Moz beefs up Moz Local with new features, distribution and automation

Moz has overhauled and enhanced its MozLocal offering, adding new features and automation the company says were requested by users and the broader local SEO community. Previously the product offered listings monitoring and syndication.

Moz says that it had conversations with its numerous customers, agency partners and broader community and the new features were highly requested. They add speed and workflow improvements according to the company.

These new features include:

• Google My Business sync: automatically synchronizes listings with GMB. Users can manage changes and updates directly from the Moz dashboard
• Listing alerts: provides an activity feed if listings data are overwritten or in some other way changed vs. the information in the Moz-managed listing
• Reputation monitoring/management: new monitoring of Google reviews, which joins comparable functionality for a range of directories, including Foursquare, Yelp, YP and others. New reviews are also available as they’re published, within the Moz dashboard. Users can respond to Google reviews from there as well
• Expanded distribution: The company has added new data providers/partners to its existing sources (Acxiom, Factual, Infogroup, Neustar Localeze and “a few powerful directories”). Those new distribution sources include Hotfrog, Apple Maps, HERE, TomTom and Navmii. Some of these come through a partnership through NavAds.
• Improved SEO metrics for organic rankings and the Local Pack.

In the same post announcing the product expansion, Moz identifies its key competitors:

• Brandify
• Bright Local
• MomentFeed
• Rio SEO
• SIM Partners
• Vendasta
• Yext

One of the more interesting new features is the activity feed, which shows agencies or marketers that the system is delivering value. This has been one of the challenges for SEO practitioners, especially when it comes to the SMB market: proving that the presence management is actually doing something for the customer.

Reputation management has been added in part because Google review count and score are now ranking factors. However it’s also a key consumer consideration. Moz competitor Yext recently launched a new reviews product because of their growing importance on various fronts.

Many will read this and argue that these features already exist elsewhere on the list above. Moz argues its local search/SEO expertise is unsurpassed and that, holistically, the new tools combine to produce a superior product. Moz asserts that use of its software produced a nearly 20 percent average “Listing Score” increase across its customer base, as well as greatly improved visibility/reach.

The expanded Moz Local is intended to equally serve the small business, agency and enterprise markets. The new offerings are available now and come in three tiers: essential, professional and premium. They range in price from roughly $9 to $21 per month accordingly.

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