If a company moves locations or has changed their name or phone number over the years, they are most likely in need of online business listing management services. The Orion Group can update the name, address and phone number (NAP) data found on internet yellow page (IYP) type websites. However, the service is not just a ‘one and done’ type of job. There is a need for the ongoing management of a company’s online business listing presence.

Here are some common questions we receive about our business listing correction and optimization service and our answers to them.

Since the Orion Group has worked diligently on updating our company information over the past year, shouldn’t it all be correct by now? What additional value will we get from this over the upcoming year?

data-lock-online-business-listingsWe performed the work to update/correct your online business listings, however it is necessary to pay for this service subscription/renewal so that the listing data stays locked in place at the internet yellow page (IYP) level and so that the major business data aggregators are continually fed accurate and correct data.

Without this data lock service, IYP listings are susceptible to be changed by any of many business data sources and/or revert to outdated or incorrect data, since the venues may trust another source more. Correcting a business NAP online is one thing, but keeping it that way is another.

Why might my business listings revert data after you’ve made the updates? How does an additional year of NAP services help?

No matter how updated and correct your data is online, incorrect data is bound to surface somewhere. There are so many data sources, such as government databases, utilities records, mobile user input, owner listing claims, offline print publications, etc, etc, that if incorrect data exists in any of them, it will constantly get scraped or purchased, then compiled and sold to other business listing venues.

Christian Ward, who previously worked with one of the major business data aggregators, explains one facet of varying data among aggregators in this way:

“With stiff competition to have better or more accurate data in selling large files, each aggregator has an incentive to “add value” and change data to ensure quality. While this is a great endeavor, it causes significant differences in base data from aggregator to aggregator, resulting in the mass distribution of different data sets for businesses. In short, imagine what would happen to the aggregator’s business if they all had the exact same data? They themselves would not be able to compete on anything but price, and the market would likely decline in a race to the bottom.”

This video depicts this data compilation process and refers to it as a ‘march madness’ basketball tournament where various data sources compete to be the ‘best’ business data provided to the public

This blog post explains that, in terms of online business listings, there is no ‘permanent’ NAP data record, thus one can see the need to continually feed these data sources with proper business info. Basically, when the paid ‘lock’ comes off the data, business listings are susceptible to being changed by any of the many data sources, whether it is correct or wrong.

How long do you foresee needing to pay for this service until the listings are stable? I would have to imagine at some point all of the IYPs will recognize our proper company NAP and not want to revert back to old information.

Listing Data Sources Feeding Each OtherSince business directories and databases are often updated on a monthly basis or quarterly cycles, it can take a good year for incorrect data to be flushed from the majority of data sources, since one source often feeds another. In theory, there would be less ‘bad’ data in the local listing ecosystem by the end of the second year, which would mean that less incorrect data may be picked up by internet yellow page venues or business data aggregators, so we recommend renewing NAP management subscriptions for a second year at a minimum. In reality, however, the subscriptions should be kept in place on an ongoing basis for best results.

If your company is in need of updating their online business listings, we can help. Send us your business name/address/phone info with a quick NAP history and we will provide you with a free analysis of your internet yellow page listing inventory. You can also contact us now without filling in the NAP info form.