Glad you got value from it! You might also appreciate my Facebook group for more SEO tips. Feel free to ask any other questions you have there and I'll answer them. facebook.com/groups/mostpracticalseo
Hey Michael, great video. If I'm having a problem with my GMB listing ( currently suspended due to address issue), is that something BrightLocals with be able to help with?
I'm not specifically sure if this is something BrightLocal can help with. It would be worth contacting their support to ask. Otherwise, you may have to contact Google. You can contact their support from GMB. Watch this video for help: ruclips.net/video/3L5DlZFKklw/видео.html (Note: some features have changed due to COVID-19, so you may only be able to contact by email. Things are changing frequently due to the pandemic.)
Great video. I have been with Bright Local for about a year now and I learned some great things with this. Do you have experience with the keywords in bright local and how to help your client rank better with the key words they gave to you?
Hi Brad. I believe you are referring to the "Rank Checker", yes? This, unfortunately, doesn't help the keywords rank better, but rather simply track the progress (position changes) of those keywords. It's a reporting tool only.
Does the login credentials get shared with you so you have control of the directory once brightlocal creates them? Also, do you have thoughts on whitespark?
Hmm, not that I can think of off the top of my head. You certainly can create them yourself for free. Here's some lists of sites from... BrightLocal 😄🤦🏻♂️ - www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/general/top-50/ - www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/industry/ - www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/location/usa/
If we are building a campaign for a client what do we put in the client contact details? Say for example someone that is too busy working and is not going to pick up those verification call?
In the notes, I usually will place my contact details if I know the client won't answer. Put as much info in the notes as the team at BrightLocal should know. But it's also not a bad idea to inform your client that they will likely start seeing some emails and possibly phone calls.
Great vid! I have an aged news/gossip blog that is local specific but I live in different local. Should I used I use an new address in that location or my location?
Citations work best, and intended, for businesses who want their physical location found. So if that's true for your blog, I'd say use an address in that location (not the city you live in).
Thank you Michael, your contents have been very valuable and practical. However, BrightLocal only available for certain countries. Do you know any similar tool that can be applied in Malaysia? Thanks 😄
Will do! This video briefly covers how to go about finding directories for your industry: ruclips.net/video/c3FUNld8pqs/видео.html. And you can get a list of my top 25 free directories in my SEO kit at: mysiteranked.com/basics.
I'm CRUSHED. I thought I was doing everything right and THEN I realized that a past business partner has me listed with my old address ALL OVER THE WEB! Duplicate listings everywhere! :(
Hi Alex! BrightLocal builds their citations using real people versus automated software. The advantages, in my opinion, are: 1) you only pay once... 2) you get to choose your sites... 3) you get a second set of eyes and someone guiding you through the process. More on point #3: They will inform you ahead of time and/or during the process of any potential issues. For example, I've created citations for businesses with multiple locations who use a city in their name. Some sites don't allow for location identifiers in business names. BrightLocal will inform you of things like this and give you options to move forward or pick a different site instead. In addition, some sites require verification. They will do this in many cases, but in some cases you will have to do it. You will get notes with your completed citations of follow up items you need to do. Some extra work, but overall a better end result.
Can you suggest a tool who make million citation 1 day on fiver seller provide millions of citatation links on cheap prices ...what type of tools thy use? Plz guide
Citations will have a small impact on your website rankings, but mainly they help improve your Google map pack presence. For a local photographer, like yourself, I recommend citations. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
75 is a good amount. I think the key for you getting leads is really doing all you can to show up in the Google 3-pack for "near me" or "service + city" searches. Make sure your Google My Business (GMB) profile is complete - add photos in each category ("at work", "team", etc), write a unique description (don't pull something directly from your website), add products/services if possible - the more complete your profile can be, the more likely it will perform well. Then, the more citations you have should strengthen this GMB profile.
Also, search "photographers + [your city]" and see which photographer shows up in the 3-pack that has the most reviews. Then, go out and get more reviews than that business. The number of reviews you get on your Google My Business profile will have a greater impact on ranking than anything else you do. The business with the most reviews always has one of the three positions.
I am confused. Are you showing how to create citation profile that will update all the directory listings all at the same time or are you telling us that we have to go into and list our business info on everyone's different directories out there.
