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PaperStreet Directory Listings

Directory Listings are the Key to Traffic

TLDR? Click here to skip down to the best directory listings to get.

Great. You have a website. But it is merely sitting there and getting no traffic. One way to get traffic to your website is by getting signed up for the top legal and non-legal directories.

Directories offer two primary purposes. The first is to provide traffic to your website, which can generate new leads. The second is to provide more backlinks and information on the web about your business, which is vital for ranking high within Google search.

There are thousands of directories online to list your business. Some are free, others are paid and both types can be found in all kinds of categories. Your business should get listed in the directories that are high quality and relevant to your website. 

Excellent directories include local directories like Yellow Pages, industry-specific directories like Avvo and paid general directories like BBB.org. The more listings your business has, the more information you are sharing with Google and proving your legitimacy as a business.

The Big Four Listings

Google

Google

Google accounts for over 88% of the desktop market share for all search engine traffic, which makes it the most crucial site to list your business on. It is estimated that over 9 billion search queries are received each month on Google.

Ahrefs Rank: 8
Domain Rank: 98
Backlinks: 15.2 Billion
Referring Domains: 17.1 Million
Organic Traffic: 208 Million

Bing

Bing

Bing may not have as much traffic as Google, but it still can help your business. In fact, due to its smaller popularity, it is much less competitive.

Ahrefs Rank: 154
Domain Rank: 155
Backlinks: 616 Million
Referring Domains: 653,000
Organic Traffic: 16 Million

Facebook

Facebook

Facebook’s social network is used by 68% of US adults and has approximately 1.56 billion active users a day. These high numbers make it an essential social site to utilize for business.

Ahrefs Rank: 1
Domain Rank: 100
Backlinks: 103 Billion
Referring Domains: 35.2 Million
Organic Traffic: 4 Billion

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is the top video platform and is owned by Google. Creating a channel on YouTube and sharing videos can help your videos rank well in Google search, providing you with another avenue to attract users to your content. Every minute over 400 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube, and the site has over 1 billion users.

Ahrefs Rank: 4
Domain Rank: 98
Backlinks: 45.9 Billion
Referring Domains: 22.4 Million
Organic Traffic: 8.7 Billion

Legal Directories

Avvo

Avvo

This legal directory lists individual attorney profiles and allows a lot of information to be added for free. They also offer upgraded paid accounts with more features and visibility. Attorneys can answer legal questions from online users and also publish legal guides to their profile.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,097
Domain Rank: 90
Backlinks: 8.57 Million
Referring Domains: 41,900
Organic Traffic: 1.2 Million

Justia

Justia

This directory allows an attorney to create a very detailed profile for free with photos, website links and biography information. Creating this profile also adds one to the Cornell legal directory.

Ahrefs Rank: 3,853
Domain Rank: 86
Backlinks: 2.72 Million
Referring Domains: 24,200
Organic Traffic: 178,000

Findlaw

FindLaw

Findlaw profiles are free for attorneys and also allows a law firm page. Findlaw offers paid enhancements, which are based on practice area and location.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,092
Domain Rank: 90
Backlinks: 27 Million
Referring Domains: 112,000
Organic Traffic: 4.2 Million

Martindale

Martindale

Martindale provides fundamental information on attorneys and their law firms for free, but require a full paid package to add a backlink and more detailed information.

Ahrefs Rank: 2,137
Domain Rank: 88
Backlinks: 7.76 Million
Referring Domains: 74,400
Organic Traffic: 5.5 Million

Lawyers.com

Lawyers

This is part of the Martindale family. As long as you have a profile on martindale.com you will also be listed here. Paid profiles are needed to have a backlink to your website.

Ahrefs Rank: 8,448
Domain Rank: 82
Backlinks: 1.42 Million
Referring Domains: 22,800
Organic Traffic: 576,000

HG.org

HG.org

This legal directory allows law firms to create a free profile without a backlink. Paid listings are priced at $195 annually per office location and enables law firms to post legal articles to their database.

Ahrefs Rank: 15590
Domain Rank: 79
Backlinks: 1.17 Million
Referring Domains: 13,400
Organic Traffic: 409,000

Super Lawyers

Super Lawyers

Attorneys who have been nominated and selected based on their own list of criteria can be listed on this directory. Basic profiles allow for a backlink, but very minimal information. Paid listings include a photo and a full detail page on each attorney.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,769
Domain Rank: 89
Backlinks: 12.5 Million
Referring Domains: 23,300
Organic Traffic: 588,000

Best Lawyers

Best Lawyers

Similar to SuperLawyers, this site includes only lawyers who have peer reviews and are selected based on specific guidelines.

