Online Directories - The New Yellow Pages

Almost every company that brings products or services to the market wants to be found by customers online. The days when one has found the yellow pages when looking for a new car repair shop, an insurance or a specific product, searched for his region and leafed through the individual entries are over. Today, just about any search starts with a smartphone or laptop, and ideally, it quickly delivers a meaningful list of companies in the area that can meet their current needs and wishes. For the evening on TripAdvisor choose the best restaurant in the area. Check the telephone number of the doctor's office at Das Örtliche and "Alexa, which auto repair shop is on Saturday?". Directory entries, so-called Local Listings, are encountered throughout our everyday lives. But where does all this information we can retrieve in the age of voice assistants, Google and smartphones so easily come from?

Secure Information and Reviews

In most cases, this information comes first-hand to the company itself - a safe source, so to speak. They are up-to-date and easily customizable compared to their paper predecessors. By registering your own company on online directories, you can be sure that not only customers but also search engines can easily and reliably find the key data. Such information is usually the company name, the address, telephone number, e-mail and usually also the own website. But that's not all, in most cases, directories offer other benefits such as a valuation function. Whether with test reports, asterisks or likes - the better the ratings, the better the image with potential customers and the findability online. After all, nobody has to buy or use anything today without having previously received extensive information about the pros and cons.

Yellow Pages 2.0

The majority of users are looking specifically for industry and region for the perfect provider and can thus make on these (comparison) pages and lists a comprehensive picture of the offer. They usually already have a particular product or service in mind that they would like to purchase. Entries in directories not only help you find the right provider, but getting there is also child's play thanks to the local listings. In addition, the providers can also be found regionally in navigation systems and location services such as Google Maps or Apple Maps. This is especially important as more and more customers look for vendors in the area while they are on the move. Thus, as a company, you should not only offer mobile-friendly websites but also display them via the directories in the search results of map services.

The right directory for each

When it comes to choosing the right directory and the options on the individual platforms, there are virtually no limits. Whether you are looking for classic directories such as the Yellow Pages, search engines like Google and Bing, or language assistants like Amazon Alexa or Siri - the degree to which you want to use these local listings lies entirely with the user. However, there are already IT systems that can manage the many individual directory entries collectively. This ensures that even with entries on 100 different platforms and directories, the information can always be updated on a daily basis and with little effort. In addition, users can directly view reviews and respond to them. All in all, online directories provide an easy and quick way to increase discoverability online and provide customers with easy access to their website and related information.