As a business owner, you know that having a well-branded and user-friendly website is essential. But have you been paying attention to your listings management? Coming out of 2020, we’ve learned the importance and the struggle of keeping our online listings up-to-date. Now, more than ever, with the introduction of smart home technology, listings management is growing in importance. At Agency Entourage, we’re here to help you understand the importance of online business listing management and why it’s so crucial for smart home technology.
High-Intent Traffic Is Not Interacting with Your Website
In the early 2000s, your website served as the central location for your customers to interact with your content, products and services. However, since then, the internet has adapted and changed to serve content and information more efficiently than a quick Google search. Business listings have reached beyond the scope of search engines, and now they’re utilized on online maps, directories, chat interfaces and virtual assistants.
Think about it. You’re sitting at home, and you want to find the closest pizza place that’s open and has the best rating near you. Most people wouldn’t go through a browser and type it into Google and land on a local pizza restaurant’s website. More than likely, you’re going to an app like Apple Maps, Google Maps, Yelp, Instagram, Facebook or a plethora of other channels. This consumer trend has led to changing the playing field, where over 70% of high-intent traffic is going to other sources to obtain information about your business.
The Integration of Smart Home Tech and Listings Management
With Alexa, Siri and Google Home, obtaining information is faster than ever before. AI has served many purposes, but being accurate isn’t one of them. When a voice assistant is asked a question, it quickly runs through thousands if not millions of sources on websites, maps, directories and other channels. It then decides on the correct information and serves up the answer to the user. This poses a significant problem when it comes to smart home devices and local listing management.
There’s a high-risk for duplicate information or even incorrect information through different channels. You might be focused on your Google My Business (GMB) listing, but what about other channels outside of Bing, Facebook or Yelp? Chances are you haven’t even heard of channels like TownPages, Trustpilot, Wemap or Where To? You might have a business listing on a website you don’t even manage, but smart home devices pull information from it and serve it to your potential customers. If the information isn’t correct, it might be leading to frustrated and exasperating clients who will turn to other businesses to get the same products and services.
Listings Management Is Growing in Importance
It’s in your best interest to stay consistent with all of your listings across the internet. Marketing initiatives can only go so far, but if your information isn’t up-to-date or consistent with other platforms, your marketing campaigns may fall flat on their faces. Managing every listing manually is next to impossible, and that’s why there are numerous solutions available for automated listing management. However, having someone dedicated to managing your listings may pose a serious problem for small businesses and beyond.
Smart home features and new technologies aren’t going away anytime soon. And instead of going to bat with Jeff Bezos, you have numerous alternatives to help you with managing your online business listings. At Agency Entourage, we can help our clients stay on top of the ever-growing internet landscape with our SEO services. If you’re interested in learning more about our capabilities and how we can help your business, contact our team today.
Want to learn about marketing trends for 2021? Check out our article to learn more.
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