Ahrefs Rank: 11,282
Domain Rank: 80
Backlinks: 2.31 Million
Referring Domains: 6,810
Organic Traffic: 106,000

Lawyerratingz.com

Attorneys can create a profile for free, which allows users to rate them and include a short review.

Ahrefs Rank: 386,944
Domain Rank: 55
Backlinks: 47,800
Referring Domains: 3,100
Organic Traffic: 24,700

Lead Consul

Lead Counsel

Lawyers can create a free profile and obtain a lead counsel rating by verifying through various methods.

Ahrefs Rank: 71,648
Domain Rank: 72
Backlinks: 133,000
Referring Domains: 1,530
Organic Traffic: 1,100

Nolo

Nolo

This is part of the martindale/lawyers.com company. Many packages will include profiles for all three. A premium package is required to be listed on Nolo.

Ahrefs Rank: 3,907
Domain Rank: 85
Backlinks: 2.18 Million
Referring Domains: 40,700
Organic Traffic: 2.7 Million

Attorney Pages

AttorneyPages

This paid directory also includes a law library and an “ask a lawyer” feature.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,213,351
Domain Rank: 42
Backlinks: 1.34 Million
Referring Domains: 742
Organic Traffic: 1,000

Law Info

LawInfo

This is a paid directory for attorneys to list their information.

Ahrefs Rank: 47,856
Domain Rank: 73
Backlinks: 4.87 Million
Referring Domains: 4,680
Organic Traffic: 77,800

Lawyers.com

Lawyer.com

This is a paid directory for attorneys to list their information.

Ahrefs Rank: 47,856
Domain Rank: 73
Backlinks: 4.87 Million
Referring Domains: 4,680
Organic Traffic: 77,800

Rocket Lawyer

RocketLawyer

A paid legal directory that offers a profile and a section to answer legal questions asked by users. Attorneys listed in the directory are required to provide a discount for their services.

Ahrefs Rank: 30,031
Domain Rank: 76
Backlinks: 908,000
Referring Domains: 7,480
Organic Traffic: 722,000

Attorney Magazine

Attorney at Law Magazine

This exclusive directory represents one attorney for a given practice area and location. Zero competition, low monthly fee, and no dilution of the SEO benefits.

Ahrefs Rank: 108,367
Domain Rank: 70
Backlinks: 65,000
Referring Domains: 6,080
Organic Traffic: 42.300

Social Directories

Twitter

Twitter

Twitter’s social network is geared toward breaking news and brief updates. With over 500 million tweets posted daily and over 320 million users actively on Twitter per month, this social platform is an important one for engagement.

Ahrefs Rank: 2
Domain Rank: 99
Backlinks: 105 Billion
Referring Domains: 25.5 Million
Organic Traffic: 1.8 Billion

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

This professional network has more than 610 million users in over 200 countries. It is a good medium to post jobs, share company news and post articles related to your industry.

Ahrefs Rank: 5
Domain Rank: 98
Backlinks: 18.1 Billion
Referring Domains: 9.3 Million
Organic Traffic: 174 Million

Glassdoor

Glassdoor

This directory is geared to the workplace and allows employees to voice their concerns and feedback about the companies they work for, and also lists job salaries and job postings.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,088
Domain Rank: 90
Backlinks: 599 Million
Referring Domains: 75,300
Organic Traffic: 36.8 Million

Pinterest

Pinterest

This social bookmarking website became very popular for certain topics like cooking, crafting, and home decor, but it is a great place to share visually appealing images and ideas about many topics. Pinterest has over 250 million users, and 83% of weekly pinners have made a purchase based on pins they viewed from brands.

Ahrefs Rank: 9
Domain Rank: 97
Backlinks: 20.8 Billion
Referring Domains: 5.94 Million
Organic Traffic: 331 Million

Instagram

Instagram

This social platform is owned by Facebook and is a place to share images and videos, with most users under the age of 35. When it comes to business, 60% of users use the platform to seek out and discover new products.

Ahrefs Rank: 3
Domain Rank: 99
Backlinks: 36.4 Billion
Referring Domains: 12.4 Million
Organic Traffic: 488 Million

Other Directories

Express Update

ExpressUpdate

This is a data aggregator which collects data on businesses and then distributes it onto the web for different directories to pick up. It is vital that your business information is valid on this website, or it will affect dozens of other websites.

Ahrefs Rank: 179,694
Domain Rank: 64
Backlinks: 2.75 Million
Referring Domains: 1,900
Organic Traffic: 4,400

BBB

Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau collects information on businesses so consumers can research companies and post feedback on their services. They allow businesses to purchase accreditation if they meet specific criteria and display ratings and give a grade based on their complaint history.

