Citation Value?

[aputtock]

Hey all,

As part of a broader strategy to audit our clients, my organization uses a Yext local scanning tool to locate NAP inconsistencies.

The question we have now is, how many of the listings on Yext's tools are specifically Yext? Meaning, that Yext is the ONLY service that can update them. It's almost like Yext made these specific directories.

Do any of these matter?
Topix
Navmii
YellowMoxie
Where To?
USCity.net
8Coupons
Pointcom
ABLocal
iBegin
Yalwa
Brownbook
Around Me
FindOpen

 

[Wirenut]

I can't help with your question, but I just want to say that half of the results of Yext's scanning tool are outright wrong.

 

[Nyagoslav]

Hi aputtock

While many directories in Yext's network make it very difficult to figure out, most listings can get updated without necessarily going through Yext. Usually the process of updating listings without going through Yext on sites like that is more complicated and requires additional verification. Below are some examples based on your original post:

USCity.net

If you go to this page, you will notice that there is a way to sign up for an account on the site. If you click on that option, you will be taken to this page where the following is explained:

"To sign-up we ask that you go through a process we call identitiy verification. This is to prevent fraud and someone claiming a location that they do not really own. This is for our protection AND yours as a business owner. There are two ways to go through this process, paying a one-time $5.99 fee, or sending us a photocopy of your drivers license and articles of incorporation to support@uscity.net"

This is a typical example of things having to be done in a more complicated unless you go through Yext.

Brownbook

You can go to the listing page, and if it has not been claimed by someone else, you should be able to see the "Claim for FREE" option. You can use that option to update the listing. The only that usually cannot be updated is the business name. However, you can contact Brownbook and ask them to have the business name updated.

FindOpen

The site is actually Find-Open.com. You can update a listing by going to the listing page and clicking on "Report incorrect information". Alternatively, you can find the corresponding listing on the sister site of Find-Open, Cylex, and claim and update the listing directly from there. The data will then get updated on Find-Open as well.

A few other examples of how sites make it difficult to figure out how to update a listing without going through Yext:

MapQuest

When you find a record, and click on "Claim This Business", you are actually taken to Yext's dashboard. This happens with a number of other sites where there are "Claim" buttons available. What you need to do instead is click on the "See a problem? Let us know!" link on the listing page. You will then be able to submit an update request. It usually gets taken care of within a week.

BizWiki

It is actually impossible to add new listings on the site immediately unless you go through Yext. However, you can update existing listings by clicking on "Report/Update" near the top of the listing page.

Please let me know if this helps.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Just a side note on Brownbook, they NEVER update a listing when you try and claim it or edit it. You must email them, and even then it's 50/50 if they will do anything. Such a waste of a website.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

How valuable are some of these sites these days? I don't see many show up in search results (Google or Bing), and some of the Yext analytics stats are pretty depressing. Paying that much for a site that gets a few views per month isn't great.

I'll agree that it's important to have the business info listed correctly on these sites, but beyond that can anyone show any other value to some of these sites?

 

[rayrober]

Agreeing with Eric when carrying out ranking audits for my organization ( a large international Franchisor with 340+ locations in the UK) these directories ( UK specific similar ) rarely show in search results and are pretty meaningless in terms of local search.

 

[aputtock]

Yes, that's what I'm wondering. I am thinking we can cut a lot of these directories altogether, and am planning on doing some further research on it. I was hoping that someone else maybe had crossed this bridge before but I will share my findings!

@Nyagoslav Thanks so much for those tips, I will add them to my citation Rolodex

 

[keepkalm]

To answer your original question: there are only a couple of directories on the Yext scan that you can only update with PowerListings.

Do they matter? If someone is complaining about inaccuracy on one of them, it matters. Probably not going to make a big difference to search rankings.

 

[marston gould]

Hey all,

As part of a broader strategy to audit our clients, my organization uses a Yext local scanning tool to locate NAP inconsistencies.

The question we have now is, how many of the listings on Yext's tools are specifically Yext? Meaning, that Yext is the ONLY service that can update them. It's almost like Yext made these specific directories.

Do any of these matter?
Topix
Navmii
YellowMoxie
Where To?
USCity.net
8Coupons
Pointcom
ABLocal
iBegin
Yalwa
Brownbook
Around Me
FindOpen

So here’s my view on this-

take a look at each citation- closely. I’ve been doing that. Here’s what I’ve found

1) links only In JavaScript requiring on click event
2) links on pages that are no indexed
3) links on pages that are the meta refreshed, rel canonical or redirected to another page - that often doesn’t have your link/citation, 404s, uses a non unique URL, and often meta refreshed, rel canonicals or redirects back to the original page - and thus attempts to keep any page rank from flowing to your domain (or even reference)
4) links that are no followed

I’d say this is the majority of citations I see from not only Yext, but Moz Local, Advice Local and just about every other platform out there. Granted most of these games are being played by the directories - but all Yext and the rest really might be doing is building massive content caches that someone else pays for.

I’ve only seen about 8-9% of these citations indexed - and that’s only with a bunch of effort to build 2nd tier links to these pages, add content, etc.