Performing locally in search is a big deal to independent insurance agencies. With all of the competition out there, it’s important to ensure you are putting your best local foot forward. As we discussed last week, there are a number of ways you can do this, but there are three major items your agency needs to consider in 2014:

1. Getting your website locally focused
2. Checking your local listings for accuracy
3. Branding your agency

Today, let’s focus on number two: Checking your local listings for accuracy.

Checking Local Listings

Making sure your local listings and directory listings are intact is key to ensuring your agency is accurately represented – and that you’re putting the best foot forward for local search performance! Similar to creating contact or location pages on your website, you want to make sure that your local and directory listings have the following information (and that it’s accurate!):

• Agency name / company name
• Address
• Local phone number
• Fax number
• Website URL
• Toll-free number (when applicable)
• Contact email (within the agency)
• Hours of operation
• Correct map marker (e.g. Google Maps, Yelp, etc.)
• Company motto / slogan / tagline
• Social media URLs (when applicable)
• Agency description (e.g. About the company information, year established, etc.)
• Languages spoken
• Payment types
• Parking
• Brands carried (for agencies, this would be carriers)

Typically, these are the items local and directory listings will ask for. Some ask for less than others, but usually these are the items you should have handy when getting your listings shored up. Something else to consider is which listings to put your business on. We recommend that your agency at least have:

• Google Plus Local
• Yahoo Local
• Bing Places / Local
• Yelp
• Neustar Localeze (submission service to multiple listings and directories)
• Dmoz

Ensuring your business is accurately represented on the local listings and directory listings above is a great place to start. There are a number of other assorted listings, directories, and submission services out there that are helpful to your business too, like Foursquare, Infogroup, Acxiom, CitySearch, Yellow Pages, and more.

The most important detail in all of this is making sure any of the local and directory listings your agency has out there are displaying not only accurate information, but all the information possible. Making these listings complete is just as important as having accurate information.

Watch out for next week’s post on number three, branding your agency!