Ahrefs Rank: 110
Domain Rank: 93
Backlinks: 1.41 Billion
Referring Domains: 283,000
Organic Traffic: 18.5 Million

Yelp

Yelp

This platform is most popular for restaurants and those in the travel industry. However, businesses of all kinds can create a free company page and obtain reviews. Yelp has a specific filtering system for reviews and only shows those that are the most credible based on their own algorithm.

Ahrefs Rank: 53
Domain Rank: 94
Backlinks: 276 Million
Referring Domains: 216,000
Organic Traffic: 212 Million

Neustar

Neustar Localeze

This data aggregator allows businesses to update their basic information but requires annual payment to include a backlink to their website and other enhanced features.

Ahrefs Rank: 68,698
Domain Rank: 72
Backlinks: 1.79 Million
Referring Domains: 3,890
Organic Traffic: 13,400

Yellowpages

YellowPages

This free directory lists all of your business information for free and allows photos and client reviews.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,187
Domain Rank: 90
Backlinks: 24.1 Million
Referring Domains: 70,000
Organic Traffic: 20.2 Million

Foursquare

Foursquare

This network began by allowing users to check into locations on their phone. Businesses can create a free profile and upload images as well as a website and social links.

Ahrefs Rank: 372
Domain Rank: 92
Backlinks: 125 Million
Referring Domains: 182,000
Organic Traffic: 25.6 Million

Factual

Factual

This data aggregator collects information on businesses but does not actively allow users to update this information as they did in the past.

Ahrefs Rank: 54,348
Domain Rank: 73
Backlinks: 211,000
Referring Domains: 4,040
Organic Traffic: 7,900

Merchant Circle

MerchantCircle

This local listing includes an in-depth profile and has a section to upload articles as well.

Ahrefs Rank: 3,9
Domain Rank: 85
Backlinks: 14 Million
Referring Domains: 52,400
Organic Traffic: 23,900

Superpages

SuperPages

A free local listing that is part of the same company as Yellowpages and DexKnows.

Ahrefs Rank: 4,076
Domain Rank: 85
Backlinks: 37.6 Million
Referring Domains: 37,600
Organic Traffic: 1.1 Million

Insider Pages

InsiderPages

This local directory is part of the same company as citysearch.com. Since they have merged with Yext, businesses cannot manually claim or add listings. However, duplicate listings can still be merged by contacting support.

Ahrefs Rank: 12,755
Domain Rank: 80
Backlinks: 13.4 Million
Referring Domains: 17,500
Organic Traffic: 167,000

Hot Frog

HotFrog

A local listing website with over 66 million businesses in 36 countries and allows a free profile.

Ahrefs Rank: 22,182
Domain Rank: 77
Backlinks: 8.01 Million
Referring Domains: 21,300
Organic Traffic: 50,000

Best Web

Best of the Web

A local directory featured in Searchengineland’s “21 Web Directories That Still Have Value” and contains more than 16 million businesses.

Ahrefs Rank: 34,111
Domain Rank: 75
Backlinks: 639,000
Referring Domains: 9,800
Organic Traffic: 23,100

Business.com

Business.com

Small business experts can join for free and contribute to the community. They also offer paid listing options.

Ahrefs Rank: 4.300
Domain Rank: 85
Backlinks: 2.75 Million
Referring Domains: 37,000
Organic Traffic: 361,000

Chamber of Commerce

ChamberofCommerce.com

Businesses can join and add a detailed profile for $179 annually. They also offer small business solutions and allow you to connect with your customers.

Ahrefs Rank: 16,796
Domain Rank: 78
Backlinks: 4.25 Million
Referring Domains: 14,400
Organic Traffic: 69,100

CrunchBase

Crunchbase

A directory for innovative companies to find investments, investors, prospects and perform market research. Users can create individual profiles as well as company listings. Logging in through a social network is required.

Ahrefs Rank: 1,653
Domain Rank: 89
Backlinks: 53.5 Million
Referring Domains: 105,000
Organic Traffic: 14.4 Million

Apple Maps

Apple Maps Connect

Apple Maps Connect allows businesses to add their location to Apple Maps and let iOS device users find their business locally. Apple maps include turn-by-turn navigation, interactive 3D views, indoor maps and more.

Ahrefs Rank: 10
Domain Rank: 97
Backlinks: 11,000
Referring Domains: 1,8100
Organic Traffic: 37,600

Expertise

This paid directory ranks local experts by category based on their own selection process.

