Today’s guest blog was provided to Nationwide Marketing Group by Podium. Click here to see the original post.

Any business owner can benefit from a friend with connections. For a fee, Yext can be that friend. Yext partners with hundreds of the top local and national directories (150+) and review sites to make it easy to list your business and earn trusted reviews. While you input your information just once, Yext posts it on multiple sites, taking some of the legwork out of gathering the sought-after online reviews your business needs to succeed.

While listing your business across directory sites is tremendously useful, Yext also offers more tools to help your business thrive. Analytics data and review management options make Yext a powerful component to any digital marketing strategy. But is it right for your business? Read on to discover if Yext review monitoring services could be a wise investment.

The Importance of Yext Review Monitoring

Monitoring your reviews through Yext is a convenient way to improve your online visibility. Here are just a few of the reasons why Yext may be important for your business.

Get Listed in Directories

Listing your business in multiple local directories can be very time-consuming and frustrating. Maintaining all those listings can occupy even more time—time you and your employees should be spending growing your business. Yext takes the stress out of listing your business online by helping list your business on multiple directories, including Yelp, Foursquare, Citysearch, Superpages, and more. That means that rather than having to access each directory individually, you can maintain your listings through one convenient platform.

Have Consistent Branding

Yext coordinates your listings across several platforms, which can create a more consistent, cohesive brand image than if you create each listing individually from scratch. Especially if you are having an employee manually enter each listing. The more you input your business’s information, the more likely you or your employee are to incorporate errors or inconsistencies. With Yext, you input your information just once. That information is carried on multiple directories, creating a consistent brand image across platforms so that customers always have the right info.

Create Brand Awareness

Consumers use a variety of platforms to read reviews of your business. While it wouldn’t be too challenging to maintain your own listings on big-name sites like Google and Yelp, you never know which smaller directories potential customers may use. Yext can help you gain a presence on multiple platforms, which could increase your business’s visibility and help you connect with a broader possible customer base.

Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

Yext enables you to list your business across multiple platforms, which can improve your ranking on popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Ranking matters—the first three organic search results garner an estimated 55% of all clicks.

One way Yext can improve your ranking is through citation consistency. Citation consistency refers to the consistency of your name, address, and phone number across platforms. Maintaining this consistent information is good for ranking since inconsistent information could lead Google to consider your site unreliable. Since Yext uses the same information that you provide for all the directories it lists your business on, it may offer greater consistency than repeatedly inputting all your information manually.

Update Listings Quickly

When your business changes key information, like your phone number or address, Yext makes it quick and easy to spread the word. You simply change the information in Yext, and all your listings through Yext will update to ensure customers have the most current information on your business.

Access Review Monitoring and Analytics

These options can make it easier to manage your reputation and optimize your listings. Yext Reviews helps you generate more reviews and monitor new reviews. Yext Analytics allows you to monitor how well you rank in search and what information about your business customers see. You can also use Yext Analytics to build reports.

 

Yext + Podium

Yext can help create listings for your business across platforms but, once your business profile is created, getting reviews across multiple platforms can still prove to be tricky. Using Yext with an Interaction Management Platform, like Podium, can help your business get the most out of its online presence. Here are a few recommendations for getting the most out of Yext and Podium.

Include Plenty of Information in Your Listings

Including as much information as possible in your listings will make them look more complete and professional. Creating an appealing, consistent listing can encourage customers to leave reviews.

Promote Your Online Presence

Without some promotion, your customers might not know what directories your business is listed on.

There are multiple ways to promote your online presence. You might include links to your directory listings on your website or in emails. In person, you might post signs about your presence on specific directories. You can also ask customers to leave you reviews and mention which specific directory you’d like them to leave their reviews on.

Get Reviews with Podium

Research says that 84% of people trust reviews as much as a friend. But for a lot of local businesses, one negative online review could destroy their reputation. Podium allows you to collect hundreds of real reviews from loyal customers, so your reputation is as impressive online as it is in your hometown. Turn reviews into your unfair advantage with Podium.

Through Podium’s complete solution, you can even send SMS text messages to customers asking for a review after they have a positive experience at your business. Text messages have a 99% open rate—much higher than any other format for gathering reviews.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About Yext Reviews

What will I get for my money?

What’s included varies based on which plan you select. An Emerging plan is most affordable and can list your business on over 30 non-premium websites. An Essential plan is pricier and offers listings on top directories, like Google, Facebook, and Yelp. The Complete plan offers listings on all Yext directories along with analytics. The Premium plan is Yext’s most expensive option and offers everything in the Complete plan with the addition of website widgets and review monitoring.

How long before my listing appears?

Most listings appear within a few weeks. However, it could take as little as a day or as long as a month for new listings to appear.

What information can I manage with Yext?

Yext allows you to manage a wide array of listing information, including hours, location, phone number, product information, specials, and more. You can also use Yext to post photos and videos.

Using Yext can make it easy to list your business on multiple directories and build your online reputation through reviews across platforms. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time maintaining countless business listings, Yext might be a good friend to have in your corner.