The dealer locator listings almost nobody claims
If you are an authorised dealer for a flooring brand, you are usually entitled to a listing in their retailer locator. It is a link from a national manufacturer domain, in your exact industry, pointing at your store. Most flooring companies have never asked for one.
- Read time
- 6 min
- Applies to
- Authorised dealers
- Cost
- Usually free
- Effort
- A few emails
Link building in this industry is mostly done badly — bought directories, guest posts on sites nobody reads, and citation blasts. Meanwhile there is a category of link that is genuinely high authority, unambiguously relevant, and free to anyone who already sells the product.
Manufacturers run retailer locators so consumers can find somewhere to buy. Those locator pages sit on the manufacturer's own domain. Getting listed is a link, a citation, and a referral source at the same time.
The locators worth checking first
These are live consumer-facing retailer finders. Whether you qualify depends on your dealer agreement with each brand — carrying the product in your showroom is usually the requirement, and some brands restrict listings to specific programme tiers.
| Brand | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Shaw Floors | The "Where to Buy" store locator on shawfloors.com |
| Mohawk | Runs a dedicated dealer locator subdomain plus a retailer finder on the main site |
| Karndean Designflooring | "Find a Retailer" — sold exclusively through specialty retailers, so the locator is the only route consumers have |
| Mannington | Retailer locator on the consumer site |
| Armstrong Flooring | Dealer and retailer finder |
| COREtec | Dealer locator, typically tied to the dealer programme |
| Daltile / Marazzi | Locators for tile dealers and showrooms |
| Bruce, Pergo, Anderson Tuftex | Brand-level retailer finders |
Locator URLs move, and programmes change. Search "[brand] find a retailer" or ask your territory rep directly — the rep is usually the fastest route, because they can confirm eligibility and submit on your behalf in one email.
Why these are worth more than a directory listing
- Authority. These are established national manufacturer domains, not a directory somebody spun up last year.
- Relevance. A flooring manufacturer linking to a flooring retailer is about as topically clean as a link gets.
- Consistency. Each listing carries your name, address and phone, which feeds the same citation consistency that local SEO depends on.
- Actual referrals. Unlike most link building, people genuinely use these to find a local store.
How to work through them
- List every brand you carry. Including the ones you stock occasionally. Start with your top five by volume.
- Check whether you are already listed. A surprising number of companies are listed with a decade-old address or a disconnected phone number, which is actively harmful rather than neutral.
- Match the details exactly. Name, address and phone must match your Google Business Profile character for character. "St" versus "Street" is the kind of thing that quietly fragments a citation profile.
- Email your rep, not a form. Territory reps can confirm eligibility and push the listing through faster than a generic web form.
- Re-audit annually. Programmes change, brands get acquired, listings drop. Put it in the calendar.
The mistake to avoid
Do not claim listings for brands you do not genuinely carry. Manufacturers audit their locators, and being removed for misrepresentation costs you the dealer relationship, which is worth vastly more than the link.
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