Local SEO - Are directory listings worth it?
businesses need to be a little more selective about where they show up.
In the world of local SEO, directory listings used to be the gold standard for getting found online. But in 2025, businesses need to be a little more selective about where they show up.
The truth? Not all directories are created equal.
✅ Most Valuable for SEO & Conversions (Definitely List)
These directly help with:
Local SEO (helping your boutique show up on Google Maps/search),
Building trust, and
Driving real traffic or conversions.
Google Business Profile — Essential for local SEO. Appears in Maps and Google Search.
Facebook Business Pages — Great for engagement, social proof, and direct conversions.
Instagram Business Accounts — Perfect for visual-first marketing and top-of-funnel awareness.
Yell.com — Still a major player for local UK directory visibility.
Apple Business Connect — Essential for helping iPhone and Siri users find your location via Apple Maps.
Bing Places for Business — Helps with Bing Maps visibility and voice search (especially Cortana users).
Waze for Business — Very useful for driving directions and local discovery.
Foursquare for Business — Supports local discovery apps still used by millions.
🟡 Potentially Useful (Secondary Benefit)
These might help a bit with:
Citation consistency (NAP = Name, Address, Phone),
Citation-building and link diversity
Niche or regional visibility,
Long-tail SEO.
Evening Standard, The Scotsman, MyLondon, Daily Record: Good for regional SEO signals, if indexed
InYourArea — Good for hyper-local news and community presence.
MapQuest, Mapbox, Navmii, TomTom, HERE: Navigation apps – low traffic, but geo visibility
Nextdoor — Can drive hyper-local awareness if you're active and engaging.
OpenAI, TikTok, Snapchat, Brave, Alexa, SafeGraph: Mixed relevance – mostly data aggregation or emerging tech
Amazon Alexa: Voice search potential, but limited impact
192.com, Central Index GB: Citation/niche SEO relevance
❌ Low Value for SEO or Conversions (Skip or Low Priority)
These are either:
Data aggregators with no direct user-facing benefit,
Obsolete or rarely used, or
Poorly maintained directories.
Why it's low value: Mapstr, Pitney Bowes, Dun & Bradstreet, SafeGraph
Mostly B2B data usage or internal, Yandex: Not relevant to UK audience, tellows: Focused on spam call reporting, not useful.
Recommendations:
Prioritise your Google Business Profile, Facebook, Instagram, Bing, and Apple Maps listings – these actually drive real traffic and conversions.
Maintain consistent NAP info across all listings – this boosts trust with Google even if some listings get minimal traffic.
Monitor directory accuracy, but don’t overpay for obscure directories that don’t deliver value.
Opt out of irrelevant or foreign directories – they dilute your local SEO signal.
Want to Know Where You Stand?
We’re offering a free directory listing check for businesses in the UK. I’ll run a full audit of your current online listings and tell you:
Which listings are live, broken, or inconsistent
Which ones to keep, fix, or ditch
How to improve your local SEO without paying for pointless directory services
Interested? Message us here, and we’ll send you the info you need.
Let’s help your business show up where it actually matters.
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