Table of Contents
- How we selected the top citations
- Top 50 Citation Sites in the U.S.A
- To hire a local citation service or to build manually
- How to build & manage local citations (best practices)
Depending on your niche/industry, local citations can be a game-changer.
Citations used to have a massive influence on Google My Business (GMB) rankings. You’d add a business to 30 or 40 new, relevant directories, and bam… it’d be soaring in the Google map pack.
Local citations are no longer that powerful. But they still work. They will still influence your GMB (or, as it’s now called, Google Business Profile) and organic search rankings, provided you already have a solid local SEO strategy.
Most local SEO professionals will agree:
A survey of experts revealed the diminishing percentage of citations’ relevance over time to less than 10%. Point is, they still matter. Source: BrightLocal.
Some local citation sites have more impact within certain regions than others. Here, we’ve selected the top business directories for creating structured citations in the United States.
Most are free, and none are niche-specific—you can use them regardless of your industry.
How we selected the top citations
We considered the following factors:
- Domain authority: This was the biggest factor. The higher the domain authority, the more likely it is to influence your rankings. Higher DA sites also get more traffic, which means more visibility for your business or client’s. Most of the directories here are DA 60 and above. None have a DA lower than 45.
- Activity: Some business directories are no longer operating, even if their sites are still up. We avoided those. We can’t guarantee that non-active sites will update new entries.
- In-house recommendations: As a local SEO agency, we’ve gone nose-deep into building citations. Some names stand out, and we fall back on them regularly. We included those here.
- Non-niche specific: We only selected directories that work for any industry.
- U.S traffic: The directories are mostly U.S.-based or suitable for U.S. local businesses, but some directories allow global entries. For those, we prioritized sites with more visitors from the U.S.
The top 20 citations on this list are must-haves. They’re the “big citations,” if you may, and have more significant influence.
Let’s dive in.
Top 50 Citation Sites in the U.S.A
Domain Authority: 100
Organic Traffic: 2 billion
Free
This is the emperor of all listings. You can’t hope to be found on the Google Map Pack without a Google listing. Plus, it’s been proven that your GBP can affect how your website ranks in the organic SERPs (search engine result pages).
To optimize your Google Business Profile, you first have to complete it. Then, you’ll have to keep adding genuine reviews, build citations with accurate NAPs, and ensure your linked website is well-linked internally with relevant content.
Facebook Pages
Domain Authority: 96
Organic Traffic: 4 billion
Free
With that much traffic and reputation, Facebook is an essential weapon in your citation arsenal. Just make sure it has all the complete details and accurate NAP.
Our advice? Think of it as more than a citation source. With the right strategy, a Facebook business page can become a rich source of leads.
Apple Business Connect
Domain Authority: 99
Organic Traffic: 2.3 million
Free
A way for people to find you in Apple Maps and via Siri!
With Apple Business Connect, you can set up and manage a business profile within the Apple ecosystem. You’ll be able to manage your business’s visibility on Apple platforms like Apple Wallet, Maps, and the App Store.
A cool way to get found, but also a powerful citation source.
Bing Places
Domain Authority: 93
Organic Traffic: 21.7 million
Free
Bing Places is Microsoft’s equivalent of a Google Business Profile.
Bing integrates with Google, so you can import your existing Google listing to Bing Places. It’s an easy way to set up a new listing on a reputable platform. Plus, you get instant verification if your GBP has already been verified.
Many people still use Bing Maps to find businesses, so treat it as another important lead generation channel and not just a citation.
Yelp
Domain Authority: 93
Organic Traffic: 110.2 million
Free
Think of Yelp as an Instagram for local businesses and contractors. Only it’s much more organized, with 30+ categories for local service niches.
Yelp is very much a potential source of new customers. It’s popular among U.S. homeowners looking for local businesses. So, optimize it—complete the profile, add lots of cool pictures, and get Yelp users to give good reviews.
If you want customers from Yelp, you need to be active on the platform. This means responding quickly when prospects message you.
Better Business Bureau
Domain Authority: 91
Organic Traffic: 9 million
Free
BBB is not quite as popular as Yelp, but millions of U.S customers still check it to see if they can trust a business.
Apart from being a great citation source, it’s worth completing your profile and getting a high rating.
BBB provides an accreditation. It’s a popular brag among local businesses, so it can earn more consumer trust. But it comes for a fee.
FourSquare
Domain Authority: 92
Organic Traffic: 14.6 million
Free
You can get tons of local citations by creating a listing on FourSquare,
How?
Foursquare is a local data aggregator. A local data aggregator collects your business information and then pushes it to hundreds of directories and sites.
