60 Best Online Local Business Directories & Listing Sites < Madcashcentral Cash Content Curators

Promoting a local business can be challenging these days. Whether it’s because of oversaturation or complicated search engine algorithms, it’s all too easy to feel like no one will find your business in the local search results.

It’s even more frustrating when you offer great products and services, but customers just can’t seem to find you online.

Online local business directories and listing sites can change your situation and put your business front and center where your potential customers are already looking. As a local SEO specialist at my previous company, I know the ins and outs of how to get in front of your local target audience.

In this post, I’ll go over everything you need to know about creating business listings and why they’re so valuable, even in the age of social media and other marketing tactics.

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When you list your business in these directories, you build citations, a critical part of a local marketing strategy.

Today, Google is inserting itself between consumer and local business websites more often than ever before.

For proof, you need to look no further than Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), featured snippets, and, most importantly, local packs.

Local packs are the top or featured results Google displays when users make a location-based query.

The result typically shows three business listings with details such as the business name, customer reviews and ratings, physical location, opening and closing times, and phone number.

You can improve visibility in local packs by listing your local business’ NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) on directories, online business listing sites, and citation sites. Aside from improving your local SEO, these can also improve your rankings on search engines because the listings usually link back to your site.

But what is a business listing, and what does it look like?

When I was a local SEO specialist, I spent much of my time finding new business listing opportunities to build citations and generate backlinks for our local websites. These links allowed us to rank not only in the local packs but also in the main SERPs.

I have a few tips to help you make the most of your listing. Make sure your company listing has the following information once you add it to a directory:

Consistent NAP. If you add or update your business on multiple business listing sites, ensure you provide the same company information across each directory. For instance, don’t use HubSpot in one listing and HubSpot Marketing in another.
A link to your website. Backlinks or inbound links are crucial to your company website’s domain rating. I recommend adding a tracking link at the end of URLs from directories to see how much traffic your website specifically gets from the business directories linking to it.
A company description. Ensure you have a detailed description of your business that reflects your organization’s mission, culture, and values. Such descriptions can help you attract the specific type of customers you serve.
Multimedia. Give company searchers a visual taste of your business with a picture or video of your office, employees, or daily business operations.

While there are plenty of location-specific and industry-specific business listing sites, I recommend starting with bigger sites and working your way toward the more niche directories to promote your local business.

Before I share my list of the best local directories, let’s discuss the methodology I used to choose the sites.

How I Chose the Best Online Directories

I used to build citations for my former company, and I can confidently tell you that there are many, many business directories out there — and not all of them are good.

I used two simple parameters to curate the best business listing sites you can sign up for right now.

Domain Rating

Domain rating is a score given to websites to reflect how well they rank on Google based on their backlink profile. The minimum score is 0, and the maximum score is 100. Domain rating is similar to domain authority.

The minimum required domain rating for the directories on this list was 50. I gathered the data from Ahrefs (September 2024), but you can also double-check using your preferred SEO tool.

1. Google Business Profile

Domain Rating: 92

Monthly Organic Traffic: 3.5B Visits

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) lists you directly on Google’s local pack and search results. A Google Business Profile includes your NAP, business hours, services, customer reviews, photos, and more.

Claim your free Google Business Profile.

With over 22 billion daily Google searches, you’d be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t create a Google Business Profile.

2. Yellow Pages

Domain Rating: 90

Monthly Organic Traffic: 2.1M Visits

An oldie but a goodie, Yellow Pages is perhaps the most well-known local directory. A Yellow Pages listing includes your NAP, parking information, business hours, and customer reviews.

Claim your free business listing on Yellow Pages.

Given that Yellow Pages has been around for over 25 years, the site has built a reputation people trust.

3. Foursquare

Domain Rating: 91

Monthly Organic Traffic: 6.2M Visits

Foursquare is a general online directory for a wide variety of local business categories. A Foursquare listing includes your NAP, business hours, logo, and customer reviews.

Claim your free business listing on Foursquare.

When building citations at my previous company, Foursquare was one of my favorite business listing sites. It’s quick, easy, and painless to add your online listing, and it includes all essential information without many frills.

4. Better Business Bureau

Domain Rating: 93

Monthly Organic Traffic: 7.2M Visits

Better Business Bureau is an online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Better Business Bureau listing includes your NAP, company history, email, and website. You may also apply for optional accreditation.

Claim your free business listing on BBB.

BBB accreditations add credibility to your listings and help you attract more customers. I also like that you can manage customer reviews and resolve complaints on BBB.

