The contractor directory

The directory at smgtools.com/directory is where somebody who has never heard of you looks for a contractor, by the service they need and the town they are in. Your public page brings in the people who already know you; the directory brings in the ones who do not.

Get listed

The switch is under Settings → Public Page: choose Edit Settings, tick List my business in the Contractor Directory, then Save Changes.

A listing needs three things, because without them nobody could find you or reach you:

• your public page switched on — every listing links to it;
• at least one service category, which is how people search by trade;
• at least one service area, which is how people search by place.

Categories and areas are set under Settings → Business Details — see Say what you do and where you work. Until you have both, the Public Page screen says so instead of offering the switch.

A business that signed up after the directory opened starts listed, and can leave at any time. One that was already here is not listed until it chooses to be. Either way, a business that could be listed and is not sees a banner in the console — The SMG Tools Contractor Directory is live — with Opt in to be listed, and No thanks to put it away for good.

What your listing shows

• Your business name and logo.
• The city and state of your service area marked Primary — or your first area, if none is.
• Up to three of your service categories, alphabetically, and how many more you have.
• A link to your public page.
• Where you take bookings online, a Books online mark and a link straight to your booking page. It follows your booking switch; there is nothing else to set.

Nothing else is published there: no phone number, no email, and nothing about your jobs or your clients. The detail lives on your public page, one click away.

Listings are alphabetical and all carry equal weight. There is no ranking, no promoted spot and no way to pay to be higher up the page.

Show up for the towns around you

Somebody searching a town finds you if that town is one of your service areas — the city on its own is enough, and a state narrows it when they give one.

On Professional you can also give an area a radius, in miles, under Settings → Business Details → Service Areas → Edit Areas. You are then found by people searching any town within that distance of it, not only the towns on your list: a business in Fort Collins covering thirty miles is found by somebody searching Loveland. The distance is measured in a straight line. On Starter the screen offers the upgrade in place of the radius box.

Know which leads came from the directory

When somebody reaches your public page from your listing and sends you a request, it arrives on your Leads page marked Directory, beside your referrals and everybody who typed your address in. See See what is actually bringing you work.

If they also came through one of your clients’ referral links, it is recorded as a referral — the client who sent them is the more useful thing to know.

Leave the directory

Untick List my business in the Contractor Directory and save. You are gone from the directory the next time anybody loads it, and your own public page carries on exactly as before, for everybody who already has the link.

Switching your public page off takes you out of the directory too, and saves the listing switch as off — a listing that linked to a page that is not there would be worse than no listing. Turning the page back on does not list you again; tick the listing switch as well if you want both.

What it costs

Nothing, on every plan. Being listed, being searched and knowing which leads it brought are all free. The radius that widens where you are found is part of Professional, because it runs on the maps service Professional pays for.