It’s been a while since I have updated our directories list and since search marketing is continually changing I thought it would be good to revisit the core local directory sites that stand out today. Below is a data source for the major search portals.

One of the best things I can suggest if you are going to start adding your information to local link directories is to write out, ahead of time, some basic information about your company history, and your bio. Doing this before hand will let you think through a sharp and to the point description of who you are and what you do. This in the end will save you tons of time in process ( if you are doing this yourself) and make sure you give people the right message. After all if you intend for people to take action after searching and finding your listing, then you need to give this process due diligence. If don’t you might as well not waste your time doing the listing at all.

In 11 plus years involved with search marketing (before it was even called search marketing) I have seen many internet marketing tactics, both white and black hat. People, in my opinion and experience don’t take action on the web if there isn’t at least a reasonable amount of transparency and authenticity. It doesn’t mean that there still won’t be a lot of  knuckleheads out there trying to beat the system. So if you’re going to spend any time doing link building put in an effort when you add your content. Also, try to be as consistent as possible.  Enough of said. Here is a short list of core directories to get you started:

Top of the List:  GetListed.org -allows you to see how your business is indexed in five of the most popular Local search engines—Google, Yelp, Bing, Yahoo, and Best of the Web

UniversalBusinessListing.org provides a single entry point where you can create an enhanced business profile that is distributed to all major U.S. search engines, online yellow pages, 411 Directory Assistance, mapping and GPS navigation sites.
Add a Universal Business Listing

Localeze distributes your business content to the largest network of local search engine partners in the industry.
Add Your Business to Localeze

infoUSA is a major business directory whose data is used as a starting point by many local search engines.
Add your information with infoUSA

RateItAll is large consumer review portal where visitors can rate and review local businesses and products. The site reaches more than 1 million consumers per month and offers a free submission tool for local businesses to get listed.
Add Your Business to RateItAll

Superpages.com is a top online resource for finding information and insights on businesses and retailers.
Add your Business listing to Superpages

Yelp is a very popular Local information portal on the U.S. West Coast, and in certain industries across the rest of the country.
Add your profile on Yelp

Insiderpages is a Local search site that is regularly crawled by Google.
Add your listing to Insiderpages

CitySearch focuses on local services like hotels, restaurants, bars, movies, events and retail shopping.
Add your listing to CitySearch

Brownbook.net is a free local business directory that anyone can edit.
Add your listing to BrownBook

Do you have more core local directories to add? Let us know.

Are you doing business in your Local area?

Google is great if you want to do business nationally or regionally. Working at developing your SEO & SEM strategy is worth your while to build your page rank organically with Google. But what if the majority of your business is local. What do you do? Where do you go? How do you get found by the searcher looking for your product or service? Well, Google does have it’s local search version called Google Maps but this article is to inform you that there is a lot more going on in local search now and it isn’t slowing up any time soon!

There is no doubt statistically that the internet has replaced the BIG printed yellow book for search… and that’s local search too!For lots of stats on Local Search visit Borrell Associates.

Local Search can be defined into 3 categories, Local Search Engines, Internet Yellow Page Directories and Local Social Networks.

Some of these top Local Search Engines include: City Search, Local.com,AOL Local, Ask City and Yahoo Local.

Internet Yellow Page Directories abound. They include the names like: Info Space, Any Who, Superpages, Bigbook, Switchboard and Yellow Book.

Local Social Networks is a market that is developing quickly. These are few you might be interested in checking out to list your business: Insider Pages, YellowBot, Mojo Pages, City Squares, Yelp and of course our own Quest Social. The development in the Local Social Network arena is huge partly because of the development of open source software, just about anyone can now very easily establish their own local social network.

For a  complete list visit SMLife Guide section. I will point out, while I am always interested in bringing you the most recent information, if I have not included your site in my list, please let me know by leaving a comment. I will be making every attempt to keep our guides current by revisiting and updating the lists on a regular basis.

While this guide is to provide you with some of the main sites to get started listing your business locally I will advise that there are many more sites, far too many to list here, where you can register and list your business.  Some of these  are vertical specific categories like real estate. A growing trend are the Local Mobile sites that are emerging.

So come back and let us know if you have found a great local network site, new local directory or new Local Search Engine.

Visit the SMLife Guides and Resources area of this site a list and links to Local Search Engines, Internet Yellow Page Directories, and Local Social networks.