"I like the control and the communication BrightLocal offers over Yext. I feel like I have more access to my listings and more ability to correct them."
Noelle Geiger
Ameravant
Yext is location management software that can automatically update business information across major online directories and search engines. The company itself is situated in New York City, NY in the US. The software the company provides can update existing citations on the web or create new listings for your business. The types of information which can be inputted include:
As well as listing management services, Yext software also provides additional features. Depending on your Yext package, these may or may not be available upon signing up. These include tools such as Yext Reviews (Review monitoring), Yext Pages (Web page creation), and Yext Analytics (data dashboard).
Compare Yext against BrightLocal and 5 alternative citation building services
Yext works by submitting your business information to its listing network (known as the PowerListings network). Depending on the data you provide, it will fill out the forms needed to get your business found across multiple sites.
These sites include search providers such as Apple, Bing, Facebook and Google and local directories like Yelp, CitySearch and MapQuest, giving you better exposure for potential customers to find you, and assisting your website’s search engine rankings.
The Yext PowerListing network currently contains 84 total sites, but submissions may vary depending on which country your business is in, as not all listings will be relevant.
Yext pricing starts at $199 a year up to $999 a year for the premium, advanced package. The ‘complete’ package costs $499 a year. The table below provides an overview of Yext’s pricing plans.
| Yext Plans | Yext Pricing | Yext Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerging | $199/yr | The 'Emerging' Yext plan includes listings on MerchantCircle, ELocal and 30 other non-premium websites. | ||
| Essential | $449/yr | The 'Essential' Yext plan includes listings on key sites, including Facebook, Google, Yelp, and more. | ||
| Complete | $499/yr | The 'Complete' plan includes the full 'Emerging' and 'Essential' packages alongside PowerListings+ and Analytics. | ||
| Premium | $999/yr | The 'Premium' Yext plan contains everything from the other three packages, plus Review Monitoring and Yext Pages. |
Depending on your business situation, Yext can be a good choice, especially if you’re looking for a quick way to push out multiple pieces of business information to online directories. However, the automatic nature in which Yext publishes data on the web means that once your Yext subscription ends, you may find listings disappear for good.
Quick submission: You can get your business information up and running on listings within 72 hours of submitting to Yext.
Automatic distribution: One of the reasons Yext can submit quickly is due its automatic platform. Input your business info and nothing further is required.
Review monitoring: If you’re on the Yext Premium plan, you gain the ability to monitor reviews across the web, which can be useful for your company’s reputation management
Listing analytics: Yext analytics provides the ability to easily monitor how your listings are appearing in search, how many clicks they gain, and terms which bring up your business.
You are locked into paying an annual subscription to keep your listings live: Even if you don’t need to make any changes to your business listings, each year you still have to pay an annual fee to keep your listings live on the Yext network.
Listings will revert back to their pre-Yext state upon cancellation: One of the biggest Yext disadvantages is that if you decide to no longer subscribe, your listings will go back to how they appeared pre-Yext. This means you’re continually tied in to the Yext system instead of more flexible and more affordable alternatives.
Complicated dashboard: The user interface for Yext is largely focused around single businesses, so if you have a business with multiple locations you may find navigation on the platform quite challenging.
Limited network of websites for listings: When using Yext, you’re tied into the submission network which they operate. There is a huge amount of citation sites that Yext don’t cover in its network and your only option to submit to these would be manual input – which obviously takes up precious time!
Inconsistent review monitoring: Although Yext does offer review monitoring as an option – it is very limited. The review network does not contain many sites so reviews are often missed or not shown.
No local ranking tracking: Many SEO experts say that by listing your local business on citation sites your overall search rankings will increase. Having a ranking tracker is therefore particularly useful in order to see rankings increase and optimize where necessary.
No white-label support: If you are running an SEO or marketing agency then the chances are you require an open book when it comes to white-label support. Unfortunately, Yext reports contain icons unique to them, meaning your clients can easily discover Yext and go direct to them instead.
Limited API: If your business is looking to integrate with the API from Yext then you will notice some fairly inconsistent data missing which is still present within the Yext dashboard itself.
Yext will overwrite profiles: If you’ve set up existing business listings which Yext submits to, then they will be overwritten when you request submissions through Yext. So that great Yelp description you spent ages writing? It will be completely gone.
The table below compares Yext pricing for the ‘Complete’ plan against BrightLocal’s Citation Builder service.
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Manual Submissions |  |  |
| Cost Direct Submissions | ||
| No Annual Recurring Fee | | |
| Data Aggregator Submissions | | |
| Price Aggregator Submissions | ||
| Ability to order aggregators individually | | |
| No. of Sites in Network | ||
| Build New Listings | | |
| Update Existing Listings | | |
| Claim Listings | | |
| Data is Permanent* | | |
| Remove Duplicate Listings | | |
| Detailed Reports | | |
| Speed of Updates | ||
| Countries Available in |  | |
| Sites submitted to: | ||
| Data Axle | | |
| Neustar Localeze | | |
| Foursquare | | |
| Google My Business | | |
| Bing Local | | |
| Apple Maps | | |
| |
|
| Yellowpages.com | | |
| Angi.com | | |
| Superpages.com | | |
*Data refers to ‘business information’. Some services will remove your business information if you stop paying for their service while others will let it remain in place.
BrightLocal offer data aggregator and manual local business listing submission services, giving you the best of both worlds.
Make the switch to a more affordable and permanent solution. Our Yext Replacement Service makes it easy.
We claim and verify your listings and pass the login details to you so that you own them forever and can update information anytime.
With listings from $2 per site, we’re more cost-effective than any other provider and there are no recurring fees. Our data aggregator submissions are over 8x cheaper than Yext.
Direct submissions allow us to ensure every listing is updated and managed accurately. Our customers love the personal approach. We have over 300 reviews on Trustpilot with an average of 5 stars!
Our submissions are permanent — unless you want to update them — so you’ll never have to worry about listings reverting back to inaccurate information or disappearing altogether.
We’ve expanded our reach to 1,000+ sites. These include top directories, industry sites, and specialist sites in over 10 countries
Our agency-friendly white-label options allow you to customize client reports with your logo and brand colors.
Build and manage listings with BrightLocal