Yell Digital Marketing Review: Something to Yell About?

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Whether you’re looking to improve your Facebook adverts, Google Ads campaigns, or PPC (pay-per-click) performance, Yell has great potential to deliver positive results for your business’s digital marketing strategy. It’s one of our top digital marketing agencies, but is Yell right for your business?

If you’re short on time, you can compare Yell to other providers using our 🎁free quote request tool. Simply answer a few questions about your marketing interests, and we’ll ask our chosen partners to get in touch with you.

Or, read on to find out more about the pros, cons, and features of the digital marketing service. Yell provides some solid marketing support for SMEs, from free listing services to the more advanced Smart Performance package – all of which we’ll weigh up in this review.

Pros

  • One of the largest providers of digital marketing services for small businesses
  • Free to list your business on Yell.com, the UK's biggest business directory
  • Offers a unique AI-powered service for more established businesses
  • Provides a free website builder

Cons

  • Offers a minimum contract term of 12 months, so you have to use the service for at least a year
  • Some customers struggled with customer service
We'll put you in touch with Yell and others so you can compare quotes Which marketing channel do you need support with?

What are Yell’s features and benefits?

Yell prides itself on its services, but how exactly can they help you? We’ve listed what Yell has to offer, as well as some of the biggest benefits that come with them:

✓ Market-leading solutions

In terms of revenue, Yell is the UK’s number one managed digital marketing service, combining over 20 years of experience with the industry’s latest technology. Yell uses some of the most cutting edge digital marketing tools and software on the market. Yell also has partnerships with Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, which offer greater visibility for your business.

✓ One-stop digital marketing shop

Yell offers all the tools and services needed for businesses to grow online, in one place. Yell’s key services include:

Smart Performance

Yell Smart Performance dashboard

Using AI (artificial intelligence), this premium package is designed to help your business’ online presence attract as much traffic as possible, while you focus on other important tasks.

First, Yell will work with you to define your marketing budget, hone in on your preferred audience and location targeting, and finalise the creatives for your advertising campaign. You’ll be able to set up advertising across key platforms, including Google and Microsoft search networks, Facebook and Instagram, and the Google Display Network and Facebook Audience Network.

Then, every 24 hours, Smart Performance’s machine learning monitors click volumes, conversion rates, and cost-per-click figures. Using this information, it automatically readjusts your budget across those channels – ensuring that the channels that are bringing you the biggest results are getting the biggest investment, so your digital marketing spend is truly optimised.

Importantly, you’ll gain access to an online analytics dashboard do you can track the performance of your campaign, and you’ll also receive a monthly performance report.

It’s a super clever system that has the potential to yield great results. In a recent trial, Smart Performance campaigns saw average click-through rates that were 230% higher – and average cost-per-click rates that were 65% lower – than those from a regular PPC campaign. This feature is ideal for small business owners that simply don’t have the time to build an online presence and gain new customers with so many other tasks to think about.

Yell.com listing

Yell.com is the UK’s largest online business directory, currently boasting listings for 2.7 million businesses. You’ll get a free business profile page – with photos, contact details, reviews, opening times, and more – which will pop up on Google when someone searches for a business like yours in their area. In fact, according to Yell, 84% of its customers say Yell.com helps them to be found on Google.

DIY website builder

With 70-80% of customers researching a business before making a sale, a website is a borderline necessity in the current business climate.

Yell offers a completely free, user friendly website builder. You’ll get a choice of design templates, while the platform’s code-free, drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to put your site’s pages together.

Importantly, your site will come with a .co.uk domain address and email, and Google-recognised security certification that shows users (and Google!) that your business is trustworthy.

Digital Marketing Starter Pack

Yell’s entry-level digital marketing package includes:

  • A two-page secure website, built by experts and ready to go live the same day
  • Connect Starter, which distributes your business’ details across relevant sites and directories
  • A prominent listing with enhanced content on Yell.com, to help your business stand out from the competition

✓ Flexible support

Yell recognises the importance of good customer support. As a customer, you’ll benefit from phone or live chat access to Yell’s customer support teams, who can help address any issues quickly.

✓ A large, yet local service

Yell has a large field sales force that covers the whole of the UK, and should almost always have an expert nearby, ready to support businesses with on-site visits at most locations around the country. If you ever need a quick digital marketing consultation, all you’ll have to do is yell.

If this all sounds great, or even if your overwhelmed by the amount of features and information on offer, you could benefit from a quick look at our 🎁free quote comparison tool. By plugging in your business’s information, you’ll be given quotes for Yell and other digital marketing services that are tailor-made to suit you.

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Compare Yell head-to-head with other agencies

Answer a few questions about your business to discover if Yell is the best fit for your business… or an alternative provider.


How much does Yell cost?

Here’s how much Yell’s key digital marketing services could set you back:

ServicePriceWhat you’ll get
Yell.com listing£0-£10+ per month
  • Business listing on yell.com
  • Visibility across Amazon, Apple and Bing
Website£399-£3,499+ per month
  • A website (built with Wix)
  • Copywriting for 5-50 pages
  • Sell online with higher tier subscriptions
Starter Advert£10 per month
  • Highlighted business listing on Yell
  • Business listed across Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft
  • Messaging and customer payment request
Smart PerformanceFrom £300 per month
  • Paid search marketing: Business ads on Google and Microsoft channels
  • Ads on Facebook and Instagram
  • Tracking and reporting

Prices correct as of last update.

