Online directories like Google Business Profile and Foursquare provide free and easy ways to get in front of local customers. But most businesses either have incomplete information in their listings or are completely absent from them.
98% of buyers search for local businesses online. All those info gaps are costing businesses a lot of low-hanging leads.
So, where is the biggest untapped potential in online business listings?
To find out, we used our Free Listings Grader to review a cross-section of 100 home services businesses from all over the US. We looked at multiple directory listings for plumbers, electricians, HVAC pros, and building contractors.
In this report, we’ll expose the most missed opportunities in online listings, which directories you should jump on now, and which business category is the most on top of their listings already.
Top findings:
- Only 15% of listings had completely correct info
- Most businesses were present on Google but missed out on Facebook
- Many businesses don’t have complete profiles on Google
- There are lots of free leads available in lesser-known directories
- Photos and hours of operation were the most often missed details
- On average, businesses showed up in 12 of 18 directories
- No business nailed all info in all directories
- In the dogfight for directories, roofers came out on top
1. Only 15% of listings had complete and correct info
This was the most telling data we found. A huge majority (85%) of the listings we reviewed either had incorrect or missing info.
Now, considering that 74% of consumers read at least two review sites before making a purchase, the scope of that gap becomes clear.
About a third of those listings were missing business information, and just over half had incorrect details. Why does that matter? Because if you have missing or incorrect information, then someone who was going to call or visit you to become a lead won’t be able to find you (or may not even know you exist).
The takeaway
You have a tremendous opportunity to be the first complete, correct listing a buyer finds. Imagine the relief when they see a trustworthy business they can hire to solve their problem. And all you have to do is manage your listings and keep them up to date.
👋 Want to try it yourself? Enter your business details in the Free Listings Grader and learn how potential customers view your business online.
2. Most businesses were present on Google but missed out on Facebook
It was great to see that 91% of businesses had an active Google Business Profile (GBP). But Facebook looks to be a big missed opportunity—less than half of the home services pros we reviewed had a listing there.
Google is still the 800-pound gorilla where getting local leads is concerned. That’s why it’s so important to claim and monitor your GBP.
Facebook is no slouch for sending new customers your way, though. 40% of buyers say they turn to Facebook when researching local products and services. And with over 250 million users in the US alone, there’s a big audience to engage there.
The businesses we reviewed did better on Bing, with 77% of them represented there. That’s good, but it still means that almost a quarter of the service providers in our study would miss any leads coming from one of the world’s biggest search engines. And yes, Bing’s user base looks small compared to Google’s, but 571 million people is by no means a small audience.
The takeaway
Many businesses claim their GBP and stop there. You can swoop in and collect leads from other active directories. If you’re not sure where you stand on those platforms, drop your business details in the Free Listings Grader, and it’ll tell you. Then, it’s a simple matter of claiming your listing on Bing and adding your location to Facebook.
3. But many businesses don’t have complete profiles on Google
Even though most home services companies had a Google Business Profile, many of their listings were missing key business information. That’ll put them out of the running when customers search for help.
Surprisingly, hours of operation were the detail most often missing (12% of the time). That’s a mighty important piece of information, especially for local businesses. In fact, 93% of consumers have searched for a business in a directory to see its opening hours.
Additionally, roughly 10% of the listings were missing a phone number and/or website. Not being able to call or see a website will hurt those businesses’ chances of turning Google searchers into customers. 66% of customers even said that of all the information available, an incorrect phone number would cause them to lose trust the most.
The takeaway
If there’s any one listing that you really want to shine, it’s your Google Business Profile. It’s the first stop for so many local buyers.
Table stakes for getting local leads from Google is having up-to-date business names, addresses, and phone numbers (commonly called NAP data). But you can also optimize your GBP in a bunch of ways to nudge it up to the top of the page when people search for your service. Start by choosing the right business category and getting more reviews.
💪 Want to get found on Google? Download the Quick Guide to Local SEO Success to learn how.
4. There are lots of free leads available in lesser-known directories
Take another look at this chart and notice how many businesses are missing out on leads from smaller directories.
For example, only 41% of reviewed businesses are listed on Judy’s Book, and only 9% could be found on EZlocal.
Does that matter? Judy’s Book gets over 1 million monthly page views, and EZlocal (which focuses on small, local businesses) has around 100,000 active users. That’s a decent number of dollars left on the table for businesses without listings on those platforms.
