Are these directories worth doing?

[shelbykoch]

When doing local directories and citation we can never seem to successfully get these sites to work. Do they work for anyone or are they even worth doing?
Yellowbook
InsiderPages
Citysearch
Local.com
MyHuckleberry
BOTW

Is there a way to update or create any of the following without using Yext?
Yahoo! Local
Mapquest
Superpages

 

[JoyHawkins]

I just KNOW @whitespark will have some insight on this, especially since MyHuckleberry is Darren's favorite.

 

[mblumenthal]

A quick guide as to worthiness is to perform the queries that are important to you and see if these directories show up at all. If they do then yes, if they don’t well…

 

[dbrowers]

Probably not the answer you're looking for but I believe Uberall is also able to manage Mapquest and Superpages. Yahoo Local has exchanged hands a few times over the years and hasn't been terribly interested in supporting other means of updating their POI data. I used to run product at MomentFeed and we could NEVER break into Yahoo, despite years of trying.

 

[JRS]

This is an interesting question and I'd like more clarity from others as to how do we decipher if google isn't crawling these sites to get some sort of signal. maybe they aren't ( anymore ). but a lower volume of traffic may not necessarily mean they don't reference a spread of citations to further validate you as an entity. and the idea that if they don't show up in your branded searches, don't worry about them - not sure that's wise. Bing has never showed up in any search on google and it provides, often times, 10% of traffic for clients in the pac northwest. same with yellowpages, etc. yelp and trip advisor and a few others. but, I'm not sure its clear that grabbing 20-30 top citations isn't still a valid first series move in handling local seo clients...

 

[camillebca]

When doing local directories and citation we can never seem to successfully get these sites to work. Do they work for anyone or are they even worth doing?
Yellowbook
InsiderPages
Citysearch
Local.com
MyHuckleberry
BOTW

Is there a way to update or create any of the following without using Yext?
Yahoo! Local
Mapquest
Superpages

Moz Local is $14/mo and can update all your directory listings very easily. Much cheaper than Yext.

 

[mblumenthal]

I said “queries that are important to you”. If they are not showing in the top 3 - 5 pages of Google it’s a pretty good indication that the directory’s value is at best minimal.

Like Apple Maps and FB, Bing is not a directory it’s a search engine and its results wouldn’t show up on Google. All of those provide some traffic and are worth some effort.

Validation by Google of an entity’s existence comes from trusted data sources like DataAxel and BBB that independently verify a listing in the US. And possibly foot traffic, credit card info etc. they don’t need Merchant Circle (or whatever) for that.

 

[shelbykoch]

Moz Local is $14/mo and can update all your directory listings very easily. Much cheaper than Yext.

We've never used Yext. We try to manage and update all listings in house as an agency. Would you suggest Moz for someone who is controlling 30+ listings for 30+ clients?

 

[Amy Toman]

A bit tangential, but if there are industry-specific directories that would apply, they may be worth checking out as well.