Ahrefs Rank: 6,124
Domain Rank: 83
Backlinks: 1.89 Million
Referring Domains: 10,100
Organic Traffic: 1.2 Million

Other Places to Consider

The following are other ideas for local links and industry-focused organizations to join. Specific stats on each cannot be given since they encompass a wide range of websites. However, we always recommend performing research on each category to see what your business can join or participate in that will help boost your online visibility.

Local Chambers

Local Chambers

Local Directories

Local Directories

Sponsorships for Charities

Sponsorships for Charities

Sponsorships for Events

Sponsorships for Events

Donations

Donations

Speaking Engagements

Speaking Engagements

Scholarships

Scholarships

Why Do Listings Matter?

Listings matter to both Google and online users (your customers and potential customers). Google is looking online to find out information about your business, and as the business owner, you should be providing the up-to-date details. If you do not claim your listings and update them with the correct data, Google will search for it elsewhere and will most likely get incorrect information. Claiming each listing is your opportunity to take control of your information. Don’t let Google be the author of your business data.

Just like Google is seeking out your business, so are customers. When someone searches for your business online, it is important they obtain accurate results. If your hours of operation, for example, are not correct and shows your business closed when it is open, this could result in an interested person being turned away. The same goes for other elements on a listing such as a wrong address, missing phone number, old website URL or similar issues.

How Much Time Does it Take to List?

The time it takes to get your business listed in a directory varies greatly depending on the circumstance. However, we usually say on average, it takes about 15 minutes per listing.

Many directories will have basic information already on their website about your business in which you can usually claim the listing, update anything incorrect and add what is missing. Below are the variables that determine how long it will take:

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The number of listings that currently exist for your business.

If a listing is already online (and relatively accurate) it may be quicker to claim and update then it would to create a new one.

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The accuracy of the listings.

If your firm recently moved offices or changed your name, most likely most - if not all - of your listings will be incorrect, which is a more time-consuming correction than if only a handful of your listings have missing or inaccurate data.

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The specific steps for that directory to claim it (and the verification process).

Some directories are easy to update and can be claimed through email, while others require more hoops to jump through, such as a phone call or contacting their support team. Some sites are also not easy to get in contact with and may require multiple attempts to make sure the listing is complete or updated.

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In-depth Directories.

Some directories have very basic information like name, address, phone number, website and hours, while others are incredibly detailed and allow you to add photos, videos, articles and much more. Directories with numerous data fields will take significantly longer to complete.

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The availability of your office staff.

Since many directories require some verification, it is essential for someone at the office physically answer the phone call, obtain a postcard or offer some support to finish the process. Our team can do most of the work, but there are specific steps that only someone at the physical office can perform. If your business has a phone prompt or call center that answers your phone calls, this can make the process take much longer. Virtual offices can also cause issues for verifying (especially on Google).

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If any duplicates or individual attorney listings exist.

Sometimes there will be duplicate listings online for your business that need to be removed. Individual attorney listings will also pop up on some of the local directories, and we recommend removing them and only keeping one firm listing for each directory. However, there are specific directories purposely created for individual attorneys, like Avvo, that would require each attorney at the firm to claim.

Can I Do This Myself?

Yes. It is possible for you to claim and update the listings on your own, but it takes a lot of time and effort to complete. Some of these listings need to be followed up on continually as they are not published the first time around.

Additionally, not all of the directories are intuitive or self-explanatory on how a listing can be claimed. Our internet marketing team at PaperStreet has years of experience claiming and updating directories, setting these up every day for our clients.

What is the Process

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Find all Listings

First, you need to search each directory to find if your listing exists or if you need to create a new entry. It is vital to search different variations of your business name or use different search methods by phone or address to find all the current listings. Otherwise, you could end up creating a new listing when one already exists, which results in a duplicate listing, which is terrible for SEO.

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Claim and Update or Create New Listings

Once you have located the listing, you must take the necessary steps to claim it. Once it is managed in an account, you can update the details and add more information. If no listing exists on any given directory, there is usually an “add a business” button or something similar to allow you to create a new listing.

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Remove Duplicates

If any duplicates pop up, you should remove them or reach out to support to delete it if you cannot do so manually. Sometimes if your business has more than one location, you may opt to claim a duplicate and update the information for your second location.

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Monitor and Manage

Even though you can go through and claim all of your listings, it is still important to monitor them regularly. New listings can show up, data can get updated and listings can get deleted. We recommend reviewing your listings quarterly to make sure everything is still consistent but review them sooner if your rankings are dropping.

