What are the most relevant business directories (or places to list your business) in the United States?
These local directory sites, have the largest amount of traffic. As an additional measure of relevance, I’ve also ranked them by the approximate number of indexed pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Local Business Directories Ranked by US Traffic
| | | | | |
. | | Local Business Directory | Alexa Rank (US) | # Indexed Pages (Google) | # Indexed Pages (Yahoo/Bing) |
. | 1 | Facebook | 2 | NA | NA |
. | 2 | LinkedIn | 11 | 331,000,000 | 3,520,000 |
. | 3 | AOL Yellowpages | 18 | 132,000,000 | 1,820,000 |
. | 4 | Yelp | 53 | 67,300,000 | 23,000,000 |
. | 5 | Mapquest | 116 | 71,000,000 | 8,510,000 |
. | 6 | TripAdvisor | 121 | 95,600,000 | 9,200,000 |
. | 7 | Yellowpages.com | 146 | 233,000,000 | 46,900,000 |
. | 8 | WhitePages | 179 | 214,000,000 | 95,600,000 |
. | 9 | Patch | 182 | 15,400,000 | 4,990,000 |
. | 10 | Manta | 233 | 67,600,000 | 42,100,000 |
. | 11 | BBB.org | 380 | 17,500,000 | 5,360,000 |
. | 12 | City-Data | 398 | 11,900,000 | 15,400,000 |
. | 13 | MerchantCircle | 469 | 84,200,000 | 19,700,000 |
. | 14 | Local.com | 478 | 34,200,000 | 1,680,000 |
. | 15 | BizJournals | 485 | 65,600,000 | 2,060,000 |
. | 16 | SuperPages | 499 | 448,000,000 | 22,900,000 |
. | 17 | Topix | 508 | 288,000,000 | 5,800,000 |
. | 18 | Citysearch | 554 | 179,000,000 | 15,300,000 |
. | 19 | Angieslist | 575 | 12,400,000 | 4,630,000 |
. | 20 | Urbanspoon | 578 | 32,700,000 | 4,100,000 |
. | 21 | Foursquare | 935 | 244,000,000 | 290,000 |
. | 22 | DexKnows | 1,377 | 3,770,000 | 7,320,000 |
. | 23 | Yellowbook | 1,494 | 96,500,000 | 7,770,000 |
. | 24 | ServiceMagic | 1,743 | 3,140,000 | 4,630,000 |
. | 25 | AreaConnect | 1,813 | 2,050,000 | 155,000 |
. | 26 | BOTW Local | 2,037 | 48,000,000 | 703,000 |
. | 27 | Thumbtack | 2,068 | 517,000 | 258,000 |
. | 28 | 411.com | 2,250 | 122,000 | 11,500 |
. | 29 | Hotfrog.com | 2,285 | 15,000,000 | 8,420,000 |
. | 30 | Insider Pages | 2,431 | 28,700,000 | 3,890,000 |
. | 31 | Switchboard | 2,456 | 77,200,000 | 746,000 |
. | 32 | Kudzu | 3,776 | 8,570,000 | 1,880,000 |
. | 33 | AmericanTowns | 4,295 | 6,250,000 | 1,840,000 |
. | 34 | ShowMeLocal | 4,417 | 16,400,000 | 536,000 |
. | 35 | HopStop | 4,669 | 20,100,000 | 61,600 |
. | 36 | Yellowbot | 5,029 | 120,000,000 | 1,450,000 |
. | 37 | ChamberofCommerce | 5,404 | 31,600,000 | 370,000 |
. | 38 | YellowMoxie | 5,510 | 6,450,000 | 39,500 |
. | 39 | MagicYellow | 5,688 | 32,100,000 | 4,590,000 |
. | 40 | Judysbook | 5,745 | 44,200,000 | 485,000 |
. | 41 | Mojopages | 6,011 | 65,700,000 | 1,970,000 |
. | 42 | Bundle | 7,186 | 3,590,000 | 411,000 |
. | 43 | LocalPages | 7,302 | 2,060,000 | 80,500 |
. | 44 | Yellow.com | 8,216 | 167,000 | 17,600 |
. | 45 | Cityvoter | 9,071 | 16,900,000 | 205,000 |
. | 46 | LocalGuides | 10,384 | 827,000 | 199,000 |
. | 47 | EZLocal | 11,045 | 26,700,000 | 52,600 |
. | 48 | Yellowise | 15,062 | 64,300,000 | 92,300 |
. | 49 | ZipLocal | 16,397 | 12,200,000 | 173,000 |
. | 50 | GetFave | 17,942 | 9,250,000 | NA |
Local Business Directories Ranked by Number of Indexed Pages on Google
| | | | | |
. | | Local Business Directory | # Indexed Pages (Google) | # Indexed Pages (Yahoo/Bing) | Alexa Rank (US) |
. | 1 | Facebook | NA | NA | 2 |
. | 2 | SuperPages | 448,000,000 | 22,900,000 | 499 |
. | 3 | LinkedIn | 331,000,000 | 3,520,000 | 11 |
. | 4 | Topix | 288,000,000 | 5,800,000 | 508 |
. | 5 | Foursquare | 244,000,000 | 290,000 | 935 |
. | 6 | Yellowpages.com | 233,000,000 | 46,900,000 | 146 |
. | 7 | WhitePages | 214,000,000 | 95,600,000 | 179 |
. | 8 | Citysearch | 179,000,000 | 15,300,000 | 554 |
. | 9 | AOL Yellowpages | 132,000,000 | 1,820,000 | 18 |
. | 10 | Yellowbot | 120,000,000 | 1,450,000 | 5,029 |
. | 11 | Yellowbook.com | 96,500,000 | 7,770,000 | 1,494 |
. | 12 | TripAdvisor | 95,600,000 | 9,200,000 | 121 |
. | 13 | MerchantCircle | 84,200,000 | 19,700,000 | 469 |
