How to claim business listing for CitySearch?

[Gsmithmike]

Is there any other way beside YEXT, to claim listing in City Search? - Just CitySearch and nothing else! I know MOZ local is doing that, and maybe data aggregators, but any platform that you can pay to get a listing in City Search?

 

[Scott Barnett]

If you add your citations to InfoGroup, they will trickle down to InsiderPages, CitySearch, and all the other IAC properties. It can take 2-3 months though. We wrote about this back in April - Citation on Trial - InsiderPages.

 

[Dustybones]

Another thing I've been testing and I have had success is to add a listing to Yellowpages. I was told by Infogroup that they confirm data using Yellowpages. Go figure. The idea is that Infogroup will scan yellowpages, find the listing and add it to their database. I added 1 business and three months later it was on Infogroup. Might have been a fluke and still testing. Other than that you have to use YEXT.

 

[Scott Barnett]

Wow, that would be interesting. I didn't think that Infogroup used Yellowpages as a primary source. Any chance they can send you that info in writing Dusty?

 

[Dustybones]

Like I said, I'm still testing. I called Infogroup a couple weeks ago because I continually see new data show up for clients that never had a listing on Infogroup. The person on the phone said they use Yellowpages for verifying data, which I find odd as they also provide data to Yellowpages. I'm going to create a listing on Yellowpages this week for my brothers business to see what happens. It worked once...who knows....

 

[Scott Barnett]

ok, I may be splitting hairs on this - but "verifying" data on Yellowpages is different than "consuming" data from Yellowpages.

Most of the "big 4" use several other citation sites and try to "crowdsource" accuracy - so if data InfoGroup gets jives with what is on Yellowpages, then they feel more confident about the correctness.

I would be very surprised if Infogroup takes info directly from Yellowpages - but anything is possible. Look forward to your findings!

 

[Gsmithmike]

If you add your citations to InfoGroup, they will trickle down to InsiderPages, CitySearch, and all the other IAC properties. It can take 2-3 months though. We wrote about this back in April - Citation on Trial - InsiderPages.

Barnett, you are right, super pages is also part of insider pages i guess as well.

Info group might use Yellow Pages as it now requires sophisticated verification process, I know a client of mine lost his yellow pages listing because he did not have an actual address, they require same process as Axciom does, a document showing you are really doing business and have actual address! The other alternative can be superpages and white pages, info group could use that data as well.

 

[Dustybones]

I would be very surprised if Infogroup takes info directly from Yellowpages

Me too Scott.

 

[Myles Bergh]

Some of the data aggregators do use printed Yellow Pages as one of their sources of information. These listings come from telephone company business office records so they are an indicator of how companies represent their businesses in the real world. The problem is that when businesses set-up their phone service, how that will translate into an online listing is not on their radar so inaccuracies result. Name variations, incorrect category association, duplicate listings are all examples of problems that can arise from unchecked listings.

We have seen live examples of unique Print YP tracking lines show up in aggregator data. The only source of that listing would be Print YP.

 

[Scott Barnett]

Myles,

This may be a nit, but I do know that Acxiom and Localeze get the majority of their "authoritative" data from the phone companies. In theory, that *is* a reliable source of business citation data. I'm not sure that translates directly into printed YP results though - in this day, all the data the aggregators are getting is electronic. Or at least I would hope so!

 

[Myles Bergh]

Scott, I agree that the information is obtained digitally rather than scraping the printed books. The key point is that it is often the same data set that generates the printed books. So ignoring the phone company records (which appear in print) and/or failure to audit aggregator data periodically can cause problems down stream. A quick check of the printed book can provide a clue if there may be problems. If bad data is showing up in print, it will eventually make it online.

 

[Scott Barnett]

Myles - I totally get your point now. Yes, bad NAP in the printed yellow pages very likely means the same bad NAP online.

One other thing I'm trying to figure out - at least one of the top 4 aggregators takes information from States/Federal Gov't when you create a business. So I find a lot of people that create a shell or holding company when they register the business, but they don't want that name exposed. But in a lot of cases, it still gets out there. I'd like to figure out a simple way to nip that one in the bud.

 

[DarrylQuinlan]

To answer the original question, a bypass is to create an account through citygrid and then email customer support with your CID number and paste in the urls of the items you wish added to your dashboard. They usually do it same day but I've never had it last more 24 hours.

Let me know if that doesn't work as I know I've done it since the yext partnership but it's been a bit.