[Update 12/19/2019: Acxiom has officially retired its directory, meaning we no longer submit to it as one of our big four data aggregators. Foursquare has taken its place.] Post last updated: May 2020 We see a lot of questions in forums and blog comments asking ‘which citation service is best?’ so we thought we’d provide… Read More

Myles Anderson
November 22nd, 2020

As anyone who has filled out a survey for BrightLocal knows (thank you, by the way!), we take customer feedback very seriously. When we’re prioritizing what products to improve or new features to build, we not only monitor broad market trends, but we listen to you, our hard-working customers, doing your job day after day… Read More

Myles Anderson
April 22nd, 2020

Hi, I sincerely hope that you, your family, your friends and colleagues are safe and well, and that they stay that way while we get through this tough time. I’ve been trying to find the right sentiment and words for this message ever since it became clear just how much coronavirus would impact us, our… Read More

Myles Anderson
March 26th, 2020

Overview of Online Business Listings Online business listings (aka local citations or online directory listings) are an important aspect of local search optimization. Having an abundance of accurate and enriched listings has been shown to improve the ranking of a business within local search results—on Google and other search engines. Conversely, having incorrect or duplicate… Read More

Myles Anderson
December 19th, 2019

Top 50 Local Citation Sites We originally published this list of top local citation sites in 2013 and it’s become such a regularly trusted resource that we’ve re-researched and republished it every year since! In August 2019 we reviewed all the local directories included and updated each of the country lists to ensure that this is the most… Read More

Myles Anderson
August 8th, 2019

Ten years ago, Ed Eliot and I founded the first iteration of BrightLocal, a local search agency helping local businesses grow through the effective use of search marketing. Fast-forward to today and, while BrightLocal has changed from an agency to a technology company, the aim is the same as it always was: to help deliver… Read More

Myles Anderson
April 9th, 2019

Staying on top of your business’ online reputation is a time-consuming and never-ending pursuit. You need to respond to reviews in a timely manner, spot trends within feedback, and address issues that are negatively impacting your reputation. On top of that, you also need to be generating new reviews to help attract customers and stay… Read More

Myles Anderson
March 26th, 2019

“Strike while the iron is hot,” they say, and nowhere is this more applicable than when getting authentic feedback from customers. At the point of sale or point of service; that’s when customers are at their happiest, and when they’re most likely to provide you with a true reflection of your service. That’s why we’ve… Read More

Myles Anderson
February 19th, 2019

As part of the Local Marketing Institute’s Local Business Marketing Summit earlier this year, I had the pleasure of sharing my tips for developing an effective reputation management strategy. Take a look at the video below for the whole recording, or read on for a summary. I love what reputation can do for a business. When… Read More

Myles Anderson
November 13th, 2018