For personalised pricing information, use our 🎁free digital marketing quote finding tool — and we’ll ask Yell to call you directly.


Is Yell right for my business?

Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, with any number of hopes and dreams. Check the statements that align with your own needs to find out whether Yell could be the right call:

“I’m a small business owner looking to grow my online presence.”

You’re in the right place! Yell’s digital marketing services – including its Yell.com listing, and its Starter Pack – have been specifically crafted to help small businesses get online and grow. Plus, at £30 per month, its Starter Pack pricing is affordable for startups on tight budgets, while getting your business listed on Yell.com is totally free!

That said, you should be aware that Yell’s contracts operate on a minimum term of 12 months – something to bear in mind if you’re keen for more flexibility.

“My business is already established online, but I want to optimise my advertising.”

Sounds like Smart Performance could be a great option for you! Using a combination of expert advice from Yell’s team and machine learning from the Smart Performance system, this service aims to superpower your advertising campaigns by directing your budget into the advertising channels that are working for you. And it moves as fast as the internet does, with your campaign’s performance analysed every 24 hours.

Do bear in mind, though, that Smart Performance is a premium service. We can’t specify how much it’ll cost you – that will depend on your budget and what you want to achieve – but it will come with a bigger price tag than Yell’s entry-level services.

“I want to use SEO to grow my business.”

You might have seen online reviews stating that Yell’s SEO services leave something to be desired. Fortunately, Yell has developed and improved its SEO offering over the last year, and now provides a tailored service that promises better results.

Yell will start by carrying out a full SEO audit of your business, so its team can work out how best it can help you – after all, as Yell states, SEO isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The company offers five different bands of SEO strategy, starting at £700 for local search optimisation, and finishing at £2,400 for a nationally-focused ecommerce strategy – so you’re likely to find something suited to your needs.

“I want to create a PPC campaign for my business.”

Yell is one of the largest Google Partners in the UK, and is also a Microsoft Advertising Elite Channel Partner. The company currently manages PPC campaigns for over 11,000 businesses across the UK. In short, Yell is a great shout for PPC solutions.


What do Yell’s customer reviews say?

We’ve combed Trustpilot, the popular reviewing platform, to give you an idea of what Yell’s customers think of its digital marketing services. From over 8,000 reviews, Yell has achieved 3.5 out of 5 stars, earning an ‘Average’ rating from Trustpilot reviewers. Here’s what some of those users had to say:

I now feel much more confident that I have made the right choices with Yell. We were a little rushed at the end of the phone call appointment, but we had been talking for well over an hour.

Keith L, Yell customer

Employees were not pushy to sell, which was great. There were a few issues which I think could have been avoided – hence the four stars out of five – but the issues were dealt with promptly, and explained well.

Thornton, Yell customer

Fantastic help with updating our company website! Real attention to detail – thank you Caitlin!

Graeme C, Yell customer


Expert verdict

Given that Yell is, in terms of revenue, the biggest managed digital marketing service in the UK, we’re really impressed by the level of dedicated customer service that it can offer. If having someone on hand to help you with your digital marketing campaigns is important to you, don’t be put off by Yell’s size – you should have access to the help you need.

Yell’s 20 years of industry experience also stand in its favour, with market-leading tools and services on offer. We’re especially impressed by its innovative Smart Performance system, which should replace some gruelling analysis on your part with speedy, automated changes that encourage real results. Its PPC campaigns, social media adverts, Google Ads, and website design are also excellent strengths of Yell’s.

One downside would be the length of the untypically long minimum contract term of 12 months — but if a year-long contract isn’t an issue for you, of course this won’t be a problem.

Need more support before choosing a marketing agency with complete confidence? Expert Market has done heaps of research to help find you the best digital marketing agency for your business.

Make sure to try out digital marketing quote comparison tool to compare Yell with other market leaders, and discover which would be the best fit for your business’s needs. 

FAQs

Do you have to pay to advertise on Yell?
It’s free to create a business listing on Yell.com that lets customers find you through web search. A bit like a listing on Google Maps or Facebook, a Yell.com business profile contains your company name, location, opening times, images and an overview description. However, if you want your business profile to appear in the top position for certain search queries, you have to pay Yell for this kind of advertising.
Do I own my own Yell website?
No – this is very important. After paying for the design and build, you continue to pay Yell a monthly management service fee. This means you’re essentially renting the website. If you decide to leave Yell, you’ll lose your website.
Who are Yell's competitors?
Rival directories include Yelp.co.uk and Freeindex.co.uk, as they both offer free business listings with the opportunity to boost these for a fee. However, Yell is the top website in the public records and directories. 192.com is also a competitor of Yell, although you have to pay 192.com a monthly fee to maintain “verified” status on its directory. Yell’s competitors in the digital marketing space include agencies such as BowlerHat, Flycast Media, Web Bureau and Revive.Digital.
Written by:
Dan’s a Senior Writer at Expert Market, specialising in digital marketing, web design, and photocopiers, amongst other topics.
Reviewed by:
Robyn Summers-Emler, Grow Online Editor, Profile Picture
Robyn started working on Expert Market in 2021 as a specialist in business websites and digital marketing. As the Grow Online Editor, she ideates, commissions and optimizes content on Expert Market that helps businesses thrive in online spaces and maximize their ecommerce potential. Covering everything from choosing a website builder to scaling a social media marketing strategy - Robyn uses her expertise to help startups, SMBs, and larger businesses realize digital growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.