While there was the historical local telephone book and the yellow pages where businesses and their telephone numbers were listed, today we have globally moved into the online world. While there is the overall presentation of the business website link, home page and phone number, there are a number of listing sites that provide customer reviews. Luckily, there are a number of free websites where your business information can be listed for free while also receiving a number of customer reviews that help present your business name out into the world.

Download the free Ebook "SEO: The Past, Present, and Future"

The top local listing pages include the following five:

1. Yelp – Over time the Yelp website has become so connected with the broad world of social media, and while it provides the basic website, location, phone and other information of local businesses, consumer reviews help make the final buyer’s decision. For every business, from restaurants to salons to hotels and even life decisions like apartments, car dealerships, insurance and more, detailed information and reviews can be found on Yelp. Over the past few years it has become an extremely popular site for the search and analysis of businesses around the world.
   
   
2. Yahoo Local Listing – While Yahoo itself has existed for many years, the creation of Yahoo Local Listing has worked to develop business listings nationwide and locally to help with online searching. There is always the basic search engine use when opening the browser, but when a specific industry or other detail of a business needs to be found, it is helpful to have more detailed search options available. For that very reason Yahoo Local Listing is available to provide more detailed information about all local businesses that have registered for free.
   
   
3. Google My Business – The Google search engine is the most common and most popular one out there. So, the Google My Business listing site has been added to their search engine features to help every consumer out there hop online for an easy search result of that perfect purchase. Whether it is a date night dinner, that perfect prom dress or other services needed for the home, businesses are able to register their details for free on Google My Business so that the local market can find them easily.
   
   
4. Bing – Second behind Google, Bing is also a very popular search engine overall, and it also allows the registration of business details so that they will be pulled up in the overall search results found. There is the ability to register the business information for free, from industry to product and services provided to the community. With all of the company’s details available in that registration, it may not necessarily be the same as viewing social media or consumer reviews on other listing sites. However, the home pages of popular local businesses will pull up easily with your location verified online and you will be able to easily see the most popular nearby locations for the purchase you desire.
   
   
5. MerchantCircle – This is another American free local listing site. From the side of the business owner you have the option to register your information for free with MerchantCircle, so that all of your details will be available openly to the local consumer population. This listing helps registered businesses work with adding more online content that can pull in more leads and connections, anything from ads to blogs and more.

There are also a number of social media sites and locations where businesses can be listed nationally, with inclusion of conversation and reviews across many locations. With those larger businesses containing chains across the country it can be helpful to see every aspect of those reviews that may express some upcoming changes or differences in the nearest location.

Resources: www.woorank.com/en/blog/10-free-us-local-business-listing-sites, www.verticalresponse.com/blog/7-local-business-listing-sites-you-should-claim-now/, www.verticalresponse.com/blog/top-20-places-business-needs-listed-online/