Are you looking to get your business ranked at the top of Google Local SEO? Yext may be able to help. They claim to be able to ‘put your business on the map.’
Yext is a service provider that partners with local and national directories. This makes it easy for you to get listed in them.
This guide will help you understand more about Yext, how it works, and if it is the best option for your business.
Being listed in top local directories like Yelp, Yellowpages, Thumbtack, and Foursquare is a ranking factor for your website when prospects search for your name, service or business. So getting listed there can be beneficial.
But is Yext Worth It? Read my detailed review to find out, including pricing information, alternatives, and what happens when you cancel with Yext.
WHAT IS YEXT?
Listing your business on local directories can be a time-consuming task. But with Yext, you can get instant listings on sites like Yelp, Superpages, and Citysearch. Yext coordinates your information across various internet databases and social media platforms, making it easy for customers to find you. Plus, with an extensive network of websites and directories integrated into the Yext Knowledge Engine, you’ll be able to reach more people than ever before.
You no longer need to list your business on local directories manually.
They have managed to build an extensive network of websites and directories which are integrated into the Yext Knowledge Engine.
CAN YEXT HELP GROW MY LOCAL BUSINESS?
Yext places the control of your company’s vital information back in your hands.
You can update, edit, manage, customize, and sync your data across all Yext products, including:
- Business Name, Phone Number, and Address.
- Business Categories.
- Hours of operation, holiday hours, videos and photos, services and products, staff info, calendars, and menus.
- Content in any address or language format.
- In-store coupons and other wallet content.
- Location labels, folders and advanced filtering and search.
- Bulk site and editing templates that make it simple to insert new locations.
- Fundamental roles and permissions to ensure staff maintains the proper levels of access.
WHAT ARE LOCAL BUSINESS CITATIONS AND DO THEY MATTER?
A citation is related to information about your business including name, location/address, phone number, hours, and categories.
They are the equivalent of “digital mentions.” Any time that your company is mentioned online with your NAP, your business has been “cited.”
The information may include is the name of the business, the address of the company, the phone number, postal or zip code, and the website address. These pieces of information can be listed in any order.
These data points must be accurate across platforms. It is more important that they are consistent.
Major platforms include:
- Acxiom
- Angie’s List
- Apple Maps
- Bing
- Factual
- Foursquare
- Google My Business
- Local.com
- Mapquest
- Superpages
- Yahoo Local
- YP
- Yelp
It is essential to understand the different types of citations.
Structured citations
A structured citation includes business directories. These directories are usually easy ways to submit your information and get an extra mention of your business online. You can find structured citations on MapQuest, Yellow Pages, Yelp, Superpages, and Facebook.
Unstructured citations
An unstructured citation still includes your name, address, and phone number. However, the information is not listed on directory sites, but another type of site.
These are mentions that come from blogs, content marketing, on websites, and social media.
Citation Consistency or NAP
The three most important pieces of information for a company to place in a citation include the company name, the company address and the company phone number. When they are placed together, the name (N), address (A) and the phone (P) are known as the company’s NAP.
Companies are advised to make sure their NAP is consistent everywhere online. If a business is listed in GMB and Bing they should both contain the same abbreviations, spellings, phone number, etc.
If they are inaccurate, customers are potentially misdirected by inconsistent or incorrect information, and Google begins to rank your site as unreliable.
HOW DOES YEXT WORK?
We have talked about what Yext is, but not how Yext works; so let’s take a more in-depth look.
Yext helps you in two ways.
Firstly, by automating the deployment of your business listing on various local directories. This assists users in finding consistent information such as name, location, and contact number when they search for you on Google.
SEO benefits, citation consistency is a top ranking factor.
All you need to do is provide the data once. When Yext has all your companies information, it distributes the information throughout its network, known as the Yext Knowledge Engine. Your listing will usually show up within hours with no approval or phone verification required, except for Google and Bing.
At any point in time, a user can quickly update data from one central dashboard.
YEXT REVIEW AND BENEFITS
There is no doubt that Yext enhances the online presence of your local business.
Let’s have a more in-depth look at the specific benefits that Yext offers:
Instant Real Time Submission
As soon as you sign up, information from your profile is submitted to different directories instantly.
Easy Operation
Yext is very simple to manage, even for people with a non-technical background. It has a simple to understand dashboard which contains all the information about you and your business.
Immediate Changes Reflected
Every time you make a change on Yext, it gets updated instantly. This ensures that your viewers are always checking out the recent data.
Review Monitoring
Online reputation management is integrated into Yext.
It fetches all your reviews from a range of local directories, social media platforms, and others, and displays them on your dashboard. There are regular updates or notifications about new reviews so that you are always informed and can manage your reviews accordingly.
Analytics and Reporting
Yext does not stop at merely collecting and displaying your information on the online platforms. It gives you updates and provides you with local listing analytics to ensure that you have a good idea of how a particular business listing is performing.
Potential Improved Local Search Engine Rankings
Yext lists your business on a range of high authority local and national directories. It can help you in improving your search engine rankings as part of an overall SEO strategy.
Additional Information
Yext includes extra information on many listings, such as items that will increase your visibility. This could include special offers, promotions, pictures, and videos.
With all of these factors combined, Yext can be a powerful platform to boost your SEO.
Yext normally costs $99.00/mo, but Agent CRM users can sign up for Yext for only $59.95/mo (saving $40 per month).