The Most Important Local Business Directories for SEO

Three+ years ago, when I put together The Most Important Local Business Directories For SEO, I looked at which directories ranked the best in Compete.com which was a proxy for which ones had the best SEO. There have been a lot of ups and downs in the local directory world since, thanks mostly to Google and a number of start-ups who have done well with SEO (e.g. Thumbtack), so I figured it was time to update the list. This time instead of using Compete, I opted for combing through WhiteSpark’s lists of top citation websites and finding which directories appeared most often as a good proxy for SEO strength in 2016.
I attempted to categorize them so you could easily find the best ones for you business. Here’s how they broke down:
- National IYP – 22%
- Travel – 10%
- Health – 9%
- Job Search – 8%
- Food/Restaurants – 7%
- Home Improvement – 7%
- Weddings – 3%
- Automotive – 2%
Interestingly, there were several non-traditional directories in this list. For example JCPenney’s store locator is one of the top citation sources. Given how Google is continuing to move towards favoring “brands” in the SERPs, I would expect to see more non-directory brands make this list next year.
So now without further ado, I am pleased to present the new top 100 online local directories for SEO:
# | Citation Source | # of Times Seen | Directory Type |
1 | www.yellowpages.com | 69 | National IYP |
2 | www.yelp.com | 69 | National IYP |
3 | www.facebook.com | 63 | National IYP |
4 | www.manta.com | 57 | National IYP |
5 | www.indeed.com | 51 | Job Search |
6 | www.angieslist.com | 45 | Home Improvement & Health |
7 | www.mapquest.com | 43 | National IYP |
8 | www.superpages.com | 43 | National IYP |
9 | www.bbb.org | 39 | National IYP |
10 | local.yahoo.com | 32 | National IYP |
11 | www.linkedin.com | 30 | Job Search |
12 | www.youtube.com | 30 | Video |
13 | www.thumbtack.com | 29 | Home Improvement & Services |
14 | www.yellowbook.com | 25 | National IYP |
15 | www.groupon.com | 22 | National IYP |
16 | www.tripadvisor.com | 18 | Travel |
17 | https://jobs.monster.com | 16 | Job Search |
18 | https://foursquare.com | 15 | National IYP |
19 | www.homeadvisor.com | 15 | Home Improvement & Services |
20 | https://porch.com | 13 | Home Improvement & Services |
21 | https://en.wikipedia.org | 12 | Wikipedia |
22 | www.bizjournals.com | 12 | National IYP |
23 | www.whitepages.com | 11 | National IYP |
24 | https://threebestrated.com | 11 | National IYP |
25 | www.glassdoor.com | 10 | Job Search |
26 | www.dexknows.com | 9 | National IYP |
27 | www.simplyhired.com | 9 | Job Search |
28 | www.houzz.com | 8 | Home Improvement & Services |
29 | www.weddingwire.com | 7 | Weddings |
30 | www.10best.com | 7 | Travel |
31 | www.careerbuilder.com | 6 | Job Search |
32 | www.expedia.com | 6 | Travel |
33 | www.healthgrades.com | 6 | Health |
34 | www.theknot.com | 6 | Weddings |
35 | https://www1.salary.com | 6 | Job Search |
36 | https://local.dmv.org | 5 | Government |
37 | www.livingsocial.com | 5 | National IYP |
38 | www.whodoyou.com | 5 | National IYP |
39 | www.zillow.com | 5 | Real Estate |
40 | www.zocdoc.com | 5 | Health |
41 | www.thrillist.com | 4 | Travel/Food |
42 | www.zomato.com | 4 | Restaurants |
43 | www.city-data.com | 4 | National IYP |
44 | www.mystore411.com | 4 | National IYP |
45 | www.trulia.com | 3 | Real Estate |
46 | www.wellness.com | 3 | Health |
47 | www.allmenus.com | 3 | Restaurants |
48 | www.findmeglutenfree.com | 3 | Restaurants |
49 | www.fixr.com | 3 | Home Improvement & Services |
50 | www.grainger.com | 3 | Retailer |
51 | www.interias.com | 3 | Home Improvement & Services |
52 | www.looksharp.com | 3 | Job Search |
53 | www.loopnet.com | 3 | Real Estate |
54 | www.thebluebook.com | 3 | Autos |
55 | www.virtualtourist.com | 3 | Travel |
56 | https://agency.nationwide.com | 2 | Insurance |
57 | https://doctor.webmd.com | 2 | Health |
58 | https://freeclinicdirectory.org | 2 | Health |
59 | https://eventful.com | 2 | Events |
60 | www.thomasnet.com | 2 | B2B Services |
61 | https://health.usnews.com | 2 | Health |
62 | https://local.intuit.com | 2 | National IYP |
63 | https://k12.niche.com | 2 | School Directory |
64 | www.schooldigger.com | 2 | Education |
65 | www.vitals.com | 2 | Health |
66 | https://stores.jcpenney.com | 2 | Retailer |
67 | https://locations.budget.com | 2 | Car Rental |
68 | www.allonesearch.com | 2 | National IYP |
69 | www.ameripriseadvisors.com | 2 | Financial |
70 | www.beautyseeker.com | 2 | Beauty & Health |
71 | www.booking.com | 2 | Travel |
72 | www.bringfido.com | 2 | Pet Friendly Travel |
73 | www.calculateme.com | 2 | Insurance |
74 | www.care.com | 2 | Baby Sitters |
75 | www.caring.com | 2 | Senior Living |
76 | www.chowhound.com | 2 | Restaurants/Food |
77 | www.clubplanet.com | 2 | Music Clubs |
78 | www.concretenetwork.com | 2 | Contractors |
79 | www.erieinsurance.com | 2 | Insurance Agency |
80 | www.eventbrite.com | 2 | Local Events |
81 | www.eventective.com | 2 | Local Event Planning |
82 | www.feeonlynetwork.com | 2 | Financial Planner Directory |
83 | www.freeclinics.com | 2 | Medical Clinic Directory |
84 | www.greatschools.org | 2 | School Directory |
85 | www.homes.com | 2 | Real Estate |
86 | www.hotels.com | 2 | Hotels |
87 | www.kayak.com | 2 | Travel |
88 | www.legalconsumer.com | 2 | Lawyers |
89 | www.pinterest.com | 2 | Social Media |
90 | www.plannedparenthood.org | 2 | Family Planning Centers |
91 | www.priceline.com | 2 | Travel |
92 | www.realtor.com | 2 | Real Estate |
93 | www.reddit.com | 2 | Forum |
94 | www.travelocity.com | 2 | Travel |
95 | www.tuscl.net | 2 | Music Clubs |
96 | www.urgentcarelocations.com | 2 | Urgent Care Centers |
97 | www.usnews.com | 2 | News Site |
98 | www.zagat.com | 2 | Restaurants |
99 | https://top10weddingvendors.com | 2 | Weddings |
100 | https://usplaces.com | 2 | National IYP |
Andrew Shotland is the proprietor of Local SEO Guide, a SEO consultancy focused on enterprise search engine optimization for local media properties and multi-location businesses. He also has a blog about Apple Maps.