Citation Management: Manual vs. Aggregator
You might be wondering, why do I need citation management? Well, local search results are dependent on healthy citations and leads in order to improve rankings, website traffic and ultimately, conversions. Good citation management allows your community to have an accurate impression of your business instead of being misdirected by incorrect or duplicate listings. If you have decided to outsource this vital project, let us help you decide which company is right for you.
Manual Submission - The process of claiming or updating citation directly on each directory site. It is typically done one site at a time by your third party agency.
- Pay per site
- Ownership of each submission for future updates (Sesame SEO Note: Do not use a manual submission company that does not guarantee that your listings belong to you once you complete your relationship.)
- Customize submissions to sites that meet your business goals
- A representative can manage removing duplicate listings
- Listings are live immediately after submission (Sesame SEO Note: There are always exceptions, some directory sites require a review from their site editor.)
- Owned submissions do not lose ‘trust’ with search engines (Sesame SEO Note: It is still good practice to login and review your information periodically. Some companies will offer a ‘hosting fee’ to do this for you.)
Data Aggregator - Local Data Aggregators (LDAs) are sites you can subscribe to that will collect the information you provide them with and distribute it to a set of directory listings in their network.
- Pay one fee for submission
- Listings are created in mass but unclaimed (Sesame SEO Note: This will require you to re-submit your listing to every site in your subscription for updates.)
- Every site within the LDA network will have the opportunity to pick up your data
- Automated logic to manage duplicates in their database (Sesame SEO Note: You will want to verify your information is appearing correctly on individual sites.)
- Each LDA varies but overall it takes between 1-6 months for listings to appear after submission
- After 12 months your data loses ‘trust’ and may alter data if they find new information from a different source
What would Sesame’s SEO team recommend? Part of your SEO service is a manual submission to Google and Bing and a submission through the LDA LocalEze. If you are outsourcing your citation management, we recommend using a service that compliments rather than duplicates your efforts. A manual submission company will allow you to provide a list of the sites you are already managing (through us) and request a recommendation on the sites they can additionally provide you.