How to keep local citation solicitations away

[DVOH]

Is there a way to get a client good citations for local SEO without them being badgered by solicitations by the citation sites, or at least minimize it. I realize once a company is listed they are on the telemarketing radar, but in specific keeping companies like manta , yelp etc. I am finding when I list manually for my clients that they are receiving an onslaught of 'your listing doesn't count unless you upgrade' kind of calls from the companies who I verified with. Does this happen when you list with an automated listing system such as Moz Local or any of the competitors? Thanks.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi DVOH!

I know this is a headache. Not a great answer here for you, but no, there probably isn't much you can do to stem the tide of solicitations. When you build citations manually, you will note that some of the platforms have an auto-checked box for "I want to receive updates and offers about important, etc, etc." that you can uncheck, but, in general, you are going to be stuck with companies trying to market themselves to their customers.

Now, regarding Moz Local, if you sign up with us and list all of your clients under your agency's account, we will only contact you, the account holder, with all Moz Local updates. We should not contact any of your clients directly. But, this does not mean your clients may not be contacted at some point by the platforms on which their citations exist, because, as you've said, they are then on the radar of these local business data platforms. I suppose you could have your clients set blocking in their email programs, but that seems like a bit of a stretch. After all, they might miss something important if they did this. And, as for phone calls, there is really no way to reduce this apart from do not call lists.

Kind of a pain, I know, but likely a necessary evil If anyone in the community has a second opinion on this, I hope they will share!