Manual Citation Submission VS Data Aggregator Submissions: Which Performs Better
Manual Citation Submission VS Data Aggregator Submissions: Which Performs Better
When a business wants to be found online, they need the right listing in order for their data and name presented correctly. There’s no easy way of doing this yourself so at Advice Local we work hard on making sure that your small or large company gets listed with accurate information about you as well as NAP updates regularly!
It can take some time creating all those listings from Google My Business (GMB) accounts down through Bing & Yahoo Search Marketing alliances but when done properly will make sure customers come knocking faster than ever before.
Differences Between Data Aggregators and Manual Citation Submissions
In order to stay up-to date with the constantly changing internet, companies must rely on manual citation submissions. This is a very time consuming task that requires multiple verification steps and can be quite tedious for employees who have other responsibilities in their company beyond just inputting data onto one site all day long.
Data aggregators – sometimes referred to as local data aggregators – make things a bit simpler. The use of data aggregators helps a local business spread their NAP to a multitude of sources with minimal effort. Simply put, data aggregator submissions take care of verification steps and spread information much faster than doing it manually.
Data aggregators are great for quickly getting the information you need, but it’s important not to rely on them exclusively. Local businesses can submit their listings and URLs directly into Google My Business or Bing Places via our Data Amplifier Network; this will ensure that they appear in more accurate search results with less delay than if submitted through any one single source like Yelp!
So, which is the better option: manually submitting citations or submitting to the top four data aggregators to reach multiple sources? Keep reading to learn the pros and cons of both methods, as well as our recommendation to achieve the most success with online directories.
The Manual Citation Submission Process
It is possible for a manual citation building service to address all of the necessary directories and listing sites. Assuming that it takes 10 minutes on average, you could easily spend two weeks’ worth of time submitting only top level submissions alone.
Since it’s completely free to submit citations manually to most sources, some businesses choose to do this to save money. However, depending on how many submissions are necessary and if the business has the manpower and time to spend on the task, the sheer workload can overrule the monetary savings.
While manually submitting can give a business more control over their listings, their listings can still get overridden by other data sources quite easily. This is one-way bad data can happen.
The Data Aggregator Submission Process
The four main data aggregators in the United States can be a time-consuming process for businesses with multiple locations. However, it’s not too difficult to submit your company if you have an experienced team on hand that will take care of all these submissions and more.
Data aggregators in the United States are powerful and one of the most important ways to ensure a local business gets found online. Submitting a local business’ NAP to these sources allows the information to be shared with multiple sources – and the right kind of sources.
Submitting to data aggregators can improve consumers’ trust in a local business. Did you know that 80 percent of consumers lose trust in local businesses if they see inconsistent or incorrect details online? When businesses submit correct NAP information to data aggregators, they can reduce the number of inaccurate citations around the internet.
Can I Hire Someone to Do Business Listing Submissions?
As we’ve said before, not all directories are created equal. Still it would be a shame to only submit your data once or twice and then stop that way of keeping up with what’s going on in the community. There might even come an opportunity where you could get more customers because people will know about how great they treat their clients through these third parties like Advice Local.
There are many listing management services that send a business’ information through an expansive network of directories and data aggregators, ensuring that the company has the most accurate online presence possible (for example, review our Data Amplifier Network, which includes the top data aggregators, local pages like Google, Bing and Yelp, plus GPS and mapping apps like Garmin, Apple and Waze).
The data aggregator scan tool will help you to see which top-level website information is available for your business. This feature can also provide a more comprehensive view into where it may be lacking, based on those websites that don’t have this service listed as well.
The Impact of Duplicate Citations
You might think “the more citations, the merrier,” right? Wrong. More citations may translate to duplicate listings which is bad for businesses of all kinds especially when one or both are inaccurate information-containing them can result in lost customers and even decrease your ranking on Google search engines like they do with spammy sites!
According to BrightLocal, roughly 78 percent of consumers say they’d stop using a local business if they found incorrect information in online directories. Furthermore, Google sees duplicates as spam, and the business’ online ranking may suffer.
That’s another benefit of hiring a third party to handle submissions – some services will clean up incorrect information scattered around the internet. The business’ ranking and visibility will benefit as a result. It’s imperative to understand how the listing management partner you choose handles the citation cleanup process.
How Can a Business Decide Which Submission Is Right?
A small business owner’s first decision when it comes to submitting their company information can be a complicated one. Start off by using the most important sources, such as Google My Business and Bing before expanding out with other services if necessary or available in your budget range.
Since data aggregator submissions tackle a large range of sites, going there next is a good step.
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