Free Online Business Directories To Improve Your SEO in Japan

Let’s say you’ve launched a great website, but how does one go about drumming up traffic and gaining more exposure in the world of SEO? Most importantly, how can we advertise for free?

Get yourself going by doing some basic link-building

Hubspot has an excellent article about the top 50 US business directories that users can use to help improve search rankings, but there wasn’t anything for those in Japan until now.

I’ve already done some of the legwork and gone through the list provided by Hubspot, and other free sites that don’t look like spam.

Below are my list of online business directories that should help you along the way on your SEO journey. It is still a work in progress, and some the links may be more print-centric due to the industry I am in:

1. https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/directory/regist.html
2. https://biz.yelp.co.jp/signup_business/new?country=JP&context=rJoYW_MkLQvqivPzTq_LTQ
3. https://foursquare.com/
4. http://www.yellowpage-jp.com/modules/mxdirectory/viewcat.php?cid=835
5. http://jp.kompass.com/en/s/paper-printing-publishing/07/
6. http://www.publishersglobal.com/directory/japan/service/printing-services/
7. http://www.yelu.jp/companies/Printing_Services
8. https://companylist.org/Japan/Printing_Publishing/
9. http://www.hotfrog.com/
10. http://www.brownbook.net/
11. https://www.tripadvisor.com/

Further research will be necessary if your business falls under different industries, but remember to keep in mind the following tips:

Be picky about online business directories

Credible inbound links are part of the equation of improving one’s SEO ranking in Google, and sites that are the most trustworthy will certainly do the trick, especially ones where you see your competition or other reputable businesses link at.

Use online tools to help evaluate page authority

SEO Review Tools is a great way to check for a site’s credibility. I actually ran my links using the tools provided for both social media and website authority before posting this list. While this site is by no means perfect, it will at least give you a basic idea of how each site is rated.

 Now put your business up there. Get your momentum going and do some basic link-building. There’s a lot of hard work required for SEO, but with constant effort, things will eventually look up.