Hi David. With BrightLocal, you enter your business data as you want it to appear across all the citations (and yes, I'd recommend it match your GMB profile), then you select which directories you want to be listed on (with BrightLocal you pay per citation - one-time cost), then BrightLocal creates those listings for you so you don't have to. It is different than services like Yext, in the sense that Yext has an API that updates all their directories at once. With BrightLocal, there team creates each directory listing one-by-one for you (takes about 30 days total to complete). The advantage is you only pay once and they are manually claimed, which gives you a little more control in the future if you ever want to make manual changes to the listings yourself. Keep in mind, you can always have BrightLocal make updates to all your listings too. You just pay per listing when you need those updates made.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Thanks! I have just canceled my yext account waiting for confirmation. As soon as I get the confirmation I am coming over to you guys.
Micheal I need to speak to an English speaking person. I just been trying to purchase your service and had ask some questions and my answer I am getting are confusing me. How do I get in touch with a person who speaks good English. I don't want chat or email , I want to talk on the phone and then make my purchase. Let me know . Thank you
Hi David. Sorry to hear you're having issues. Just so you know, I am not affiliated with BrightLocal. I am just an SEO expert that really likes their product. But I'll try my best to help you out. I can say that their email support is usually quick to respond, but unfortunately I'm not sure I have ever spoken with someone over the phone at BrightLocal. You can book a demo call directly here: go.oncehub.com/bl-welcome-call. OR if you create an account (you might have to sign up for the free trial), you'll be able join upcoming demos too. Is there anything else in particular I can help answer?
Thanks Michael. Here is the situation I canceled my Yext account knowing that Yext will remove my business listings . I told Brightlocal that I canceled my Yext account and I ask them how long do I need to wait after canceling Yext account to sign up with Brighlocal. The lady gave me this confusing answer: The info she gave was new and should have been told to me before canceled the yext account. She is mentioning something about aggregators. This was her response to my question. She said Submit to aggregators seven weeks before canceling Yext. Data aggregators take around five weeks to make data available to their partners (we need two weeks notice to submit, which is where the seven-week figure comes from). This will plug the gap for when you leave Yext. Price: $60 per location Stage 2 (optional) - Order manual submissions I do not know what to do now. Can you advise? Thank you
Hi David. You can proceed right away. You don't need to wait on Yext. Canceling your Yext listings doesn't remove all your listings, they just don't continue to update them for you. So I would actually recommend ordering all these at the same time - Data Aggregators, Manual Submissions, and Removing Harmful Duplicates. The Data Aggregators submits your business info to multiple databases all at once. And when you order Manual Submissions combined with Removing Harmful Duplicates this can correct any of your existing listings that Yext created. As you go through the BrightLocal Citation Builder, it will show you which listings exist already and you can either choose to update those existing ones or create additional ones. I would only recommend updating them if the info is egregiously incorrect like wrong phone, wrong address. However, the notion that NAP (name, address, phone) has to be exactly identical has been debunked as of late. Google can decipher if one listing has your address listed as "Street" and the other "St". I recommend you'd be better off building MORE quantity versus updating existing ones (if the info is mostly correct). Also, I invite you to join my Facebook group. I've got free SEO resources in there and, starting in April, will be doing weekly live trainings. facebook.com/groups/mostpracticalseo
Unfortunately, in that case, there's not much you can do. This only works if you can publish the address. There are some office facilities (ex. Regus) that allow you to list their location as your office address and just use them for mail service and meeting space.
Elsewhere online, I've read that once you make city pages, i.e., service + location pages targeting nearby cities that you serve, you should start building citations to those pages, too. How do I go about doing that with Brightlocal? Or in general, really. Thanks! @@MichaelQuinnSEO
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Do you have any experience using services like Brightlocal to create city page citations? Their citation builder service lets you build citations to the main home page. But, it doesn't appear you can use the same service to also build local citations to location pages for the same business...
Yes, they do provide login credentials :) Once your campaign is live, look in the "Notes" section to find the username and password details. Note: not all directories will require a login.
Citations are an important factor for SEO for local service-based businesses. However, there is no way to hide your address on them. To use them, you should consider getting some sort of office you can list publicly. I wouldn't recommend using your home address (unless you don't mind your home address being publicly listed all over the internet). And PO Boxes and remote mailboxes are against Google's guidelines unfortunately.
