Best of the Best of Canadian Citations – Canada Business Directory
December 1st, 2010 by
The choice of local citation sources in Canada is sparse, especially when comparing the sheer amount available for use in America. Here at Search Influence, we figured we’d do our part and help out our neighbors to the north by doing a bit of research into the most valuable directories available to them. Before we get to the list, let’s first explain a little about the method we used to rank them.
PageRank
PageRank is a complicated algorithm that Google uses to measure the relative importance of a site when determining how it should rank within search results. The way it does this is by analyzing how many sites link to it and, more importantly, the strength of these sites. In other words, a site with one high-ranking site linking to it can have a higher PR than one that has multiple lower ranking sites pointing to it.
If I were a math wiz, I might be able to explain how this algorithm works. Unfortunately I’m not, so I’ll just trust Wikipedia’s explanation: “The PageRank conferred by an outbound link is equal to the document’s own PageRank score divided by the normalized number of outbound links L( )” Or in other words,
mozRank
mozRank and PageRank both measure the same thing. However, mozRank is generally said to be more accurate in its results. For example, a directory with a PR of 7 may have a mR of 6.15. Generally, any site that has a PR above 5 will typically be undervalued in its mR, as displayed above.
Citations
A citation is any time a business’s name, address, and phone number are listed on the web. Similar to PR, it’s not just about the number of citations a business has, but the trust of these citations as well. Using the local citation finder from WhiteSpark, we used three different keywords to crawl high-ranking local listings and found how many times these directories were listed as citation sources.
Now, on to the findings! The top 10 Canadian citation source according to Search Influence:
YellowPages.ca
This one is the clear winner, and this should come as no surprise. It’s tied for the highest PageRank with 8, and has the second highest mozRank with 6.8. The reason this one is chosen for the top spot is because it has way more citations than the number two position. Its high Page and mozRank, coupled with the citations you’ll receive from it make this an invaluable source for your business’s listing. Only thing required to get listed is a business line registration from the Canadian YellowPages.
BBB.org/Canada
This directory isn’t specific to Canada, but it still holds high value due to its PageRank of 8, as well as its mozRank of 7.38. However, it has a comparatively pitiful number of citations with only 10. The sheer weight that a link and/or citation from the Better Business Bureau provides makes for a great resource. The only way to get listed is by contacting the Vice President for Business Relations.
CanPages.ca
Very similar to look and layout of YellowPages, this directory is nearly as distinguished. PangeRank of 7 and mozRank of 6.15, we found a whopping 40 citations using WhiteSpark. Sign up here.
WebLocal.ca
With a PageRank of 6, a higher mozRank (which is pretty rare, I’ve found) of 6.5. and 27 citations found, this is another notable directory. Sign up now.
411.ca
Similar to America’s use of 411. PageRank – 7; mozRank – 5.63; Citations – 14. It may have a higher PageRank than WebLocal, but it gets beat out in the other two stats. Still, I wouldn’t pass the chance to get listed here.
GoldBook.ca
Another one trying to follow in the footsteps of YellowPages. PageRank – 7; mozRank 6.4; Citations – 7. It’s on the lower-end of the number of citations, but it’s the only other one with rankings that can compare to the above.
Yelp.ca
PageRank – 6; mozRank – 4.23; Citations – 17. Just as in the States, every business should be listed on Yelp. No doubt about it. Get listed now.
iBegin.com
PageRank – 6; mozRank – 6.05; Citations – 12. Submit you business here.
ProfileCanada.com
PageRank – 6; mozRank – 6.12; Citations – 5. You have to complete a downloadable form to sign up.
ZipLocal.ca
PageRank – 5; mozRank – 5.06; Citations – 16. High citations number. Too bad we can’t say the same for the rankings. Still, a valuable directory that I would not hesitate to get listed in.
So that’s it! Submit your business to these directories and watch your rankings climb!
Sweet! We’re always struggling to find good citation sources for our Canadian clients, and it’s an ongoing conversation about how we can best serve them on the linkbuilding side of things. It doesn’t help that we’re American and thus sometimes have a fuzzier picture of what’s in Canada anyway. This is definitely getting passed on to the rest of my SEO team. 🙂
Glad we could help, Rebecca! We’ve got a much larger and more comprehensive list if you’d like to take a look.
I would also love to see a more comprehensive list of citation sources for Canada. that would be amazing if you could share so we can better serve our clients. Please email me if you have any questions.
ShopInCanada.com is the top level directory for many city specific business directories. If you go to shopincanada.com and scroll to the bottom you will see the city directories.
Nice work Rodney. Interesting to see the PR, MozRank and Citation numbers too.
In terms of links for organic side of rankings, some of those directories are using url redirects or java links and may not pass any link juice. But using PR and Mozrank as somewhat of a citation strength gauge is a great idea.
[…] Canada Business Directory – Best of the Best of Local Citations, http://www.searchinfluence.com […]
Thanks for the review. There really isn’t a lot of great ones North of the 49th that have a PR6+. But many fantastic ones in the PR4 to 6 range.
Here is another good one, with a PR5: Canada One, http://www.canadaone.com.
And a legal industry specific one,http://www.lawyerlocate.ca (which I particularly like :). And it has a dofollow linking structure.
We actually took a look at CanadaOne as well, which does have a pretty good PR and mR comparatively. It was the lack of citations that kept it off the list, unfortunately. We also took a look at the citations for a large number of industry-specific ones, but decided to not include them in order to keep the post at a readable length!
Rodney, we should publish the full list too.
Will
[…] For international local search it is important to research. Check out Canadian Citations. […]
Thanks! This list will help a great deal. Just what I was looking for.
Great article!. Yellow pages are still Alive!
Rodney,
This is great information and extremly helpful. You mentioned a more comprehensive list of directories. How can I get a copy of the complete list?
Thank You
Dave Jabas
Rodney,
I am dealing with some Canadian clients and this post really help me to find out more about citation.
Thanks a lot
Adnan
Hi,
This is list is great citations list. Do we have more citations list for other then USA and UK. It will be great help from your side if you provide more list.
Thanks.