One of the key factors in how search engines rank a site is its popularity, I mean, the quantity and quality of the sites that link to it. While it can be difficult to get other reputable sites to link to your site, there is a way to achieve a similar effect using citations.
A citation is an appearance, anywhere on the web, of your business name, address and/or phone number. Google counts both the quantity and quality of citations when ranking your business, as do other search engines. Therefor, creating citations for your site can help boost your ranking—especially in local search results.
Here is a list of online yellow pages, directories, and review sites to help get you started.
Top Three
If you do nothing else registering with these three will get you a long way.
Additional
When you have time I recommend registering at these, too. Tip: Set a block of time aside each day or week to knock them out a few at a time.
- Yelp
- YellowPages / YP.com
- Citysearch / Citygrid
- Best Of The Web Local
- InfoUSA / Express Update USA
- Supermedia
- Merchant Circle
- Angie’s List
- Localeze
- OpenList
- Kudzu
- Judy’s Book
- Local.com
- Foursquare
- ShopCity
- Yellowbot
- MagicYellow
- HotFrog
- CitySquares
- Matchpoint
Completing this list will help you increase your popularity with search engines as well as broaden your business’ reach. Most all of them are free and easy to set up. It’s a win, win scenario that every small business should and can do.
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