It’s also a solid pick as a business directory and citation source. Millions of people still use the platform to find businesses.
Yellow Pages
Domain Authority: 87
Organic Traffic: 6.2 million
Free
The online version of the original Yellow Pages. It’s still popular among buyers.
There are over a hundred business categories available, from archery and animal shelters to legal services and insurance.
Angi (formerly Angie’s List)
Domain Authority: 77
Organic Traffic: 5 million
Free
Doesn’t apply to all niches, but it’s worth mentioning. Angi lists businesses in the home services niches, e.g., pest control, home remodelers, HVAC, etc.
It’s used by many homeowners in the U.S., so it can actually drive new customers if you build your profile nicely.
LinkedIn Business
Domain Authority: 99
Organic Traffic: 122.9 million
Free
Contrary to what you might think, you can add just about any business on LinkedIn.
Simply create a company page on LinkedIn using your personal account. You’ll be able to specify your industry in the profile section.
Instagram for Business
Domain Authority: 94
Organic Traffic: 1.4 billion
Free
Instagram is not just an opportunity for your business to go viral; it’s also a rich citation source.
Make sure your account is set up as a business page with all the necessary details, including your address and a link to your website.
Snapchat Public Profile
Domain Authority: 92
Organic Traffic: 5.7 million
Free
Yes, you can use Snapchat for citations. You’ll need an existing Snapchat account to create a public profile or business account.
With a business account, you’ll be able to add your phone number and address. Snapchat Business is restricted to several countries but available to U.S. users.
Nextdoor
Domain Authority: 84
Organic Traffic: 4.8 million
Free
A business directory for businesses of any category. There’s even an option for agencies.
Nextdoor is a reputable platform and a strong pick for citations. It’s actually a fairly well-known site for finding local shops and services in the U.S.
Thumbtack
Domain Authority: 77
Organic Traffic: 1.7 million
Free
Think Angi, but with far more categories.
There are categories for videographers, attorneys, dance teachers, and even psychics.
Waze
Domain Authority: 92
Organic Traffic: 19 million
Free
Waze is a GPS navigation platform like Google Maps, only it’s a bit more interactive. Users can report incidents as they happen, then these reports are used to update traffic in real time.
The app has a large U.S. fanbase and is one of the more reputable GPS platforms.
Plot twist: it’s owned by Google.
You have to download the app to add your business, or reach out to their team.
Here Maps
Domain Authority: 86
Organic Traffic: 85.7K
Free/Paid
Here Maps claims the title of the world’s no. 1 location app.
The site’s monthly organic traffic might suggest otherwise. And it caters to businesses, not individuals. But at 86 DA, it is definitely a solid pick for citations.
You can add your business on the map for free via the MapCreator. But you’ll have to pay if you’re interested in their services.
MapQuest
Domain Authority: 88
Organic Traffic: 24.7 million
Free
This Google Maps competitor provides gas price estimates and displays the local temperature for users.
Creating a listing in MapQuest is pretty similar to Google Maps. You can set up your listing as a brick-and-mortar business, a service area business, or an agency.
City-Data.com
Domain Authority: 85
Organic Traffic: 1.5 million
Free
City-Data.com is a massive database of information about every city in the United States.
It also has a forum with hundreds of thousands of active users, so there’s no doubting its popularity and relevance.
Manta
Domain Authority: 81
Organic Traffic: 963.2K
Free/Paid
Manta is an online marketing agency that promotes local businesses. Their website has a business directory where you can claim a listing for free.
They also have a paid service that lets you create up to 70 listings.
ApSense
Domain Authority: 80
Organic Traffic: 9.7K
Free
ApSense is a business networking platform, sort of like LinkedIn. It’s way less popular and has vastly less traffic, but its strong DA earns it a spot on this list.
To add a listing, you’ll have to join as a user and create a brand page.
USA Local Citations with less than 80 DA
Merchantcircle
Domain Authority: 77
Organic Traffic: 16.4K
Free
It’s one of the less popular directories with a solid D.A
You can either create a listing for free or pay to update and manage multiple listings across different platforms.
JustLanded
Domain Authority: 76
Organic Traffic: 8K
Free/Paid
An online guide with resources for foreigners adjusting to a new country. One of these resources is a business directory with hundreds of business categories.
You can create a listing for almost any business category, from aromatherapy to embassies and home services.
CitySearch.com
Domain Authority: 75
Organic Traffic: 2K
Free/Paid
CitySearch is a directory for finding local businesses or spots in U.S. cities.
Creating a listing here is not so straightforward. You’ll have to use a local data aggregator like DataAxle.
