Anybody familiar with localpages. com?

[Blaine]

I have a client is using yext to manage his local citations. Don't know if any of you are very familiar with them. I've never used them.

Anyway his site has been published and indexed going on 10 weeks and his home page is hanging around on the 7th page for his main keyphrase... And seems to be dropping.

The only thing I notice odd about his situation is that google webmaster tools shows over 900 incoming links from localpages. com pointing at his home page. This is one of the local directories yext published him in.

I'm wondering with this site being so new if this is somehow hurting him. His interior pages are about where I would expect them to be at this time. Anywhere from 1st page for some of his more obscure low hanging key phrases to page 3 or 4. I;ve done very little back linking to the site so far. Maybe 4 or 5 total.

But this localpages. com directory showing over 900 backlinks... On a site that's not even been indexed for 10 weeks has me a bit concerned. I noticed it a couple weeks ago and it was only 300 and when I looked back last week it was around 500 incoming links.

I mentioned this to him and that these links may not be a good thing.

He has an interface from yext where he's able to control the directories he's listed with and he went in and canceled the localpages. com listing. But since now and then webmaster tools sees another 400 backlinks coming in from them for over 900 total now

Any opinions?

[Blaine]

Just an update.

So after watching this new domains home page drop for it's key phrase all the way to page 7 I theorized that it could be these 900 back links coming from localpages. com.

What they were doing was giving him a listing in every directory location and category for the state of KY.

About 2 weeks ago when I seen them up to 4-500 links I had the client use his YEXT interface to cancel his local pages listing.

Apparently Google is doing something with Webmaster tools that had it running a week behind on updating itself so after another week I seen an additional 500 backlinks appear from the localpages. com directory for a butt load more of KY cities and categories totally unrelated to the clients category.

Immediately upon canceling the localpages listing I checked and they had his listing gone from their index. I spot checked some of the 900 others they'd created for him and couldn't find any sign that any of them were still present.

About 5 days ago he moved from page 7 to page 5 for his primary key phrase over night. Then every day since then he's moved again.

Today he's in position 15 on page 2 for his homepage primary phrase and still climbing. And we've had 4 of his long tail keyphrases pop up in the local pack along with an additional 4 or 5 long tails appearing on the first page in the organic listings since dumping the 900 links. Altogether we're targeting about 16 phrases.

Was it all related? One can never be sure. But the client thinks it was so I'm good with it all.

[Mike Friedman]

I have never seen that happen with localpages.com, but I would have done the same thing you did.

YEXT is great at getting stuff like that quickly changed. They are almost creating a monopoly for some local citation directories though. Good business on their part. Sucks for us because you almost have to use them.