Judge a listing site on three things
- Does it send real enquiries? Some directories are browsed by customers; most are not.
- Does it help your search visibility? Even a low-traffic directory can be a useful citation if it's a legitimate, well-indexed site.
- What does it cost you later? Watch for upsell calls, auto-renewals and commission clauses.
A listing that fails all three isn't free — it costs you an hour and a stream of sales calls.
Tier 1 — do these first
- Google Business Profile — non-negotiable. It powers the map pack and "near me" searches. See our setup walkthrough.
- Bing Places — quick to complete, and it feeds Bing plus several AI assistants that use Bing's index.
- Apple Business Connect — free, and it puts you on Apple Maps, which is the default on every iPhone.
- Job Snapper directory — trade-specific, free forever, no commission, customers contact you directly.
Tier 2 — solid UK general directories
- Yell.com — free basic listing available; ignore the sales upsell unless the numbers stack up.
- Thomson Local — long-established UK directory with a free tier.
- FreeIndex — genuinely free, decent for reviews and local rankings.
- Cylex, Hotfrog, Scoot, 118 business listings — quick citation wins, low effort.
- Yelp UK — smaller in the UK than the US, but still indexed well.
Tier 3 — trade-specific
- Gas Safe Register (gas engineers) and NICEIC / NAPIT (electricians) — your scheme's public "find an installer" search is one of the highest-intent listings you can have.
- TrustMark — government-endorsed quality scheme with a public search.
- Federation / trade association member directories — CIPHE, FMB, Painting and Decorating Association and similar.
Where free listings pay off least
Skip generic "SEO directory" sites with thousands of unrelated listings, no editorial standards and no real visitors. They add nothing, and mass-submitting to them can look manipulative.
Do it in one sitting
Write down your business name, town, postcode area, mobile, email, five service categories, service areas and a 60-word bio. With that in a note you can complete most submissions in three minutes each. Then follow the submission list in order.