SuperPages
Domain Authority: 70
Organic Traffic: 325.5K
Free
A local business directory with categories for every industry, from home services and personal care to legal and arts.
Proven Expert
Domain Authority: 65
Organic Traffic: 209.1K
Free/Paid
Proven Expert is a review generation and online reputation management service.
They offer a paid service but you can create a profile for free with your NAP and business details.
Local.com
Domain Authority: 68
Organic Traffic: 31.5K
Free/Paid
A vast directory where users can find any item or business within a local city of their choice.
You’ll create an account before claiming your listing.
Chamberofcommerce.com
Domain Authority: 65
Organic Traffic: 61.1K
Free/Paid
A simple directory that lets you add your NAP and business details .
There’s a paid version where you can select up to 5 business categories and add more pictures.
Storeboard
Domain Authority: 63
Organic Traffic: 3K
Free
This site lets users find everything from businesses, products to forums and even maps.
You’ll have to sign up to create a listing. After signing up, you’ll see an option to choose what kind of business or entity you are, after which you can add your NAP.
eLocal
Domain Authority: 61
Organic Traffic: 24.8K
Free
A simple business directory with a vast range of business categories. The company also provides a PPC service.
Brownbook.net
Domain Authority: 62
Organic Traffic: 1.1K
Free
This global directory lets you add almost every social media channel to your listing, including Tiktok.
You can also add communication channels like Skype and Whatsapp.
The Dots
Domain Authority: 62
Organic Traffic: 32.6K
Free
A business networking platform. You can get your citation by creating a company page.
EZlocal
Domain Authority: 62
Organic Traffic: 1.1K
Free
You can add your NAP for free or pay a monthly subscription to get listed across 300 business directories.
Infobel
Domain Authority: 59
Organic Traffic: 333.1K
Free
A global directory with records across 73 countries, including the U.S.
Hotfrog
Domain Authority: 58
Organic Traffic: 11.2K
Free
A directory for U.S. businesses. There’s a panel on the website homepage that shows you recent activity.
E Business Pages
Domain Authority: 58
Organic Traffic: 11.2K
Free
A U.S. directory with categories for practically any business. You can search for a specific category to be used for your business.
Lacartes
Domain Authority: 58
Organic Traffic: 3.6K
Free
A site that claims to help users find anything, including local businesses, products, the latest news, and “even tour guides for climbing Everest.”
Cybo
Domain Authority: 57
Organic Traffic: 57.3K
Free
Cybo has a wide range of hyper-specific categories for businesses. You’ll probably find one for your business.
Tupalo
Domain Authority: 58
Organic Traffic: NA
Free
Advertised as a local guide for finding hot spots and restaurants, but any type of business can create a listing on this site.
It seems it receives hardly any traffic, but the DA makes it worth mentioning
Twidloo
Domain Authority: 57
Organic Traffic: NA
Free
A local directory for small businesses and contractors. Very little traffic, but it’s the DA you should be bothered about
Yellowbot
Domain Authority: 56
Organic Traffic: 3K
Free
Yellowbot requires you to enter your phone number to claim or create a listing.
CallUpContact
Domain Authority: 54
Organic Traffic: 12.3K
Free
Built solely to help businesses create listings. There are a lot of categories and sub-categories, so you’ll be able to find one for your business.
Showmelocal
Domain Authority: 53
Organic Traffic: 40.4K
Free
A pretty active directory that also provides a section for job listings. Users can find cost estimates for businesses, too.
Enroll Business
Domain Authority: 53
Organic Traffic: 832
Free
Apart from adding your listing, you can also set up an online store. There is too little traffic, however, so that probably won’t be worth the effort.
Sales Spider
Domain Authority: 50
Organic Traffic: 1.1K
Free
This directory lets you add a business description and a featured message for customers.
You can also choose the employee type of whoever is creating or managing the listing.
iBegin.com
Domain Authority: 49
Organic Traffic: 5.5K
Free
A simple directory with minimal work done on the U.I., but it’s worth having a citation.
CitySquares
Domain Authority: 47
Organic Traffic: 5.5K
Free
This is one of the directories that Yext submits to, but you can simply create a free listing on your own.
2FindLocal
Domain Authority: 47
Organic Traffic: 2.1K
Free
UI looks basic, but creating a listing is pretty straightforward.
If your number is already on their system, it will auto-populate some of the fields, so cross-check to make sure the information is accurate.
Infos.com
Domain Authority: 45
Organic Traffic: 5.9K
Free/Paid
This is another U.S.-based directory worth adding to. You can select the services you provide, which will be displayed in your listing.
A Greater Town
Domain Authority: 45
Organic Traffic: 503
Free
If you create a business listing here, you’ll be able to add posts on the site.
