Set some basic foundations for a solid SEO campaign, and give your local business a boost with some of the top New Zealand business directories. Also included is a free download of a spreadsheet with a constantly updated list of NZ directories you can use.

Also known as citations, local listings, directories can vary quite widely, but the core of what a directory is, is basically a digital version of something like Yellow Pages where people can visit to find a list of businesses that provide a service they are requiring.

Most business directories offer a range of options, some have free and paid tiers for premium features - such as a more prominent placement on the website, or additional options to add to your directory listing. 

Most will allow you to create an account and add your business to the directory, including things like your business name, website, address, phone number, logo, business hours etc.

In a lot of different industries, there are also directory websites built specifically for that category of business. You can also get directories that only accept businesses operating within a specific area.

Compete with the top guys, help with local relevance if you can get listed on some hyperlocal websites. NAP - Name address phone number website.

Mix of do-follow and no-follow backlinks. Some directory websites only give you a no-follow backlink. They are still worthwhile having in the mix as long as it isn’t going to be too much effort to go and build the listing. Many will provide a do-follow link to your website.

It seems like a great way to get them done - pay someone about $20 on Fiverr to go out and build about 30-40 directory listings, but there are issues with this. To be straight, in lower competition industries, this can be just fine because the competition is so weak it doesn’t take much to beat them. But when you’re going after the serious money-maker industries you don’t want to cheap out on directories.

The main issue with Fiverr gig directory building services is that they don’t build unique and detailed listings, all the info is just copy-pasted across them all really quickly, the listings that are built are often not really using good lists of websites, and a lot of the time I find that the accounts get removed/banned - possibly due to IP address locations, or they are using automation software to enter the data. All of this leads to a lot of the listings not being indexed in Google.

Instead, the best way to build directories is manually… it sucks as it is super tedious, but unfortunately that is the only way to ensure that everything is done correctly and detailed enough. This is not a good answer for many people - who wants to go build 100 directory listings?... not a fun thing to do right?

A compromise is to use a more premium directory building service. Many will allow you to provide them with custom spintax, or they will spin the content you provide them so that it is more unique. Some will also drip the listings through indexing software to help get them picked up as well. 

I recommend this as a good way to get some decent listings created that will stick, and you get a list of all the ones they have built with login access. If you ask them, a lot of the companies also let you send them a list of websites to build directory listings on as long as they are not paid ones, so that is a nice bonus as well..

Below are some premium directory services for building directory listings/citations in New Zealand, as well as monitor and audit your existing listings

Something that can be quite useful is to include a list of your directory listings in your sameAs schema markup on your website. Once you get it re-crawled after doing so, it can help get more of the directories indexed, while also providing Google information verifying that these listings are actually associated with your business.

YouTube citation - YouTube can be a great opportunity for directories. What I do often is create a video citation - usually just a slideshow video with the business logo and maybe a description about the business. In the cover image I will also upload the logo including the name, address, phone, and website in the image. Google can read text on images.

The video is then uploaded to YouTube, with the title being the business name and phone number. The description will be unique, and also have the name, address, phone, website. And a list of all the directory listings included as well.

Once the video is published, you can also use the embed feature to place the video on various places around the web, and on your assets as well. I usually share it on twitter, make a post in Google My Business with the video, and all the links + description etc. And also across any other assets such as web2.0’s and other Google properties.

One other thing that many people overlook is that once the directory listings are created, you’ve now got a nice buffer set of links that you can blast with more spammy link building tactics to help power them up further. So on the top directory sites you get, you can use things like SEO Autopilot or Money Robot to help blast links to these sites. Sometimes I’ve also bought links from Legiit and sent them straight to my directory websites which has worked out nicely - If using SEOAP or MR, I’d suggest not using the defaults however, as they aren’t too effective.