. | 14 | Yelp | 67,300,000 | 23,000,000 | 53 |
. | 15 | Switchboard | 77,200,000 | 746,000 | 2,456 |
. | 16 | Mapquest | 71,000,000 | 8,510,000 | 116 |
. | 17 | Manta | 67,600,000 | 42,100,000 | 233 |
. | 18 | Mojopages | 65,700,000 | 1,970,000 | 6,011 |
. | 19 | BizJournals | 65,600,000 | 2,060,000 | 485 |
. | 20 | Yellowise | 64,300,000 | 92,300 | 15,062 |
. | 21 | BOTW Local | 48,000,000 | 703,000 | 2,037 |
. | 22 | Judysbook | 44,200,000 | 485,000 | 5,745 |
. | 23 | Local.com | 34,200,000 | 1,680,000 | 478 |
. | 24 | Urbanspoon | 32,700,000 | 4,100,000 | 578 |
. | 25 | MagicYellow | 32,100,000 | 4,590,000 | 5,688 |
. | 26 | ChamberofCommerce | 31,600,000 | 370,000 | 5,404 |
. | 27 | Insider Pages | 28,700,000 | 3,890,000 | 2,431 |
. | 28 | EZLocal | 26,700,000 | 52,600 | 11,045 |
. | 29 | HopStop | 20,100,000 | 61,600 | 4,669 |
. | 30 | Patch | 15,400,000 | 4,990,000 | 182 |
. | 31 | BBB.org | 17,500,000 | 5,360,000 | 380 |
. | 32 | Cityvoter | 16,900,000 | 205,000 | 9,071 |
. | 33 | ShowMeLocal | 16,400,000 | 536,000 | 4,417 |
. | 34 | Hotfrog.com | 15,000,000 | 8,420,000 | 2,285 |
. | 35 | Angieslist | 12,400,000 | 4,630,000 | 575 |
. | 36 | ZipLocal | 12,200,000 | 173,000 | 16,397 |
. | 37 | City-Data | 11,900,000 | 15,400,000 | 398 |
. | 38 | GetFave | 9,250,000 | NA | 17,942 |
. | 39 | Kudzu | 8,570,000 | 1,880,000 | 3,776 |
. | 40 | YellowMoxie | 6,450,000 | 39,500 | 5,510 |
. | 41 | AmericanTowns | 6,250,000 | 1,840,000 | 4,295 |
. | 42 | DexKnows | 3,770,000 | 7,320,000 | 1,377 |
. | 43 | Bundle | 3,590,000 | 411,000 | 7,186 |
. | 44 | ServiceMagic | 3,140,000 | 4,630,000 | 1,743 |
. | 45 | LocalPages | 2,060,000 | 80,500 | 7,302 |
. | 46 | AreaConnect | 2,050,000 | 155,000 | 1,813 |
. | 47 | LocalGuides | 827,000 | 199,000 | 10,384 |
. | 48 | Thumbtack | 517,000 | 258,000 | 2,068 |
. | 49 | Yellow.com | 167,000 | 17,600 | 8,216 |
. | 50 | 411.com | 122,000 | 11,500 | 2,250 |
Methods
US site traffic data was was collected using Alexa web analytics. Indexed pages were measured using the "site:" operation for each directory URL on Google and Yahoo. Yahoo and Bing share indexes so the indexed pages results for both of these search engines are the same. All of this data is current as of the day this blog was published (October 29, 2012).
Indexed Pages on Google and Yahoo
Indexed pages refers to the total number of URLs currently in the indexes of Google, Yahoo and Bing. These indexed URLs are available to appear in search results. This number fluctuates over time, as new pages are added and indexed, and old pages are removed. The number of indexed URLs is almost always smaller than the number of crawled URLs, as it does not include URLs that have been identified as duplicates or less useful.
There will always be players coming on and off this list over time and rankings will continue to fluctuate as the major search engines update databases and modify algorithms. However, many of these directories are established, branded names, so they should continue to retain relevance for the foreseeable future.
The number of indexed pages on a directory can be used as an indicator of the site’s potential as a citation source. But it’s important to note that listing your business in all of these directories won’t guarantee high local rankings. Quality citations from locally-relevant domains is an important ranking factor, but there are hundreds of signals search engines use to rank local businesses.
Noticeably excluded from this “Top 50” list are the big search directories themselves: Google+ Local, Yahoo Local and Bing Local. Because this is a list of directories that are the most relevant to these three important search engines, it made sense to leave them off. Even though I don’t have indexing data for local business listings on Facebook, I felt it was important to place it on the list. If someone has access to this data, please provide a source in the comments section. Thanks.