On BrightLocal, you can go back into an old campaign and order updates. It's basically similar to when you order the original campaign. I believe the cost is the same per citation too.
Citations (directory listings) are great for local service businesses (like carpet cleaning companies) because they reinforce to Google where the business is physically located and create a greater online presence for the business, which is all good for helping the business rank higher on Google. This video helps clarify why this tactic (and a service like Bright local) helps: ruclips.net/video/c3FUNld8pqs/видео.html
I am amazed on your blog about this citation builder, it really helps, excellent job!!
Man I really loved your video. It just helped me with my queries
Amazing tutorial, very much appreciated!
Thank you Domingo!
Awesome vid. Thank you so much. This really helped. Fingers crossed my rankings shoot through the roof!
Glad you got value from it! You might also appreciate my Facebook group for more SEO tips. Feel free to ask any other questions you have there and I'll answer them. facebook.com/groups/mostpracticalseo
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Thanks so much Michael, will do!
Did this help with your GMB ranking?
Great video! Very helpful! Thanks
Thanks Art G!
this is so helpful, thank you for this video brother!
Very helpful! Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome :)
Hey Michael, great video. If I'm having a problem with my GMB listing ( currently suspended due to address issue), is that something BrightLocals with be able to help with?
I'm not specifically sure if this is something BrightLocal can help with. It would be worth contacting their support to ask. Otherwise, you may have to contact Google. You can contact their support from GMB. Watch this video for help: ruclips.net/video/3L5DlZFKklw/видео.html (Note: some features have changed due to COVID-19, so you may only be able to contact by email. Things are changing frequently due to the pandemic.)
Amazing video
Thanks Jermaine! What was most helpful about it?
If you were to use JUST this tool for Local SEO would it be enough if not what would be another tool or something you would recommend?
Great video. I have been with Bright Local for about a year now and I learned some great things with this. Do you have experience with the keywords in bright local and how to help your client rank better with the key words they gave to you?
Hi Brad. I believe you are referring to the "Rank Checker", yes? This, unfortunately, doesn't help the keywords rank better, but rather simply track the progress (position changes) of those keywords. It's a reporting tool only.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO So in your opinion, the only real way to rank better is to build the citations and have all of the NAP's fixed, correct?
Yes, that would be the only way to help improve your rankings using BrightLocal.
Does the login credentials get shared with you so you have control of the directory once brightlocal creates them? Also, do you have thoughts on whitespark?
Yes, it usually gives you full edit privileges. I've never really used Whitespark, so I don't have any input at this time.
Great....it is helpful... Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! Is there any totally free citation building services out there?
Hmm, not that I can think of off the top of my head. You certainly can create them yourself for free.
Here's some lists of sites from... BrightLocal 😄🤦🏻♂️
- www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/general/top-50/
- www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/industry/
- www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/location/usa/
If we are building a campaign for a client what do we put in the client contact details? Say for example someone that is too busy working and is not going to pick up those verification call?
In the notes, I usually will place my contact details if I know the client won't answer. Put as much info in the notes as the team at BrightLocal should know. But it's also not a bad idea to inform your client that they will likely start seeing some emails and possibly phone calls.
how many links create in 1 campaign....?
Great vid! I have an aged news/gossip blog that is local specific but I live in different local. Should I used I use an new address in that location or my location?
Citations work best, and intended, for businesses who want their physical location found. So if that's true for your blog, I'd say use an address in that location (not the city you live in).
Great video, Thank You
Thank you Michael, your contents have been very valuable and practical. However, BrightLocal only available for certain countries. Do you know any similar tool that can be applied in Malaysia? Thanks 😄
Unfortunately I don't know of a tool off the top of my head that works in Malaysia. You could look into Yext, Moz Local, or Whitespark.
Very good thanks
Thanks! Hope you got value
thanks a lot Please make a video how to build citation manually at least 50 directories
Will do! This video briefly covers how to go about finding directories for your industry: ruclips.net/video/c3FUNld8pqs/видео.html. And you can get a list of my top 25 free directories in my SEO kit at: mysiteranked.com/basics.
I'm CRUSHED. I thought I was doing everything right and THEN I realized that a past business partner has me listed with my old address ALL OVER THE WEB! Duplicate listings everywhere! :(
Oh no! Well luckily BrightLocal can fix those.
Hello bud,
What a awesome video...
Question, are you able to do these services for us?
