The Role of Data Aggregators in Listing Management

Data aggregators compile data on businesses from the businesses themselves and from marketing companies, government sources, telecommunications records, and online sources, and spread the information to multiple platforms or directories. Over the years, data aggregators have played an important role in listings management.

Data aggregators are responsible for collecting and distributing a large portion of the information that is published about businesses on the web. Business directories, review platforms, and even the information in Google search results all relies on information from data aggregators.

The problem for businesses is that the data coming from these aggregators is sometimes wrong. Whenever businesses are not directly or indirectly involved in managing their information with aggregators, there is a risk that aggregator data will be out of date or will not accurately reflect details such as phone number, business website, or the commonly recognized “storefront” version of the business name. Providing accurate, updated information to data aggregators is one of the reasons why local listings management is so important.

Researchers have found that nearly three-quarters of consumers (73%) say they lose trust in brands when they see inaccurate business information online. Given that much of the information in local listings is coming from data aggregators, it’s entirely possible that the inaccurate information that consumers are seeing didn’t come from the brand directly. Instead, it was acquired from a secondary source and funneled into various platforms without the brand’s knowledge.

Top Data Aggregators

The following companies are recognized as some of the most influential companies in the aggregator space. Local listings data from these companies is used to populate directories from top publishers like Yahoo, YP.com, Uber, Garmin, Mapquest, Nextdoor, Superpages, Verizon, and others.

1. Infogroup
2. Neustar Localeze
3. Foursquare