UK business directories: the free listings worth having, and the paid ones to skip

What a directory listing does for local SEO

In the UK, “business directories uk” is searched 720 times a month and “free business listings uk” 320 times. The printed directory has given way to websites where a customer looks for a trade in a town, and where search engines also read your business details. A listing gives you three things, from the most direct to the most indirect:

• Customers who search there directly: on Yell, on FreeIndex, in Apple Maps on an iPhone, in Bing on a Windows laptop.
• Consistent details. Google writes that “Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results.” An old phone number on one directory and the address before your move on another are contradictions for search engines and lost calls for you.
• Prominence. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that prominence is also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have. A listing on a directory people actually use is one of those websites: it counts, as one signal among many, not as a shortcut.

The UK listings worth having, in order

Start with the ones customers open every day, then the directories, then the registers that prove what you do:

1. 1
   Google Business Profile first. It is not a directory, but it is the listing every other one is compared with: get it verified and correct before you copy its details anywhere else.
2. 2
   Bing Places for Business. Bing’s help page says: “Import from your Google Business Profile to get instant verification.” If your Google profile is already right, it is the quickest listing on this list.
3. 3
   Apple Business (formerly Apple Business Connect), for Apple Maps. Apple’s page: “Claim your location on Maps so millions of customers can connect with your business. Control how your business appears with your logo, hours, images, and key details.” Apple announced it as available as a free service.
4. 4
   Yell. The page is clear that you can claim your free Yell Business listing, and Yell adds: “we’ll also share your details across Apple, Amazon Alexa & Microsoft”. In its own small print, Yell also says that we cannot guarantee that your data will appear across all networks: so claim Bing and Apple yourself rather than counting on Yell to do it.
5. 5
   FreeIndex. Its home page says “Advertise for FREE on FreeIndex”: a free profile, with reviews collected on the site and quote requests from customers.
6. 6
   Thomson Local and Scoot. Both are long-standing UK directories. Their sign-up pages could not be read on the day we wrote this guide, so we do not describe their offers: check on their own pages what the free listing includes before you give card details.

The registers of your trade

Then the registers of your trade, which customers check when the job matters. These listings come with a membership or a registration you already hold, and they prove something a general directory cannot:

• TrustMark, for home improvement trades: “TrustMark is the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme”, and it tells homeowners: “Make sure the tradesperson is registered with TrustMark for the specific trade you need.”
• The Federation of Master Builders, which presents its directory as “The only way to find inspected builders in the UK” and warns that some places claim to be a member when they’re not.
• NICEIC, for electricians: homeowners can find local NICEIC-registered tradespeople and get their contact details.
• Your professional body or chamber of commerce, if you are a member: accountants, solicitors, architects and many other trades have their own “find a member” page. Check that your entry is complete and links to your site.

Same name, address and phone number everywhere

A listing helps only if it says exactly the same thing as your Google profile, your website and your sign. Before you create a single one:

1. 1
   Write down the exact form once: trading name as on your van and invoices, full address with postcode (or service area only if you work from home), one phone number, the address of your website.
2. 2
   Copy that form into every listing, character for character. “Ltd” here and not there, a mobile on one site and a landline on another: pick one.
3. 3
   Search your business name and your old phone number on each directory: a listing created by someone else or by a former owner may already exist. Claim it and correct it rather than creating a second one.
4. 4
   When you move or change number, update Google first, then every listing on your list, the same day.

The paid listings, and why we would skip them

Most UK directories sell something on top of the free listing. Three kinds of offer come up, and none of them buys you a place on Google:

• A higher position inside the directory. FreeIndex Premium, for example, costs £9.95 a month, or £99.50 a year, and its first promise is “Listed above non-premium members”: a better place on FreeIndex, not on Google. Worth it only if FreeIndex already sends you enquiries you can count. Note its terms: “We have a ’no refund’ policy.”
• Packs that list you on “hundreds of directories”. Google’s spam policy defines link spam as the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings, and its examples include “Low-quality directory or bookmark site links” and “Buying or selling links for ranking purposes”. Such a pack mostly adds your details to sites nobody visits, which you will then have to correct by hand when you move.
• Managed marketing sold with the listing. Some directories also sell websites, ads or monthly packages. Judge them as what they are, a marketing service, on the enquiries they bring, never on the promise of a better Google ranking.

The rule to remember is Google’s own: “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.”

Our take

We would give this one evening, not a month: Google Business Profile corrected first, then Bing Places by import, Apple Business, Yell and FreeIndex, and your trade body’s register if you are a member. After that, a tenth directory adds almost nothing, while one wrong phone number on a listing you forgot costs real calls. The trap is the paid upgrade sold as SEO: a higher place inside a directory is not a higher place on Google, and a pack of links from directories nobody opens is precisely what Google’s spam policy describes.

The FindMyCompany team