The takeaway
Smaller directories may have fewer users, but fewer businesses are represented there. So, while the crowd is smaller, you don’t have to shout as loud to get their attention.
This is where automated listings management tools come in again. With a few clicks, you could become the only local provider on dozens of smaller directories. And since those listings are free to place, a single lead has an infinite return on investment.
5. Photos and hours of operation were the most often missed details
We already saw that around 10% of GBP listings were missing things like images and phone numbers. As we zoomed out to include other directories, those results got much worse.
When listings across all directories were considered, roughly 40% were missing phone numbers and/or websites. Those are key pieces of contact details customers need to reach and research those businesses. For example, 87% of people said they’ve clicked a website link from a directory.
At the same time, nearly half of all listings were void of hours of operation. Plus, over a third didn’t have a physical address. Even if you’re not a shop people visit, those details help search engine algorithms know when to share your listings based on what people search for.
However, images were the biggest missing piece in the greater group of listings we studied at 64%. That’s understandable since they can take the most time to add.
The takeaway
We’ve already talked about how important it is to have your hours of operation in each listing and how to make that happen.
Images are a little different story. First, it’s good context to know that businesses with uploaded images in their listings get 42% more inquiries. Plus, images are a great way to show off past projects and let people know your team is professional and ready to help.
Here are a few types of images you may want to include in your directory listings:
- If it’s ready for public viewing, the front and inside of your office.
- Your team (all together and a few candid action shots of them on the job).
- A couple of your best projects (could be before and after).
6. On average, home service businesses showed up in 12 of 18 directories
None of the businesses in our review had placements on every directory (a couple did come close!). On average, providers were represented in about 66% of the business listing platforms.
As we mentioned, most businesses had Google covered. But on average, they left six lead-generating opportunities on the table.
The takeaway
This data tells us that there’s a lot of open opportunity for brands to grab. The average business can start getting new leads from at least six directories right now. If you multiply that by the number of buyers using each of those platforms, the growth potential starts looking pretty big.
Also, don’t forget that directory listings often land on the top page of Google searches. So even if someone isn’t purposefully going to a directory, they will often stumble on them while searching.
7. No business had completely correct info in all directories
Our data showed that around half of the listings we reviewed had incorrect data. That’s a pretty big chunk of online details that could lead buyers astray.
But it’s not that a handful of businesses had really bad listings, and few were perfect. We saw that not one business had 100% correct details in all of their listings.
Now, this was a small sample size of just 100 home service providers. But the fact that we didn’t stumble on a single business without errors in their listings leads us to believe that simply cleaning up some basic info would give many providers a considerable competitive advantage.
The takeaway
Don’t underestimate the power of simple steps when marketing your business. Sure, great promotions, a strong social media presence, and clever ad placements will accelerate your growth. But sometimes, all you need to do is spend a few minutes on the basics—like getting your NAP data correct—to break out of a growth rut.
8. In the dogfight for directories, roofers came out on top
This study wasn’t a competition, but roofers won. As a group, they topped the list with listings in 71% of the directories.
Plumbers came in number two at 66% of directories covered, but they also had the cleanest listings of them all, with a 19% correct information rate.
On the other end of the spectrum, HVAC pros had the lowest rate of directory placements, and construction workers only nailed 10% of their listings’ data correctness.
The takeaway
There’s nothing new to take away here that we haven’t covered. The numbers are close enough to say there’s plenty of opportunity for all home service pros here. Claiming, optimizing, and managing your directory listings has payoff potential for every business.
Simple steps for getting more customers from local listings
The big takeaway from this research isn’t that local businesses aren’t managing their online directory listings. It’s that the businesses that do will collect leads no one else has.
With that in mind, here are a few simple steps you can take right now to get more customers from directory listings:
- Use our Free Listings Grader to learn which listings need attention.
- Keep the most important info (name, address, phone number, website) updated.
- Make sure to update your hours of operation if they change.
- Optimize your business listings so they show up more often in searches.
- Add a variety of images to build trust and show off your work.
This may sound like a lot of work. But compared to other marketing activities, keeping well-tuned listings provides a big return on a small investment. If you’d like to make it really easy and update 50+ business directories with a single click, contact us, and we’ll show you how to do it.
