Your Franchise Needs an Agency Partner for Listings Management

What is Listings Management? 

Local Listings Management is the process of updating and maintaining location data (Name, Address, Phone, Hours, Lat/Long, etc.) for businesses across sites like Google My Business (GMB), Facebook, Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, etc. Depending on your vantage point, that list of sites might seem large or small. Even as a location directory starting point, for a local business owner, with myriad other things to do, maintaining multiple listings sites can be a time intensive task. However, compared to the wide distribution network that an agency partner like Location3 integrates with, the list of core sites is small. And limiting. 

That’s because listings consistency and extended distribution still matter – for visibility, engagement, and ranking. Brands that partner with an agency for listings management gain access to that extended data distribution network, and consequently can gain more visibility in search and more user actions (driving directions, phone calls, etc.) on their business profiles. 

Extended Directory Distribution 

In a recent webinar for SEMRush, Greg Sterling examined the findings of two separate studies to analyze the effects of extended directory distribution on local search and Google Maps visibility and user engagement.   

An Uberall study examined 115,000 enterprise and small business locations in the US and Europe, and compared a control group, which was included in GMB, Facebook, Apple Maps, and Bing, to an experimental group, which featured extended distribution to 10+ directories (varied by market). They found: 

• Listings management across the core sites (GMB, Facebook, Apple Maps, and Bing) does have a profound impact on visibility and engaging customers. 
• Locations with extended distribution had nearly double the local search visibility – direct search, indirect search, search view, maps view – when compared to the control group. And the experimental group demonstrated dramatic growth over the time period – a 91% increase in average monthly maps views, for example. 
• The extended distribution group saw dramatic differences in engagement metrics as well – nearly twice the driving directions and website clicks as the control group. 
• Profile completeness is also a factor in user engagement. A profile completeness of 90% or higher can increase GMB engagement metrics across the board – as much as 69% for website clicks in the US, for example. 

A separate Uberall study of 30,000 locations across EMEA and North America found a 23% increase in local search views after implementing extended distribution to 30 additional publisher sites. 

And when it comes to distribution to data aggregators, it might not factor into ranking on Google, but without managing data on aggregators, listings information can be overwritten by incorrect data sources. Which means people might see the wrong name, phone number, or address when searching for your business online. And how would that serve your business? 

Local Listings Management with Location3 

Listings Management with Location3 means your brand gains access to broad distribution across the most relevant sites for your business – and we take on the management of your location data so your local businesses don’t have to. But we also go beyond data distribution and simple citation development, managing your listing data and profiles using both best-in-class technology like LOCALACT and certified local search marketing experts on our team. Using a GMB listing as an example, take a look at the level of management we offer our partner brands. 

We’ve been implementing this approach for our partners since 2007 and the proof is in the pudding when it comes to results. If you’re relying only on SaaS technology to simply manage local citations, you’re missing out on maximizing a core business channel for growth. Don’t take it from us, take it from other industry experts. While we manage location data, ensuring accuracy across the web, our LOCALACT platform allows local level access to listing data and control over local customer engagement via review responses on Google and Facebook and Google Q&A.  

Contact us today to learn more about our listings management strategy.