Anyone use Yext?

Sparkster

8 years ago

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Joshua Mackens 8 years ago

Whether a citation builder is worth the money or not depends on what you're using it for (in full disclosure, I'm a part of Local Listing Ninja, a Yext competitor).

If you're using it for Local SEO then yes, a citation service is worth it. Is Yext specifically worth it? It could be. But you can also build almost all of Yext's most important citations on your own. Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Superpages, Yelp, Yellowpages.com etc. etc. can all be built by you just signing up for the sites themselves. They're free and open to the public.

However, Yext does submit to 2 big directories directly than you can't directly submit yourself to: Yahoo and Citysearch. But even then there are ways around this. Yahoo and Citysearch takes submissions from ExpressUpdate, a big data aggregator which is free to submit to. Once you sign up for ExpressUpdate they will put your information on Yahoo and Citysearch within 90 days typically. Now, that's not a guarantee but Citysearch does say if you want to get on Citysearch, use ExpressUpdate (or Yext of course). Yahoo is mum on sources they use but ExpressUpdate has confirmed to us they still submit to Yahoo. In addition, Yahoo also takes data from Yelp. There's a rumor they also take data from Yellowpages too although we can't confirm that quite yet.

So, you can either do this all on your own and save $500 a year or if it's worth it to you, you can use Yext.

You can also look into competitor products to Yext as well to see if you can get a better service at a better price.

I did write a blog post about Yext awhile back. I can't remember WF's policies on linking to yourself so if this violates anything, just take the link down. But here's the link to the article I wrote:

https://university.tutelarymarketing...al-businesses/

Hopefully it's enlightening.

Again, I'm obviously very biased here as the provider of a competing product but I think the article makes sense.

Let me know if you have any questions!
- Thanks
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Sparkster

8 years ago

Good info Joshua.

I noticed that I can't even verify my listing with Yahoo without signing up for Yext.

I have been signed up with ExpressUpdate for a few years now. I see that they are in bed with Yext now.

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Joshua Mackens

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Sparkster

Good info Joshua.

I noticed that I can't even verify my listing with Yahoo without signing up for Yext.

I have been signed up with ExpressUpdate for a few years now. I see that they are in bed with Yext now.

Correct, Yahoo can't be done directly without Yext. You need to use ExpressUpdate or Yelp (and again, maybe Yellowpages) to update the data.

ExpressUpdate is its own entity and still allows you to edit your listings for free. They don't like agencies (in fact, they're downright rude to them) but they'll play nice with the local business themselves. They're having a bit of an issue at the moment though. If your listing is already in their database then you can phone verify and be done. If the listing is not in their database, the "add listing" function doesn't currently work. You have to email in or have the local business themselves call in. They take down your info and then supposedly submit it to their database and in 2 weeks it will show up. Although sometimes, I wonder if they actually do enter it in or if they do, if it somehow gets lost in translation. It works most of the time I think but it's so janky you never really know.

ExpressUpdate is still their own entity. In fact, I don't even see them on the list of Yext partners:

http://www.yext.com/en/products/listings/network/

Hope that helps!

Thanks

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Sparkster

8 years ago

The reason why I thought ExpressUpdate was in bed with Yext is because when you look at the "Your Listings" part it says "POWERED BY Yext" at the bottom of the list of directories.

Thanks
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Joshua Mackens

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Sparkster

The reason why I thought ExpressUpdate was in bed with Yext is because when you look at the "Your Listings" part it says "POWERED BY Yext" at the bottom of the list of directories.

On ExpressUpdate?

Can you put a link in here to an example?

Thanks
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Sparkster

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Joshua Mackens

On ExpressUpdate?

Can you put a link in here to an example?

I can't post a link to my company's profile without giving you my username and password lol.

Go to your ExpressUpdate page.

On the left hand side choose "Your Listings".

The page will show all of the directories that you are and are not listed on, scroll to the bottom and you will see it says Powered By Yext.

Thanks
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Joshua Mackens

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Sparkster

I can't post a link to my company's profile without giving you my username and password lol.

Go to your ExpressUpdate page.

On the left hand side choose "Your Listings".

The page will show all of the directories that you are and are not listed on, scroll to the bottom and you will see it says Powered By Yext.

AHH, ExpressUpdate (EU) is a Yext reseller. So, that's their tool to show you how your listings are represented online. It's actually Yext's tool, EU has just branded it to make it their own.

I had forgotten about that. So, I guess they are in league with Yext. But I think they just try to resell Yext. I'm not sure they actually take Yext info. But I could be wrong about that as well!

But their free service is full featured. You're not missing out on anything by not adding their Yext component in. They're just trying to make some extra cash while you're in their dashboard.

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Sparkster

8 years ago

So it seems as if it would be good if it was a 1 time deal, but since it's yearly it would be better to go with another company.

I got a call from someone at Yext after I used it to lookup my citations. She told me that she would give me the $900 plan for $500 and it was a 1 time fee. Apparently that was a lie, it's 1 time per year lol.

Thanks
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Joshua Mackens

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Sparkster

So it seems as if it would be good if it was a 1 time deal, but since it's yearly it would be better to go with another company.

I got a call from someone at Yext after I used it to lookup my citations. She told me that she would give me the $900 plan for $500 and it was a 1 time fee. Apparently that was a lie, it's 1 time per year lol.

Unless they've changed something in the last couple of weeks, it's every year. You have to pay recurring for the relationships they maintain with the directories they put your information on. Yext pays them for this privilege so it makes sense why they have to charge every year. There's a few issues with Yext but one of them is not necessarily that you have to pay every year, it's about how much you have to pay every year. There are, of course, a few other issues with Yext as well but that's one of the bigger ones.

Thanks

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freelanceronline

8 years ago

in my opinion yext is not good as citations builder. They charge too much and they give no control of done work to you. you cannot change any NAP info in future else you have to pay them again to correct all NAPs which will cost you again same money.

a Manual citations work is good which is cost effective and have control over work for any future change in NAP,

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Quality Citations Submission and Wrong NAP Cleanup Service and Amazon FBA Professional VA 24/7 Service

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Sparkster

8 years ago

So I spoke with another Yext telemarketer who said that Yext changed it's policy and no longer deletes the listings that they made if you do not pay the second year. They simply remove access to the console to make changes.

Anyone confirm that?

Thanks
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Joshua Mackens 8 years ago

I can't confirm that myself but there's 2 problems with this:

1) I've heard a lot of stuff from Yext salespeople (second hand though, to be fair) promising a lot of things and saying a lot of things that simply aren't true. Without a press release or something on their blog, I don't know if I would believe that.

2) And honestly, this is even worse than removing your listings. At least if your listings are removed no bad information is floating around out there. Now if you need to change your listings after you cancel they're stuck and you have no access (unless you want to pay $500 to Yext again to make one change). If you don't want to pay that or can't, your listings are stuck and have no username/password for you to access them. They're just out there, floating all alone. Now Google is indexing bad information and you can't do anything about it. Again, it would be better if they just removed the listings. No listing is better than an incorrect listing.

Does that make sense?
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Sparkster

8 years ago

Yes, it makes sense for some situations. For me, my NAP and website will never change. If it does, I will have to pay the $500.

Thanks
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Joshua Mackens 8 years ago

I would consider using a different company that won't charge you $500 to change your listings. That's just me though. And in full disclosure, I work for one of those "other" local listing companies myself so take my advice with a grain of salt
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Anyone use Yext?

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