Keep in mind you may not always be able to manually edit a listing on a website or remove incorrect ones. Some directories get their information from third-party sources, and it must be updated with the direct source first. This can cause delays with individual listings and can take up to three months to resolve in some cases, which is why it is crucial to make any necessary changes as soon as possible and periodically check for any issues that may need correction. For anything you can’t control, you will need to make a note and move on.

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Top Law Firm Listings

You can check out our top directory listings and get your copy of this handy citation infographic.

Top Directories in Detail

The following is a sample list of the top directories we recommend, including data points about them and why they are important.




Ahrefs

Ahrefs rank is a number value that shows the strength of each site’s backlink profile. The lower the number, the more powerful (#1 is the best site).

Domain Rank

Domain Rating (DR) shows the relative "backlink popularity" of the target website compared to all other sites in our database on a 100-point logarithmic scale (higher = stronger). We calculate DR based on the number of websites linking to the domain's URLs and their backlink profile strength.

Backlinks

Shows the total number of backlinks pointing to a target website or URL, which should not be confused with the number of linking pages, as one page could contain multiple backlinks.

Referring Domains

Shows the total number of unique referring domains pointing to a target website or URL.

Organic Traffic

This metric estimates the total monthly search traffic to the target website, subsection or URL from the top 100 organic search results. It is calculated as the sum of traffic from all organic keywords for which the target ranks across all countries in our database.

The Top SEO Citations for Your Law Firm.

About Link Building Services for Law Firms 

A large percentage of SEO involves building links to your website. The amount of links pointing to your website is important, but the quality of these links is equally imperative. For example, receiving a link from a site with a high domain authority, vast audience base and relevant to your industry is much more valuable than a randomly placed link in a spammy blog on an unrelated topic. A healthy backlink profile is crucial to preventing Google penalties, beating your competition and contributing to the overall success of your Internet Marketing efforts.

Part of all of our SEO Campaigns at PaperStreet is to build quality links to your website. Depending on your industry, goals, and package this can include:

  • Local Listings
  • Industry Specific Directories
  • Social Media & Video Integration
  • General Business Profiles
  • Article Publication & Guest Blogging
  • Company Mentions
  • Manual Outreach
  • App, ebook and infographic Directories
  • Scholarships
  • Sponsorships
  • Press Releases
  • & More

How Link Building Helps SEO 

Increase Domain Authority

  • Domain Authority is a measure of how powerful your website domain is. The amount and quality of the websites pointing to yours is one factor that influences this score.

Gain Traffic

  • The more websites that link to you the better chance you have of getting your website seen. The trustworthiness, location of the link, target audience, and various other factors all come into play that affect the amount of traffic you may receive from any given backlink.

Establish Credibility and Relevancy to Search Engines

  • Google needs to determine which sites are more reputable and relevant to a specific search query in order to produce results. One way they do this is by reviewing those linking to you. Think of it like an employer performing a background check.

Boost Website Rankings

  • A combined effort of high domain authority, website traffic, and quality backlinks (among other things) all help increase overall website rankings.

Top Legal Citations to Get for your Law Firm Started

Want your firm to rank higher? You need to write content that is interesting and relevant. But you also need to get other sites to list your site and link to you. Here is a starting point. Give us a call for more info.

PS Top Legal Citations to Get for your Law Firm Started Infographic
Get the Top Legal Citations PDF

Scholarship Setup Services -- An Important Aspect of Link Building and Attorney Marketing

Participating in a scholarship can not only impact the community, but provides valuable benefits to your attorney marketing campaign. Just like sponsoring a local organization or speaking at an event, a scholarship is another avenue that impacts brand awareness and can complement an SEO campaign.

PaperStreet helps your company get started with a scholarship:

  • Creating a one-page article outlining the details of the scholarship
  • Adding the scholarship to your website
  • Contacting scholarship submission sites and universities to link to your scholarship
  • Setting up a designated e-mail address for your firm to receive submissions

We take care of the set-up and publication of the scholarship. Your firm handles the submission review, choosing a winner, and providing funds.

Key Benefits to a Scholarship 

  • Help Your Local Community
    • Provide help to students who need financial assistance to pursue their career. Make a difference in the community and your industry.
  • Build Authoritative Backlinks
    • Have your scholarship featured on university websites and receive multiple high quality .edu backlinks
  • Receive Company Mentions
    • Create the opportunity for local news publications to share your scholarship.
  • Increase Online Presence
    • The combined benefits of a scholarship increase your overall online presence. It opens up the opportunity to share on social media, create a press release and engage in conversations with the local community.

Contact us today to find out more about our SEO packages and how we can build backlinks to your website.

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