I recently saw a tweet from eMatador highlighting their definitive list of local search directories, and felt the need to pass this along this fantastic list to our loyal readers as well. For local businesses looking to increase their rankings in the local search results, ideally the 7 pack, it is important to ensure that your business is listed with each of these directories.

Within the article they mention UBL as THE source to submit your business info. I agree this is an excellent option as it is very cost effective. It costs $30/year ($15/year with Anvil’s agency discount) and your business info is syndicated to roughly 150 directories, which include the big data providers, GPS and 411 directories. They even submit info to car manufacturers which helps ensure in-car navigation systems are able to find your business’ location. I’ve actually heard stories where a hotel guest was unable to find the hotel due to the in-car navigation not knowing where the hotel was located. Submitting your listing via UBL will help avoid that happening to your business.

Another submission service is Localeze. A business can actually add, modify or close a business listing via this free service. For agencies, becoming a channel partner has a number of benefits, which I recommend contacting them about. For channel partners, each listing costs $35, but Localeze’s team will work with you to optimize the listing and ensure it is submitted to a number of local directories and search engines.

In addition to these services, I had written a previous post about using location-based social networking sites you might want to focus on for driving traffic and citations. I would also add the following sites to that list: Gowalla, Brightkite, Loopt, Google Latitude, Yelp and any other location-based site that you come across.

Ensuring that your NAP (Name, Address & Phone #) data is consistent across all of these sites will significantly increase your chances of ranking in the local search results.