CitationHQ vs Doing it yourself
Filling in the directory forms by hand. Honest comparison so you can pick the right one. We make money if you pick us, but we'll tell you when Doing it yourself is the better fit.
If your time is worth less than about £8/hour and you genuinely enjoy form-filling, DIY is fine. For most UK business owners, paying £39 for someone else to do the 5-6 hours of work is the better trade.
Side by side
| Feature | CitationHQ | Doing it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Cash cost | £39 one-off | £0 cash, 5-6 hours time |
| Time investment | ~20 minutes to fill the form | 5-6 hours of focused work |
| NAP consistency across directories | Guaranteed, one canonical source | Down to human discipline (mistakes common) |
| Verification handling | We monitor and complete the flow | You track each email and postcard yourself |
| Knowing which directories matter | Curated list of 60+, refreshed quarterly | You research, choose, vet |
| Quality of submission | Standardised, reviewable, screenshot evidence | Variable per form, no audit trail |
| Ongoing drift monitoring | Optional from £3/mo | You audit manually every 6 months |
| Risk of submitting to bad directories | Zero, list is vetted | High, link-farm directories are easy to fall into |
Where CitationHQ wins
- +Time saved is real: 5-6 hours becomes 20 minutes
- +Consistency across listings (the hardest thing to do manually)
- +No risk of accidentally submitting to spam directories
- +Audit trail with screenshots per submission
- +Optional monitoring catches drift before it costs rankings
Where Doing it yourself wins
- +No cash cost
- +Full control over every field on every directory
- +Useful learning exercise if you want to deeply understand local SEO
- +Genuinely free if your time is cheap and you're disciplined
When you should pick Doing it yourself
DIY makes genuine sense if (a) your time is worth less than £8/hour, (b) you enjoy administrative work, or (c) you only need to maintain one or two listings rather than build a full profile from scratch. For most UK business owners running a real operation, the £39 trade-off is obvious.
Ready to try CitationHQ?
£39 one-off for the full 60+ UK directory campaign. No subscription required. Cancel ongoing monitoring any time.
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