SEO News: Data Aggregator Factual Now a “Submission Only” Source for TDCs
February 13th, 2019 by
SEO professionals who deal with clients’ backlink profiles and citation distribution on a daily basis are likely familiar with Factual, one of the largest data aggregators in the local search space. Factual does not accept listing submissions or edits from individual users; rather, they utilize trusted data contributors (more on that later) to help collect, validate, and then disseminate what they describe as “the ongoing accuracy of core business attributes.” In basic terms, you want to have your business listed on Factual as a platform because it helps push that data to other data collecting websites, expanding your digital reach across the internet.
What Does Factual Moving to Submission Only Mean?
Factual going to submission only means that third-party trusted data contributors (TDCs) can no longer guarantee that these data submissions will be accepted on Factual’s end. In TDCs like Yext or Moz, users can submit their business data, and the TDCs will push that information all at once to data aggregators, of which Factual is just one. Some other examples of data aggregators would include Acxiom, Neustar/Localeze, and Infogroup. TDCs help SEO professionals by guaranteeing that accurate listings will populate on these very important aggregators.
This helps SEO professionals save a lot of time because it allows them to manage a client’s core data, have the data sent to these aggregators, which then send the data to more sources. Additionally, these tools help measure the accuracy of the listings, telling you if there is a discrepancy in name, address, phone number, or other attributed data. There is tremendous value in having accurate data for these reasons:
- The data gets pushed from these four aggregators to numerous other internet sources.
- Having consistent data for your name, address, phone number, and website adds authority to your business, in terms of SEO.
Why Does Factual Going Submission Only Matter?
Data aggregators that are willing to accept data from third-party tools as well as measure their accuracy help SEO and/or link builders tremendously in terms of time saved. For those at an agency or juggling numerous clients, monitoring these listings individually and having them edited is a gigantic time suck and oftentimes can be less than effective.
By eliminating Factual from the equation, there is one less data aggregator that you can manage en masse via third-party tools. Factual will remain an important directory and aggregator, but you have to manage the data in a different way; more than likely, manual review on the physical listings will the best way to ensure accuracy. If there are inaccuracies, the best course of action would be to follow the guidance on how to make edits on their FAQ page.
Why Did Factual Go to Submission Only for TDCs?
This is a bit unclear, but Factual made this decision across all platforms. They did not cherry pick the sources that they would allow to guarantee submission or measure accuracy, but rather decided to limit the functionality available to the TDCs.
Factual’s next steps might be indicative of a larger trend industry-wide, or it might be just an internal decision based on factors we are not aware of. Regardless, this is worthy of monitoring going forward, because if more TDCs follow suit, local listing and data distribution management might be a bit more challenging in the near term.
Even though the SEO industry is always changing, the marketing experts here at Search Influence are always keeping up with industry trends to optimize our clients’ SEO campaigns. If you think your business could use help with listing management or other SEO strategies, contact us today to start a conversation.
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