Why I’m partnering with Yext

I recently decided to become a Yext partner to better help my clients with brick-and-mortar locations. Yext is the most efficient and effective way to manage local listings across the web.

If you’re a client of mine, I’ll provide this service for you at cost (what Yext charges me), per location. If you’re not a client, maybe you should become one.

You don’t have to be in Charlotte with me to benefit from my Yext partnership. Most of my clients are based in other cities, all over the U.S.

Local listings are an easy win for many businesses

When I say “local listing,” I’m referring to a website that features your business’s location. Usually, this provides your address and phone number. Sometimes this includes some photos or even a link to your website. Yext helps manage local listings on several different websites.

If you have a locally focused business, local listings are vital to an SEO campaign (or LLMs, for that matter). This is not only because many people are looking for your location on Google. Sometimes, it can be easier to show up for a Google search in a local listing than a competitive keyword.

Some local listings provide links, which are still essential to Google’s algorithm. Not every link contributes to Google’s algorithm, but some will help.

Local listings are valuable even if you’re not engaged in an SEO campaign. This is because they present your business on a website where people are looking for you. Not all searches are on Google. People use Facebook as a search engine. People turn to Yelp to find a nearby business. Your car’s GPS is even a search engine. Heck, even your iPhone is a search engine- ask Siri. If you want to be found in these “alternative” search engines, Yext can help.

The scalable and efficient way to manage local listings

When it comes to SEO, you need consistency. Google doesn’t serve up every business listing it finds. It only serves a few. Which does it choose? It’s got its algorithm to decide which ones. Most experts agree that one of the most critical factors in Google’s decision is the consistency of the citations. In other words, the more websites that say your business is at that location, the more confident Google is in your listing. Google considers more than just the address- it’s also looking for your phone number. All this information must be consistent across as many credible websites as possible. Yext helps ensure your address and phone number are consistent, so Google will trust your listing and serve your business.

Beyond SEO, users need consistent local listings, too. Have you ever tried to contact a business you found online, only to find out that the website gave you the wrong number? Worse: Have you driven somewhere only to find the business moved? Keep your listings updated- so this doesn’t happen to your customers!

What would customers find if they looked for you?

Use this Listing Report to see what customers might find if they looked for you.

For a while, I tried manually updating every listing I could find. Quickly, I realized this was pretty futile. Perhaps you feel that way after using the listing tool above. You could do this manually. It will take a lot of time and effort. You might not be able to get every citation perfectly, but you can get close. There are other services you can use to help, too.

I went with Yext because it’s the most efficient way to do this. Hour-by-hour and dollar-for-dollar, it was the best option I could find.