Email me at team@mysiteranked.com with the details.
I'm wondering, why are Bright Local citations so much more expensive than competitors? Are they higher quality?
Hi Alex! BrightLocal builds their citations using real people versus automated software. The advantages, in my opinion, are: 1) you only pay once... 2) you get to choose your sites... 3) you get a second set of eyes and someone guiding you through the process. More on point #3: They will inform you ahead of time and/or during the process of any potential issues. For example, I've created citations for businesses with multiple locations who use a city in their name. Some sites don't allow for location identifiers in business names. BrightLocal will inform you of things like this and give you options to move forward or pick a different site instead. In addition, some sites require verification. They will do this in many cases, but in some cases you will have to do it. You will get notes with your completed citations of follow up items you need to do. Some extra work, but overall a better end result.
Can you suggest a tool who make million citation 1 day on fiver seller provide millions of citatation links on cheap prices ...what type of tools thy use? Plz guide
Do citations help with your ranking on your website? I’m a photographer trying to get my ranking up to get traffic.
Citations will have a small impact on your website rankings, but mainly they help improve your Google map pack presence. For a local photographer, like yourself, I recommend citations. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO I’ve ordered about 75 citations. Does it help get leads most of the time?
75 is a good amount. I think the key for you getting leads is really doing all you can to show up in the Google 3-pack for "near me" or "service + city" searches. Make sure your Google My Business (GMB) profile is complete - add photos in each category ("at work", "team", etc), write a unique description (don't pull something directly from your website), add products/services if possible - the more complete your profile can be, the more likely it will perform well. Then, the more citations you have should strengthen this GMB profile.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO you can add team to your GMB profile? I mean I feel like I have done all of that. I’ll check it today. See if it’s in a good shape.
Also, search "photographers + [your city]" and see which photographer shows up in the 3-pack that has the most reviews. Then, go out and get more reviews than that business. The number of reviews you get on your Google My Business profile will have a greater impact on ranking than anything else you do. The business with the most reviews always has one of the three positions.
I am confused. Are you showing how to create citation profile that will update all the directory listings all at the same time or are you telling us that we have to go into and list our business info on everyone's different directories out there.
Hi David. With BrightLocal, you enter your business data as you want it to appear across all the citations (and yes, I'd recommend it match your GMB profile), then you select which directories you want to be listed on (with BrightLocal you pay per citation - one-time cost), then BrightLocal creates those listings for you so you don't have to. It is different than services like Yext, in the sense that Yext has an API that updates all their directories at once. With BrightLocal, there team creates each directory listing one-by-one for you (takes about 30 days total to complete). The advantage is you only pay once and they are manually claimed, which gives you a little more control in the future if you ever want to make manual changes to the listings yourself. Keep in mind, you can always have BrightLocal make updates to all your listings too. You just pay per listing when you need those updates made.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Thanks! I have just canceled my yext account waiting for confirmation. As soon as I get the confirmation I am coming over to you guys.
Micheal I need to speak to an English speaking person. I just been trying to purchase your service and had ask some questions and my answer I am getting are confusing me. How do I get in touch with a person who speaks good English. I don't want chat or email , I want to talk on the phone and then make my purchase. Let me know . Thank you
Hi David. Sorry to hear you're having issues. Just so you know, I am not affiliated with BrightLocal. I am just an SEO expert that really likes their product. But I'll try my best to help you out. I can say that their email support is usually quick to respond, but unfortunately I'm not sure I have ever spoken with someone over the phone at BrightLocal. You can book a demo call directly here: go.oncehub.com/bl-welcome-call. OR if you create an account (you might have to sign up for the free trial), you'll be able join upcoming demos too. Is there anything else in particular I can help answer?
Thanks Michael. Here is the situation I canceled my Yext account knowing that Yext will remove my business listings . I told Brightlocal that I canceled my Yext account and I ask them how long do I need to wait after canceling Yext account to sign up with Brighlocal. The lady gave me this confusing answer: The info she gave was new and should have been told to me before canceled the yext account. She is mentioning something about aggregators. This was her response to my question. She said
Submit to aggregators seven weeks before canceling Yext.
Data aggregators take around five weeks to make data available to their partners (we need two weeks notice to submit, which is where the seven-week figure comes from).
This will plug the gap for when you leave Yext.
