The Latest in Local Listing Management – Citation Services Compared

When you’re shopping around for goods or services online, it’s only natural to research and make comparisons. And when it comes to finding the right local listing management company, it’s the same. You’ll have pertinent questions: Are you getting the best value for your money? And what about quality? These questions are important whether you’re looking for shoes, a vehicle, or local listing management companies and citation services.

When buying online you’ll want to know that you’re getting the very best possible solution – and our agency, franchise and brand partners are looking for the same thing. Comparing local listing management companies and citation services before you make a choice will pay off in many ways.

Let This Ultimate Citation Services Comparison Chart Be Your Guide

There’s a multitude of companies out there offering citation services, including Synup, Whitespark, Uberall, BrightLocal – and of course, Advice Local. So which one is the best?

In short, one size does not fit all, and picking the local listing partner solution that works best for a particular business can be difficult. That’s why we’re going to let you look at the facts through our practical comparison chart, so you can easily decide for yourself.

Was that chart techy enough for you? In case it was a bit too technical, let’s detail some of the meanings. We have those definitions for you here.

Comparing the Top Local Listing Management Companies Serving the United States and Beyond

As you can see, two of the citation companies mentioned above (including Advice Local) use a hybrid approach to local listing management. This means we use both APIs and manual submissions to create and claim local business listings. We are data partners with many of the data sources we submit to, which makes it real simple, real fast, plus it works in real time to distribute data around the web. Synup and Uberall are totally automated and Whitespark does it old-school, meaning manual all the way.

You have two approaches to consider for API selection. A direct API allows the citation service to establish its own connections with publishers for listing submissions. On the other hand, an API through another provider makes submissions using third-party APIs. Companies like AdviceLocal, Synup and Uberall utilize the direct approach, which offers faster processing, greater customization and enhanced control over the data.

When it comes to pricing, just think of each dollar sign ($) as $100 or less. As you can see, Whitespark and Advice Local come in at the lowest price on average. The citation industry is also a truly global affair, with company headquarters in Canada (Whitespark), India (Synup) and the United States (Advice Local).

White-label offerings are one of the biggest needs that agencies have, and all the companies represented in this chart offer this feature. The agency partners are always looking for lead generation opportunities, and it seems that BrightLocal and Advice Local have this need met for them. Advice Local’s partners have access to integrating white-label local business data scanning widgets within their website with just a few clicks.

Inaccurate or outdated data is one of the surest ways to harm a client’s reputation and standing with Google. This issue makes data suppression and the ability to correct information a valuable addition to a citation service. Currently, you can find data suppression with Advice Local, Uberall and Synup, though BrightLocal and Whitespark do not offer the service.

Data aggregators – the large-scale distributors of business data – ensure consistent information across prominent directories, mapping apps and more. All the leading citation services use data aggregators to syndicate company data, but Synup, BrightLocal and Advice Local are at the front of the pack by distributing to the big three of Data Axle, Foursquare and Localeze.

GPS and POI submissions are a must for helping local businesses, franchises and brands get found within in-dash navigation and third-party solutions like Garmin. Partners that choose BrightLocal, Uberall, Whitespark or Advice Local are covered here. So far, Synup has not integrated this product into their local listing management solutions.

Vertical and Geo-specific submissions (while important) don’t seem to be a priority for everyone right now. The order for this is Advice Local, BrightLocal, then Whitespark.

Voice search adoption through Alexa, Siri and others shows no signs of slowing down. By optimizing listings for voice search, your clients are accessible to a growing user base. When it comes to voice search, your options are mixed. While some do not offer the service at all, others (like Advice Local and Uberall) include all the main platforms.

A platform like Google Business Profile (GBP) holds such importance in the local SEO ecosystem that we believe it warrants extra attention. Consequently, Advice Local offers agency partners access to specialty features such as GBP synchronization and the ability to auto-reject updates. Whitespark offers some GBP features also, but they are not the same as Advice Local’s.

And what about any contractual commitments? Your options will vary here, with some services requiring a set contract, others using one-time fees, with others using the best of both worlds, a hybrid model.

Another area where all of the citation services companies represented in the chart seem to shine is bulk import. Partners with a big list of businesses they’re representing can get their data imported into the various citation companies’ technology fairly simply, it seems.

It’s quite clear – customer reviews posted on Google, Yelp and other platforms can make or break a business. As a result, the ability to monitor reviews and respond to them quickly is absolutely essential. You’ll be glad to hear that all the citation services offer review monitoring, helping agencies actively monitor their clients’ reputations.

And last (but certainly not least), is the ability to integrate listing management services and dashboards into third-party technologies. It seems that Synup, BrightLocal and Advice Local take the wins here.

Now that we’ve gleaned through some of the differentiators, let’s look a bit more in-depth at how each local listing management company builds citations.

Here’s How Each Listing Management Company Builds Citations

BrightLocal

BrightLocal’s citation services are manual, so the process to get a listing to live status will be longer. They charge per site versus package pricing (according to their website), charging $3 per site retail.

Synup

Synup listings seem to distribute out quickly, so a business that wants to scale up and submit more locations will have an easy time of it. Their pricing starts at $30 per location, and will adjust downwards as the number of locations a business has with them is increased.

Uberall

Uberall offers a multi-location listing management platform, helping businesses create and optimize listings across 125+ popular platforms. Pricing is based on factors like the number of locations and specific features required, and customers must request a quote.

Whitespark

Whitespark builds citations by hand starting at $4 each. According to their website, it costs more for local/niche citations, and they do submissions for every country in the world.

The Results Are Real and in Real Time

Wondering if I forgot about Advice Local? Oh, we definitely make the cut – we deliver real results in real time. Partners describe our solution as real simple, real-time and real fast, and these are the words we live by.

As we shined a bright light on our competition, it’s only fair to do the same for Advice Local’s local listing management and citation services, right? So, let’s go….

• We have 50 data partners we distribute data to in real time through our Data Amplifier Network. We have access to many more through manual options, but real-time is our first priority. The Real-Time Data Syndication Engine behind our technology is powerful indeed.
• There might be other companies that offer solutions similar to ours, but we also provide superior reporting and customer service – we are white-label all the way!
• Our main focus is on servicing our agency, franchise and brand partners (though SMB customers wanting to take control of their data will certainly find themselves welcome!).
• We’re proud to shout from the rooftops that at this very moment we have one of the largest real-time networks available in the United States. If that isn’t powerful, I don’t know what is.
• Unlike some of our competitors we offer Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and Bing Places claiming and optimization. We syndicate to the hard-to-reach Yahoo Local through our Data Amplifier Network. Not everyone can say this.
• Of course we have all the data aggregators covered – Data Axle, Localeze and Foursquare.
• Everyone who submits local business data with Advice Local gets a premium Judy’s Book Listing (a $250 value).
• We’ve created an enhanced range of GBP tools that allow you to sync your clients’ GBP to a central database, monitor progress with deep insights – and prevent Google from making unwanted data changes.
• Our Review Monitoring Tool makes it easy to send businesses notifications when customers leave reviews on the leading platforms. This allows for the quick response that improves customer sentiment.

The Competition Can Be Stiff

When selecting a local listing management partner, let the data do the talking. We have over 3.1 million businesses in our systems and on average, 1,000 reports generated each day.

There’s no better choice for local listing management and citation services than Advice Local (but hey, we’re a bit partial). Request a demo for yourself and find out today exactly why we are!

* Please note: The data in the chart depicted above and within the blog post was compiled based on information on each listing management company’s website as of the date of publication. Solutions are updated regularly, so be sure to do your research as part of the decision-making process.