You can add links from your website or GBP to these posts, but keep in mind they will be no-follow links.
Find-Us-Here
Domain Authority: 45
Organic Traffic: 822
Free/Paid
Creating a free listing here comes with restrictions. You can only upload one image, the business description is limited to 500 characters, and you can’t link to your website or social sites.
We say it’s worth it as long as you can add your NAP.
To hire a local citation service or to build manually
If you’re here, you likely want to build these citations out yourself. Depending on how competitive your local niche is, the directories above may only go so far.
For clients in more competitive niches, we sometimes have to build specific hyper-local citations to dominate search presence in their service areas.
Hyper-local citations are city or niche-specific citations. You can find some of them by typing: [location + business directories] and [niche + business directories]:
But it’s worth building the citations in this list yourself first to see what happens.
Manual citation building takes time. You have to ensure your details are accurate and stay the same across every listing, right down to the “t.”
You can manage your citations list with an Excel sheet. You don’t have to spend a dime but it’s certainly not the easiest method. It’s also easier to make mistakes as you add more citations.
Again, citations are only one piece of the puzzle. You need to get the other (more crucial) parts of your local SEO right to improve your search engine presence.
If you can spare the extra dollars, it’s worth it to hire a local SEO agency or pay a top local citation service.
These guys know how to:
- Find more citations relevant to your niche and area
- Clean up and manage your existing citations to achieve 100% consistency
Some top local citation builders you can consider include BrightLocal and Yext.
How to build & manage local citations (best practices)
If you’ll be building local citations yourself (without the help of a local citation service), you should at least get it right.
And even with a tool or service, you still have to do your due diligence. BrightLocal for instance, will require you to manually verify certain listings. Then some builders don’t hit all the main citation sites you should be listed on.
Essentially, you still need to be involved in the process. It’s rarely a “pay-and-forget” situation.
Here are the best practices to keep in mind when building local citations:
- Get your NAP accurate and consistent across all sites
This might seem obvious but it’s worth emphasizing. It’s crucial to your local SEO efforts that your name, phone, address, are accurate and the same across all directories and sites, including blogs and press releases.
The biggest issue with inaccurate information here is that it erodes consumer trust. Believe it or not, a good number of these structured citations are actually checked by consumers (think about the traffic numbers in most of the directories listed above).
An invalid phone number or an inaccurate address is all it takes to lose several potential customers. Worse, you might get bad reviews.
But that’s not the only risk with inconsistent citations. Many local SEO experts will tell you citation accuracy does affect search rankings. A 2023 survey from BrightLocal somewhat reflects this sentiment:
Source: BrightLocal
Trustworthiness is a crucial factor in Google’s search algorithm. The more trustworthy a business is to the algorithm, the higher it’s likely to rank.
There’s a popular theory among local SEOs:
Businesses with their NAPs accurate and consistent across multiple sites appear more trustworthy and relevant to Google than businesses without, and thus have a better chance of ranking.
In our opinion, and based on our experience with building citations, it’s definitely worth the trouble to make sure all your citations are accurate.
Tips for keeping accurate citations
- Use local citation trackers: It’s quite difficult checking all your citations manually for inconsistencies, especially if you’re managing more than a hundred or so. Local citation finder tools like Moz or The HOTH can automatically discover inaccurate NAP information across all your listings.
- Apply extra diligence with more locations: Google sometimes takes information from other listings to display on your Google Business Profile. It’s not uncommon to see Google automatically change a GBP’s services, NAP, and category this way. Businesses with multiple locations are more susceptible. So, ensure your info tallies across listings and locations.
Many citation services don’t manually fill out your listings. So, they’ll inevitably miss out some of the less primary details, like your categories, and business hours.
But checking and completing every listing manually is a lot of hard work. That’s why we recommend prioritizing your most influential listings. These are highly dependent on your niche and location, but general listings with high DAs are crucial too.
Use Local Data Aggregators
Local Data Aggregators publish your business details as structured citations on a lot of websites, i.e., directories, applications, and maps.
This can save you from having to manually submit citations to multiple sites. Some data aggregators, like FourSquare, and Data Axle, are free to use for small businesses.
Prioritize quality over quantity
Building citations is more a game of relevance and detail than numbers.
Your most relevant citation sites will be more impactful, so you’re better off filling those properly than chasing a vast number of directories.
Depending on your niche and location, the quantity of your citations might have some influence. But there’s a point of diminishing returns. You start to see little to no effect from adding new citations after a particular amount.
With some of our clients, we’ve seen impact diminish from little to almost zero after adding over 200 citations.
