The power of location is more relevant than ever as consumers increasingly search online for local business listings and then follow up those searches with in-store visits. However, the accuracy of local information is critical as incorrect or unavailable business listings are just as influential on consumer impressions as available and accurate listings.
The sheer amount of listings available to consumers conducting a search creates a great challenge for businesses managing their location listings. To help alleviate the toll of searching through countless listings, data mining systems called data aggregators scan the web gathering information on local businesses for publishers and companies who specialize in location-based services. A data aggregator is programed to comb all publicly available sources on the internet, compile information from various data sources, and prepare datasets of information for processing.
Data aggregators can be important players in the local search ecosystem because they are able to build and manage powerful databases of data, especially NAP data (name, address, phone number) and enhanced content data from around the world. With 54% of mobile users searching for local business hours and 50% of mobile users searching for local business addresses, NAP data is instrumental in driving in-store customer engagement and is invaluable information that must be maintained by businesses online.
Although powerful in accumulating information, data aggregators cannot parse the information for inaccuracies. As a result of faulty matching, duplicates may be created. Duplicate listings are additional business listings that confuse search engines and undermine a business' reliability when it comes to online information. The ranking of a business in a local search is largely dependent upon the accuracy of its NAP data across the web, and therefore the inconsistency of listings can be highly detrimental for a business' ability to rank well in relevant local searches.
Recognizing the need for businesses to have consistent and credible information across all channels, Yext offers Duplicate Suppression, a Listings feature that addresses the duplicate listings issue at its source by suppressing additional or incorrect records at the publisher level. This tool deactivates duplicate listings from 100+ publishers within the Publisher Network so only authoritative listings are pushed live and are viewable by consumers.
It is often out of a business' control to keep duplicate listings from popping up even after manually fixing the issue. However, with Duplicate Suppression, excess or incorrect listings will no longer be viewable. Yext helps its clients foster consistency across all of their listings so regardless of the source, data aggregators are only pulling in correct information about Yext clients and their businesses.