Top 10 Free Business Directories for Listing Your Business

Last updated 23/03/19

Listing your business on free business directories is an absolute no-brainer. There's plenty of upside, and no downside, providing you choose your directory sites carefully and spend time making your listing as comprehensive and engaging as possible.

I've researched over 50 business directories and have narrowed it down to the top 10 (based on domain rating in ahrefs and including those that have proved to offer a "do follow" link ie: a link that is presumed to pass domain authority and help your search ranking). You can find my list at the end of this article.

Let's get some fairly obvious points out the way:

1. Listing your business in multiple directories is great for your company's exposure. This is especially true for local exposure of your business, so this activity should be high priority if you want to increase customers in your local area. I found it far, far quicker and easier to get a directory listing high up in local Google search results than I did for my own company website.

2. Listing your business in multiple directories is great for your company website's Search Engine ranking. A crucial part of Google's ranking algorithm is the number and quality of external sites linking to your company domain. It therefore makes sense to make use of as much free traffic to your website as possible - and, furthermore, it makes sense to prioritise the business directories that are recognised for having a higher domain rating.

3. Listing your business in multiple directories is only great if you put time into creating and maintaining your listings. If you think it's job done to type in a few company details and paste a description from your "About Us" page, think again. Google penalises duplicate content so don't undermine your listing by taking shortcuts. Furthermore, you should treat each business directory as an opportunity to start a conversation with a customer, so think about the tone and types of information for each directory and how you can improve your listing over time.

4. If you're only interested in listing your company for SEO purposes, you'll only be interested in the sites that offer you a "do follow" link - one that is thought to pass domain authority and help your search ranking.

Top 10 Business Directories for Listing Your Company

1. Google My Business

Every business large and small should be listed on Google My Business. If you haven't, go and do it now. Don't delay. Do it thoroughly. Add pictures and some personality. Then come back and read more...

2. Yell

If you're of a certain age, you'll remember huge yellow books in every UK household, containing the contact details for every local business. You may even remember the classic TV ad promoting the "Good Old Yellow Pages" (starring JR Hartley). I digress. Nowadays, the Yellow Pages is an online directory called Yell.com. You can list for free, or with premium options, if you believe some people don't use Google to search for you.

3. Yelp

Yes, "yelping" for companies like yours is a thing. If you'd like someone to yelp for you, this is a straightforward website with a sky-high domain rating.

4. Bing Places

In recent years, Bing has emerged as a credible rival to Google, partly due to it's slick presentation; mainly due to the fact Microsoft loads it onto all their hardware so it's the default search provider. Either way, Bing has a not-to-be-sniffed at 7% of all searches in the UK. (Some sources claim up to 20% over 2018, but I find that hard to believe.)

5. Central Index

This is a great choice; if you list your company here it is automatically replicated across multiple local directories, all of which will give you added "link juice" as you try to build the domain authority of your website.

6. Thomson Local

7. Free Index

8. The Trade Finder

9. Hotfrog

10. Kompass

Best of the rest

11. Scoot network - these sites do not allow you to include a website address in their free service - the network includes:

- The Independent

- The Sun

- Scoot