5. Superpages

Domain Rating: 85

Monthly Organic Traffic: 60K Visits

Superpages is a general online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Superpages listing includes your NAP, business hours, and website.

Claim your free business listing on Superpages.

The listings here are super detailed. You can pay for targeted ads to have your listing reach the right people at the right time.

6. Hotfrog

Domain Rating: 80

Monthly Organic Traffic: 6.2K Visits

Hotfrog is a general online directory site. A Hotfrog listing includes your NAP, business hours, business description, and website.

Claim your free business listing on Hotfrog.

Hotfrog’s user interface is simple, so users can quickly find the businesses they’re looking for. You also get valuable insights from Hotfrog about how users find your business.

7. Merchant Circle

Domain Rating: 85

Monthly Organic Traffic: 12.6K Visits

Merchant Circle is a general online listing site. A Merchant Circle listing includes your NAP, logo, payment options, business hours, business description, and website.

Claim your free business listing on MerchantCircle.

What’s great about Merchant Circle is that you can network with other business owners with listings on the site.

8. EZLocal

Domain Rating: 80

Monthly Organic Traffic: 8.6K Visits

EZLocal is a general online directory for a wide variety of local business categories. An EZLocal listing includes your NAP, parking information, business hours, and website.

Claim your free business listing on EZLocal.

Business listings on EZLocal are often synchronized with other directories, thus improving your visibility on search engines like Google and Bing.

9. eLocal

Domain Rating: 77

Monthly Organic Traffic: 20.1K Visits

eLocal is a general local directory. An eLocal listing includes your NAP, business description, website, and payment options.

Claim your free business listing on eLocal.

In addition to free listings, you can pay to have eLocal boost your business to potential customers.

10. Manta

Domain Rating: 87

Monthly Organic Traffic: 412K Visits

A Manta listing includes your NAP, business hours, services, website, business description, and social media links. You may also apply for Manta verification.

Claim your free business listing on Manta.

Aside from listing websites, Manta has an all-in-one business management software to help small businesses grow online.

Best Online Directories for Local Businesses

When listing your business online, you aren‘t limited to using the free sites above.

I’ve compiled the best directories on the web for listing your business, whether paid or unpaid (most, however, should be free).

In my years as a local SEO and citation builder, I found most of these relatively easy to sign up on, but a few sites may require additional verification or a pending period. The good news is that there is little to no chance that these sites will reject your listing.

1. Facebook Pages

Domain Rating: 100

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.7B (Facebook.com)

Facebook Pages is one of the best places to list your business online and get visibility through both organic search and Facebook’s internal search feature.

A Facebook Page includes both basic NAP information and updates from your business. With 31% of people preferring to use social media for search, you don’t want to neglect your presence there!

Create your free business listing on Facebook Pages.

2. Instagram for Business

Domain Rating: 99

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.6B (Instagram.com)

Like Facebook, Instagram is another valuable place to list your business’ NAP information for visibility, local SEO, and social media marketing. An Instagram profile will include your business’ NAP information, photos, and updates that you post directly.

Create your free business listing on Instagram.

3. LinkedIn Company Directory

Domain Rating: 98

Monthly Organic Traffic: 7.1K

LinkedIn offers a directory of business pages (called LinkedIn Pages), where most companies and businesses can add a profile for free. Like Facebook and Instagram, you can list your NAP and publish updates and jobs.

Companies are listed alphabetically on the Company Directory landing page, and users can find your business by navigating to “Browse By” and selecting the first letter of your business name.

Create your free business listing on LinkedIn.

You can also post directly from your LinkedIn business account and get found by over 1 billion LinkedIn users.

4. Apple Maps

Domain Rating: 97

Monthly Organic Traffic: 125K

If people visit your business in person, adding it to navigation apps and services is always a good idea. Apple Maps isn’t technically a business listing site, but it’s still an essential citation. You can now easily get started by using Apple’s new Business Connect portal.

Create your free business listing on Apple Maps.

5. Yelp

Domain Rating: 95

Monthly Organic Traffic: 98M

Whether you run a restaurant, a local boutique, or a repair shop, Yelp is an invaluable directory to list your business online. It boosts your credibility with customer reviews and provides one more citation with your NAP, business hours, services, and more.

Create your free business listing on Yelp.

6. Bing Places

Domain Rating: 82

Monthly Organic Traffic: 413K

Bing may not feel as essential as Google, but it’s still an important citation, especially because some of your customers might use Bing as their primary search engine. For instance, in China, where Google is banned, Bing is the primary search engine.

Adding your business to Bing also allows users to navigate directly to you using Bing Maps.

Create your free business listing on Bing Places.