Which Business Directories Should a Local Business Be Listed On?

By Bill Stilwell · Last reviewed October 16, 2026

The short answer

After Google, Bing, and Apple, claim a short list of listings that matter for your type of business: Yelp, your Facebook Page, Nextdoor, and your Better Business Bureau (BBB) profile, plus home service sites like Angi or Thumbtack if you do home services. Data providers like Data Axle and Neustar Localeze pass your business facts to other sites, so getting them right helps fix errors at the source. Quality and accuracy matter more than the number of listings.

What this means

There are two kinds of places your business info lives:

Directories. Sites people search directly, like Yelp or Nextdoor.
Data providers. Companies that collect business facts and pass them along to search engines, maps, apps, and other sites. You may never visit them, but their data shows up elsewhere.

Here’s what we could confirm from each company’s own pages:

Yelp. Yelp says it’s free to be on Yelp. You claim your page at biz.yelp.com. Ads cost extra.
Nextdoor. Nextdoor offers a free Business Page. Only owners, employees, or authorized representatives can claim one.
Better Business Bureau. BBB says you don’t need to be accredited to have a business profile.
Facebook Page. Meta lets businesses create a Page for their business.
Angi. Angi says pros can set up a free profile, and advertising is paid. HomeAdvisor’s pro side is now Angi Leads, which charges per lead.
Thumbtack. Signing up is free. Pros pay to send quotes to customers.
Data Axle. Data Axle offers free listing management for 1 to 10 locations and says it sends data to search engines, directories, and navigation systems.
Neustar Localeze. A paid yearly service that says it sends data to more than 90 platforms, including Apple Maps and Bing.
Foursquare. Foursquare shut down its City Guide app in December 2024. Listings still exist in its Swarm app and are shared with its data partners. You can claim yours at business.foursquare.com.

Say Ridgeline Electric moved last year. Google and Bing are fixed, but a Global Positioning System (GPS) app still shows the old address. Updating the listing with the data providers fixes the source many other sites pull from.

Why it matters

Wrong facts spread. One bad record at a data provider can show up on dozens of sites.
Search engines and artificial intelligence (AI) tools compare sources. When your facts match everywhere, it’s easier for them to trust they’re all the same business (see 19.7 Entity Consistency).
Customers read other review sites. Yelp, BBB, and Nextdoor reviews still shape decisions.
Paid lead sites cost real money. Signing up is often free, but leads or quotes aren’t.

Who this applies to

Every local business should claim Yelp, Facebook, and the data providers. Home service businesses should look at Angi, Thumbtack, and Nextdoor. Restaurants, salons, and shops should take Yelp especially seriously.

You can skip directories that have nothing to do with your industry or area. More listings don’t mean better results.

How to do it

Start with your Master Business Record so every listing uses the same name, address, phone, hours, and website (see 5 Master Business Record).
Search each site for your business before creating anything. Claim what’s there. Report or merge duplicates.
Claim Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor, and BBB using a business-owned email.
Check your listing with Data Axle’s free tool and Foursquare. Fix anything wrong.
Decide whether a paid service like Localeze is worth it for you. Ask what it updates and for how long.
For home service sites, read the pricing and contract before you turn on leads (see 20.3 Lead Vendor Terms).
Look for trusted local and industry sites: your chamber of commerce, trade association, or licensing board directory. Ask each one how listings work and what they cost.
Record every listing in your citation list with the login owner and date checked (see 14.4.6 Citation Records).
Recheck the list every quarter and after any move, phone change, or name change.

What proof to keep

Your citation list: site, link, login owner, date claimed, date last checked
Screenshots of each claimed listing
Contracts and pricing for any paid listing or lead service
Confirmation emails from data providers when you submit changes

Keep these in your listing records folder.

Common mistakes

Buying a package that “submits to 300 directories.” Many of those sites don’t matter, and the listings can be hard to fix later.
Creating new listings without searching first. That’s how duplicates start.
Using a different phone number on each site. Keep it consistent (see 12.3.3 Call Tracking for when tracking numbers make sense).
Paying for leads without tracking them. Know your cost per job, not just per lead (see 20.10 Paid-Job Economics).
Letting a paid service lapse without checking. Ask what happens to your listings if you stop paying.
Ignoring data providers. Fixing Yelp alone won’t fix an old address that keeps coming back from another source.

When to get help from a pro

A local listings specialist: if old addresses or phone numbers keep coming back, or you have many locations. Questions to ask:

Which data source is sending the wrong information?
What happens to my listings if I stop paying for your service?

Attorney: before signing a long or auto-renewing lead contract.

Bill’s note

[Bill: add a short story or lesson here. For example, an old address a client couldn’t get rid of until it was fixed at the data source, or which directories you’ve seen actually send calls for local service businesses.]

If you’d rather have this done for you, SiteSmarty handles local listing setup and cleanup.

How I did this for SiteSmarty

[Date I did this:]
[What I actually did, step by step: which directories and data providers I claimed for SiteSmarty, and which I skipped]
[What it cost and how long it took:]
[What surprised me or what I’d do differently:]
[Screenshot or photo to add, with private info blurred: the SiteSmarty citation list with status and dates]
[Result so far:]

Questions people ask

What is a data aggregator for business listings? A company that collects business facts and passes them to search engines, maps, apps, and directories. Data Axle and Neustar Localeze are examples.

Is Yelp free for businesses? Yes. Yelp says it’s free to be on Yelp. Advertising costs extra.

Do I need to pay for Angi or Thumbtack? Both let you create a profile for free. Angi charges for advertising and leads. Thumbtack charges when you send quotes.

Is Foursquare still used? Its City Guide app shut down in December 2024, but Foursquare still keeps listings and shares them with data partners.

How many directories do I really need? Enough to cover the major maps, the big review sites for your industry, and the main data providers. Accuracy matters more than count.

Audit check

Question: Is the business claimed on the key directories and data providers for its type, with facts that match the Master Business Record and a current citation list?
Pass looks like: Google, Bing, Apple, Yelp, Facebook, and data providers claimed and accurate. Industry sites added where they make sense. A citation list with login owners and dates. No duplicates.
Fail looks like: Mixed phone numbers or addresses across sites. Duplicate listings. A pile of low-quality directory listings no one can log into. Paid lead services with no tracking.
Evidence to collect: The citation list, screenshots of key listings, and contracts for any paid service.

Where this fits

Do this first: 14.11.1 Bing Places for Business, 14.11.2 Apple Business Connect, 14.4.6 Citation Records

Do this next: 19.1 Keyword Research

Sources

Yelp for Business, "Free and paid advertising solutions" (checked October 16, 2026)
Nextdoor, "Create a Free Business Page on Nextdoor" (checked October 16, 2026)
Better Business Bureau, "BBB business resources" (checked October 16, 2026)
Angi, "Frequently Asked Questions" (checked October 16, 2026)
Thumbtack, "Thumbtack for Pros" (checked October 16, 2026)
Data Axle, "Local Listings Management & Distribution" (checked October 16, 2026)
Neustar Localeze, "Small Business Services" (checked October 16, 2026)
Foursquare Support, "City Guide Sunset" (checked October 16, 2026)
Foursquare Support, "Claiming a listing" (checked October 16, 2026)
Meta, "What to Know Before You Create a Page" (checked October 16, 2026)

This page explains general rules and Bill's own experience. It is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Talk to a qualified professional about your situation.