Guide
How to start a local business directory
A local business directory is a website that lists the businesses of one town, city or neighborhood, such as plumbers, salons and restaurants, with a page for each. This guide covers how to plan one, from the area you cover to its first visitors. For the steps inside DirectoryDuck, see Getting started.
Updated
How do you start a local business directory?
Choose a town or neighborhood and the businesses to cover, collect the first listings and publish them where residents can search; on DirectoryDuck's Free plan ($0) that is one directory with up to 100 listings, and AI discovery searches the web for businesses in your area for you to approve.
AI discovery spends credits, and the Free plan includes 100 starter credits. Publishing does not bring visitors by itself, so plan how residents and the businesses you list will hear about the directory as well. The five steps below are worth working through before you sign up for anything.
1. Pick the area and the businesses to cover
A local directory is worth a visit when it is the most complete list of something in one place. "Dog groomers in Austin" can be complete; "businesses in Texas" cannot. Pick an area small enough that you can list nearly every business of the kinds you cover, and that you know well enough to spot a listing that is wrong. Before you commit, check three things:
- Supply: are there enough businesses of that kind in the area, and can you find them on the web?
- Demand: do residents look for them? Search for the trade and the town yourself, and read the local groups and forums where people ask for recommendations.
- Money: would a listed business pay to stand out? That is likelier when one new customer is worth a lot to it, as with a contractor, a clinic or a wedding vendor.
The free directory idea validator gives you an AI read on an idea, with a 0 to 100 score and its reasons. It works from general knowledge, not live search data, so treat its figures as things to check.
2. Find the first listings
An empty directory gives a resident no reason to come back, so plan the first listings before launch. There are three ways in:
- AI discovery: in the AI Builder, choose Local Business, type the city or area and describe the businesses you want. AI searches the web for businesses that fit your area and niche, reads each website and drafts a listing (name, website, description, contact details, street address, city and categories) for you to approve. It spends credits: 10 to start a job, 1 for the web search and 2 for each business found.
- CSV import: upload a spreadsheet of businesses you already know. Imported listings start as prospects, and you publish them in one click.
- By hand: add businesses one at a time in the dashboard.
A discovery job reads up to 15, 40 or 100 businesses, depending on the size you pick. The Free plan's 100 starter credits cover one Medium job: up to 40 businesses, for at most 91 credits. Run one job for each kind of business rather than one broad search; businesses already in the directory are skipped and cost nothing.
Check each draft before you publish it: AI extraction can get a phone number or an address wrong. Discovery works from what is on the web, so a business with little online presence may not turn up; add it by hand. See how AI discovery works for its two modes and costs.
3. Decide where the directory lives
Every directory gets a hosted page at directoryduck.com/your-name, with a search box and its own page for every published listing. The pages are rendered on the server, so search engines can read them, and a listing with an address carries LocalBusiness structured data, the schema.org markup for a local business and its address. While a directory has fewer than 5 published listings, its pages ask search engines not to index them; that lifts by itself once you publish enough.
If you already run a local website, such as a neighborhood news site, one script tag puts the whole directory on it, with search, category filters, listing pages and an inquiry form, on every plan. Search engines may not index embedded listings as part of your site, so keep the hosted page as well if search traffic matters. The embed guide has the steps.
Your own domain starts on Starter at $39/mo. You buy it from a registrar yourself, then connect it in the directory's settings.
4. Bring the businesses in
The businesses you list can help you get started. Tell each one that it is listed, so it can check its details and share its page, and send it its claim page. Claiming costs the business nothing: it confirms its email address, and you approve the claim.
You can also mark a listing as verified, with a code sent to its email address, a meta tag on its website, a DNS TXT record or by hand, and verified listings show a Verified badge. Residents can leave a star rating and a review from a listing's page; each review waits for your approval before it shows.
5. Plan how it will earn
A common way for a local directory to earn is to sell featured spots to the businesses in it. On Starter and up you can feature up to 10 listings per directory at a time, each until a date you pick; a featured listing shows first, with a Featured badge. You set the price, sell the spot and collect the payment yourself: DirectoryDuck takes no payment from the business.
The local business directory page walks through selling a featured spot, and how to monetize a directory website covers the other ways a directory earns, including the ones you would run outside DirectoryDuck.
What happens after you publish?
Publishing makes the directory reachable. It does not bring visitors by itself. A new site starts with no search rankings, and search engines can take weeks or months to index and rank it, if they rank it at all. Plan the first visitors yourself:
- Share it where residents already ask for recommendations: neighborhood groups, local forums and newsletters.
- Tell the businesses you listed, so they can check their details and share their page.
- Keep it current: local businesses open, move and close, so check your listings and add new ones as you hear of them.
DirectoryDuck does not promise rankings, traffic or income.
Ready to set it up?
Getting started walks through the steps in the dashboard, from a free account to a live page. If you are still choosing a niche or a name, how to build a directory website covers those decisions for any kind of directory. Compare the plans on pricing, or see how a local business directory runs on DirectoryDuck.
Questions about starting a local business directory
- What is a business directory?
- A business directory is a list of businesses, sorted by category and often by place, with each one's contact details and a link to its website, so people can find one to call or visit. A local business directory does this for one town, city or neighborhood.
- How many listings should a local directory have at launch?
- Enough that a resident finds what they came for. There is no set number. On DirectoryDuck, a directory's hosted pages ask search engines not to index them until it has 5 published listings, and the Free plan holds up to 100 listings. Covering one kind of business in your area completely is a better start than a few of everything.
- Do businesses pay to be listed in a local directory?
- That is up to you. DirectoryDuck does not charge the businesses in your directory: you add the listings, and claiming one costs the business nothing. If you charge for a listing or for a featured spot (Starter and up), you set the price and collect the payment yourself.
- Can one directory cover more than one town?
- Yes. One directory can cover a whole region, and AI discovery searches the city or area you type for each job. If you would rather run one directory per town, Free and Starter include one directory, Growth ($99/mo) includes 5 and Pro ($249/mo) has unlimited directories. Paid plans are available now, billed monthly or yearly.
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