Directory submissions have taken a bashing by SEO companies over the past 5 years, since the release of penguin any link building services that are “manual” are seen as wrong by some members of the community, the sad fact is, Google never wanted to stop people from manually promoting their website, they just wanted to enforce the importance of being natural rather than specific anchor text links. Below are the top 5 UK business directories you should submit your website, blog and any business you own to.
Yell
This is the biggest business directory in the UK, with the majority of inner yell.com pages ranking on page 1 for local phrases (Industry + Location keywords) you should 100% submit your site here, included in your listing you receive a link back to your website and you have the option to “upgrade” which can be highly profitable to businesses in competitive locations.
My Local Services
MLS UK is one of the busiest and most active forum and directories in the UK, with over 10,000 active small business members the aim is to grow into a competitor for the likes of Yell and Yelp but providing a more personal business approach. Both free and upgraded options available here.
Linkedin is the home of business online, a website with huge authority in the online business world, all businesses whether online of brick and mortar should have a Linkedin Company page, simply create a simple page, include your website link and business information and take advantage of a potential source of referrals.
192.com
One of the top 10 biggest directories in the world and as a result one that should be seriously considered. Simply submit your businesses information and in 5 minutes you have another powerful, trusted listing.
Google now looks for “trust signals” one of these is businesses with active and well established social profiles. If you have a well made Twitter and Facebook page that your business posts to a few times a week, this lets Google know you are still active and ready to receive visitors to your site and perform your service.
Sidenote: More important than all of the above directories or citation sources is Google Plus (or Google Business), you must have your Google business page set-up correctly. When combined together, directories and citations are used in our local SEO services for the best results.
