Do Data Aggregators still have problems with creating duplicate pages?

[Austin Henson]

Hello,

I am currently working at a company that has been around for a while now. We have in the hundreds of retail stores and are looking to hire an agency to submit our information to the four main data aggregators. If we did it, it would cost us a solid chunk of change. I have personally went through the process of manually claiming:

• Google My Business
• Apple Small Business
• Yelp
• Bing (some)

*Not only did I claim but I ensured the information is very accurate on these sites.*

This all being said my concern is that I read a post two years back on this forum, that lead me to the conclusion that if you have healthy and established pages that it is not worth it to submit to the data aggregates. In the post most people were on the side that it caused more harm than good unless you were a newer company. Has this changed with the advancing of technology, or how companies handle duplicates?

The post I read:

 

[CodyBaird]

Regrettably, little to nothing has changed. Catching duplicates at a publisher level is still required for a sparkling NAP profile. I would add consider adding
Yellowpages, superpages, foursquare, to the list

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[joedillon68]

I have found Infogroup is the biggest culprit when it comes to duplicates and inaccuracy. I am a small business owner and like you, didn't want to pay the large chunk of change to get aggregated. I went to Inforgroup thinking I could at least hit them up and get my listings out there.

After many calls, e-mails, etc. to the their support people, I gave up and went with Moz Local. And while Moz has done a good job of pushing my listings, the dupes and inaccurate listings that were created in the past can sometimes be found. Not always, but sometimes. Maybe you try Moz Local ($84 per year per location) and get yourself 80% of the way there, this way you only have 20% to go to clean up manually.

Good luck!

 

[CodyBaird]

Love moz local recommend it to all our clients. Still have citation work after Moz on all clients with or without a seasoned citation profile.

We dont use yext, BL, or WS. Moz + old school claim & verification . I am also considering outsourcing really tuff citation work to Whitespark or Imprezzio.

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[JoyHawkins]

Hey Austin,

I always saying cleaning up the data aggregators is a good plan. What people often forget to look at (I keep seeing it over and over) are the authority sites for your particular industry. There are certain really high authority sites that only apply to lawyers, or dentists, or restaurants etc. You want to make sure those are a big part of your strategy as well.

I know you mentioned retail but what kind of business is it that you're working on?

 

[Myles Bergh]

Hi Austin,

Un-managed aggregator data can cause more harm than good. I don't believe that is a true statement for managed aggregator data. The extent of the problems with un-managed aggregaor data can depend on the volatility of your location data. Assuming your information is ok because you have an established business is risky.

Our agency's position is that it is never a good idea to leave your listing information to chance. I highly recommend supplying your location information to the data aggregators AND conducting audits with each one to make sure they don't have duplicate listings, incorrect listings or simply listings that are unaccounted for in their data. You will want to make sure your submissions replace information on file and don't simply add listings to their data. For example, if you submit 100 locations but the aggregators have 110 in their file because locations closed or moved, the 10 extra locations will not be addressed unless you take the time to find them. A retail example of this would be submitting a main line, but not realizing that department listings are also on file.

Consistency is key so use the same core data for all of your claimed pages and your data feed.

 

[Austin Henson]

Thanks you guys for the great responses. As i continue doing these claims manually, we are now looking into an agency who uses a hybrid platform to claim them manually but at a more efficient rate. They have a platform that will help detect duplicates. We are in negotiations with them currently. So by choosing them we are choosing quality posts over quantity. Thanks for the help. Sad to hear that there has not been much advances in duplicate detection.

 

[CodyBaird]

I would love to know who/which service/software you choose Austin. If you are willing to share that is. I would hire again and have hired a third party in the past. I believe/hope a better solution is built and proprietary or something is in the works.

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[Tim Colling]

I would too


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