Quality Over Quantity. Always.
There are thousands of business directories on the internet. Most of them are garbage.
Listing your business on 500 low-authority directories won't help you rank. It might actually hurt you. The same quality-over-quantity principle that applies to backlinks applies here.
What matters is being listed accurately on the directories that Google trusts.
The Must-Have Citations (Every Business)
These are non-negotiable:
The Data Aggregators (Feed Hundreds of Sites)
The Strong General Directories
Don't Forget These
Social profiles count as citations too. Make sure your NAP is consistent across all of them.
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Industry-Specific Sources
Beyond these general sources, every industry has its own citation ecosystem. We cover those in our industry-specific citations guide. Moz's local SEO guide also maintains a solid list of top citation sources by industry.
The Bottom Line
Focus on the top 25-30 general citations. Get your NAP perfect on each one. Then expand into industry-specific directories.
Track your citation progress alongside 112 other local SEO tasks at SEO Checkup. Free. No credit card. 30 seconds.