Price: $60 per location
Stage 2 (optional) - Order manual submissions
I do not know what to do now. Can you advise?
Thank you
Hi David. You can proceed right away. You don't need to wait on Yext. Canceling your Yext listings doesn't remove all your listings, they just don't continue to update them for you. So I would actually recommend ordering all these at the same time - Data Aggregators, Manual Submissions, and Removing Harmful Duplicates. The Data Aggregators submits your business info to multiple databases all at once. And when you order Manual Submissions combined with Removing Harmful Duplicates this can correct any of your existing listings that Yext created. As you go through the BrightLocal Citation Builder, it will show you which listings exist already and you can either choose to update those existing ones or create additional ones. I would only recommend updating them if the info is egregiously incorrect like wrong phone, wrong address. However, the notion that NAP (name, address, phone) has to be exactly identical has been debunked as of late. Google can decipher if one listing has your address listed as "Street" and the other "St". I recommend you'd be better off building MORE quantity versus updating existing ones (if the info is mostly correct).
Also, I invite you to join my Facebook group. I've got free SEO resources in there and, starting in April, will be doing weekly live trainings. facebook.com/groups/mostpracticalseo
What should we do if the business is a home based service business, that doesnt want their address published on google my business?
Unfortunately, in that case, there's not much you can do. This only works if you can publish the address. There are some office facilities (ex. Regus) that allow you to list their location as your office address and just use them for mail service and meeting space.
What about building citations for city pages?
Can you clarify what you mean? -MQ
Elsewhere online, I've read that once you make city pages, i.e., service + location pages targeting nearby cities that you serve, you should start building citations to those pages, too. How do I go about doing that with Brightlocal? Or in general, really. Thanks! @@MichaelQuinnSEO
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Do you have any experience using services like Brightlocal to create city page citations? Their citation builder service lets you build citations to the main home page. But, it doesn't appear you can use the same service to also build local citations to location pages for the same business...
if they are creating manually do they give you usernames and passwords for each listing they do to have for,the future?
Yes, they do provide login credentials :) Once your campaign is live, look in the "Notes" section to find the username and password details. Note: not all directories will require a login.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Are u working with Brightlocal cuz u seems very expert with it already 😅☺️
@@msbukidnon6553 I do use BrightLocal's Citation Builder quite frequently for my clients so I am very familiar with it.
do they offer a service where they build out the citations for a fee?
Yes, their pricing model is $3 per citation ($2/citation, if you buy in bulk). Does that answer your question?
@@MichaelQuinnSEO nice. Thanks! How many do u think is necessary? More the better or not necessarily?
@@FrankKriticos More the better in my opinion. I recommend starting with 50 or more.
What the difference between this and fiverr gigs that do the same?
More control. I like that that with BrightLocal you get to select each citation and correct any duplicate posts.
Hai Michael...We cant use this tool in India?
I wasn't aware of that. I'm sorry. Thanks for letting me know.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Cool....All your videos are really helpful..Looking for more videos ...Thanks in advance
@@sowndariyapalanisamy2709 What other topics should I cover?
@@MichaelQuinnSEO Off-page SEO, and Detailed Explanation of sitemap,robot.txt, canonicalization, and broken links.
@@sowndariyapalanisamy2709 Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Would this still work if Im a service based business? My address is hidden.
Citations are an important factor for SEO for local service-based businesses. However, there is no way to hide your address on them. To use them, you should consider getting some sort of office you can list publicly. I wouldn't recommend using your home address (unless you don't mind your home address being publicly listed all over the internet). And PO Boxes and remote mailboxes are against Google's guidelines unfortunately.
@@MichaelQuinnSEO what about a Regus office? Or are they considered virtual
Yes, Regus is a good option for your situation.
How do I change my client citation data?
On BrightLocal, you can go back into an old campaign and order updates. It's basically similar to when you order the original campaign. I believe the cost is the same per citation too.
Gotta love inflation. Bright Locals is $3.20/citation in 2024.
eyyy, i work here.
Cool!
How is this helpful for a Carpet cleaning service?
Citations (directory listings) are great for local service businesses (like carpet cleaning companies) because they reinforce to Google where the business is physically located and create a greater online presence for the business, which is all good for helping the business rank higher on Google. This video helps clarify why this tactic (and a service like Bright local) helps: ruclips.net/video/c3FUNld8pqs/видео.html