Security of Local Business Listing

Local business listings have become a good local business marketing tool for the local business to reach the local consumer through web searches and mobile searches. Afterall, local business listings are showing up before organic results in a regular search at the major search engines.

As a business owner you do not have to passively wait for the the local listing websites to develop the necessary security to avoid hijackings and other illegal activity. While some business owners are allowing the problems potentially happen to them, there are those business owners that have caught on quickly to protect their local listing by claiming (required to use the local listing as a local marketing tool) and updateing their local business listing. These early adopters are also finding the benefits of using the local business listing as a local marketing tool.

The claiming (required to use the local listing as a local marketing tool) process is very important because if the wrong person gets access to the local business listing for a business they can detract customers to a different location by phone or by website address. Additional damage that can be done includes incorrect information on photos, videos, coupons, and much more. Because consumers are using the local business listings to locate a business, product or service in their immediate area in person, by phone or website, the security around local business listings has to be high priority for any local listing website.

We have discussed Local Business Listing hijackings and Local Business Listing brand security concerns in previous articles on our blog. It is absolutely important to not passively wait for the local listing websites to put the appropriate security in place to claim (required to use the local listing as a local marketing tool) your listing. The complexity of these local listing websites to put security in place ranges to include not only the obvious claiming (required to use the local listing as a local marketing tool) process, but many of them allow data to be inserted from other databases on the Internet and we cannot say we are clear there is good security around this later process.

We welcome you to read our article from the April 2010 issues of the Michigan Bankers Association magazine that discusses local business listings and the security issues surrounding this marketing tool. (This article is a PDF documet and will open into a new window)

Waiting to consider your local business listing is not really an option. You will want to be an early adopter as quickly as possible. Protect your company and your customers from hijackings and other illegal activty by contacting us here