16 Job Search
18 https://foursquare.com 15 National IYP
19 www.homeadvisor.com 15 Home Improvement & Services
20 https://porch.com 13 Home Improvement & Services
21 https://en.wikipedia.org 12 Wikipedia
22 www.bizjournals.com 12 National IYP
23 www.whitepages.com 11 National IYP
24 https://threebestrated.com 11 National IYP
25 www.glassdoor.com 10 Job Search
26 www.dexknows.com 9 National IYP
27 www.simplyhired.com 9 Job Search
28 www.houzz.com 8 Home Improvement & Services
29 www.weddingwire.com 7 Weddings
30 www.10best.com 7 Travel
31 www.careerbuilder.com 6 Job Search
32 www.expedia.com 6 Travel
33 www.healthgrades.com 6 Health
34 www.theknot.com 6 Weddings
35 https://www1.salary.com 6 Job Search
36 https://local.dmv.org 5 Government
37 www.livingsocial.com 5 National IYP
38 www.whodoyou.com 5 National IYP
39 www.zillow.com 5 Real Estate
40 www.zocdoc.com 5 Health
41 www.thrillist.com 4 Travel/Food
42 www.zomato.com 4 Restaurants
43 www.city-data.com 4 National IYP
44 www.mystore411.com 4 National IYP
45 www.trulia.com 3 Real Estate
46 www.wellness.com 3 Health
47 www.allmenus.com 3 Restaurants
48 www.findmeglutenfree.com 3 Restaurants
49 www.fixr.com 3 Home Improvement & Services
50 www.grainger.com 3 Retailer
51 www.interias.com 3 Home Improvement & Services
52 www.looksharp.com 3 Job Search
53 www.loopnet.com 3 Real Estate
54 www.thebluebook.com 3 Autos
55 www.virtualtourist.com 3 Travel
56 https://agency.nationwide.com 2 Insurance
57 https://doctor.webmd.com 2 Health
58 https://freeclinicdirectory.org 2 Health
59 https://eventful.com 2 Events
60 www.thomasnet.com 2 B2B Services
61 https://health.usnews.com 2 Health
62 https://local.intuit.com 2 National IYP
63 https://k12.niche.com 2 School Directory
64 www.schooldigger.com 2 Education
65 www.vitals.com 2 Health
66 https://stores.jcpenney.com 2 Retailer
67 https://locations.budget.com 2 Car Rental
68 www.allonesearch.com 2 National IYP
69 www.ameripriseadvisors.com 2 Financial
70 www.beautyseeker.com 2 Beauty & Health
71 www.booking.com 2 Travel
72 www.bringfido.com 2 Pet Friendly Travel
73 www.calculateme.com 2 Insurance
74 www.care.com 2 Baby Sitters
75 www.caring.com 2 Senior Living
76 www.chowhound.com 2 Restaurants/Food
77 www.clubplanet.com 2 Music Clubs
78 www.concretenetwork.com 2 Contractors
79 www.erieinsurance.com 2 Insurance Agency
80 www.eventbrite.com 2 Local Events
81 www.eventective.com 2 Local Event Planning
82 www.feeonlynetwork.com 2 Financial Planner Directory
83 www.freeclinics.com 2 Medical Clinic Directory
84 www.greatschools.org 2 School Directory
85 www.homes.com 2 Real Estate
86 www.hotels.com 2 Hotels
87 www.kayak.com 2 Travel
88 www.legalconsumer.com 2 Lawyers
89 www.pinterest.com 2 Social Media
90 www.plannedparenthood.org 2 Family Planning Centers
91 www.priceline.com 2 Travel
92 www.realtor.com 2 Real Estate
93 www.reddit.com 2 Forum
94 www.travelocity.com 2 Travel
95 www.tuscl.net 2 Music Clubs
96 www.urgentcarelocations.com 2 Urgent Care Centers
97 www.usnews.com 2 News Site
98 www.zagat.com 2 Restaurants
99 https://top10weddingvendors.com 2 Weddings
100 https://usplaces.com 2 National IYP