Run a business directory

Directory mode turns listings into business pages: a plumber, a restaurant or a shop gets its opening hours with an Open now badge, a list of services with prices, its social links and a Request a quote button. Businesses can claim the listing you added for them, and you can charge them for every quote request they receive.

Use it for a local business directory, a guide to services in your area, or a classifieds site that also lists the businesses around it.

Directory mode is available on every plan and works with every built-in theme. Only claims by text message need Nova, and the Open now search button shows on Nova and some other themes. See Which theme shows what.

Switch directory mode on

Directory mode is off on existing sites. A new site created as a directory or services marketplace in the sign-up wizard starts with it on, together with the sales dashboard for every seller (so businesses see their views and contacts) and structured data by listing type (so business listings are described to Google as local businesses).

Such a new site also starts with the directory tools on: reviews with owner replies, review photos, review invitations, the rating badge, yearly awards and fake-review protection (review extras), deals, listing performance, compare listings, sending quote requests to the nearest businesses and several locations per business (both below). Switch off any you don’t want. Existing sites keep their settings.

1. Go to Settings › General.
2. In Directory, set Site type to Directory (businesses) or Both.
3. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

Classifieds is the normal marketplace without the directory tools. Directory (businesses) and Both switch on the same tools: pick the one that describes your site.

When you save, Yclas adds the business fields to your posting form (see below). Once directory mode is on, the Directory section also shows where everything else lives: the business fields, claims waiting for you, how quote requests are billed, and whether business seller accounts are on.

If Site type is greyed out with Set by Yclas support for your site., ask us through Support to change it. If it says Available after the next update of your site., check again a little later.

To switch it off again, choose Classifieds and save. Business listings stay on your site as normal listings.

The business fields

Directory mode adds these custom fields to the posting form. You can also add them yourself with the Directory template under Start from a template in Listings › Custom Fields.

Field	What it does
This is a business	A tick box. Only listings with it ticked get the business details, claims and quote requests.
Opening hours	Hours for each day. The listing shows an Open now or Closed badge and a weekly timetable.
Special hours	Holidays and other dates with different hours, or closed. They replace the week’s hours on that date.
Wheelchair accessible, Parking, Free Wi-Fi, Accepts cards	Tick boxes shown on the listing, and filters in search.
Women-owned, Veteran-owned, Family-owned	The same, declared by the business itself.
Services and price list	A short list of services, each with a price, shown as Services and prices. A service without a price shows On request.
Social links	Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn profile links, shown as icons under Follow.
Venue and Event end date	For events: where it takes place and when it finishes, next to the event date.
Repeats and Repeats until	For events: repeat every week, month or year, until a date or with no end. See Repeating events.

The fields apply to every category. Open each one in Listings › Custom Fields to limit it to your business categories. The business’s website comes from the listing’s own Website field.

Special hours, the seven attribute tick boxes and the two repeat fields (on sites with an event date field) come with new directory sites. If your site was a directory before they existed, they aren’t added on their own (they would appear on your forms unasked): to add them, use the Directory template under Start from a template in Listings › Custom Fields. Fields you already have are left as they are. Delete any attribute you don’t want.

Sellers get a simple editor for services, social links and special hours in the post form of every theme.

An upcoming event’s listing also shows a box with its next date and an Add to calendar link. See Add to calendar.

Opening hours and Open now

The Open now badge follows the business’s hours in your site’s time zone:

• hours that run past midnight, for example 18:00 to 02:00, count as open until 02:00 the next morning;
• a day marked closed, or missing from the timetable, is closed;
• a special date replaces the week’s hours that day. The next 30 days of special hours show on the listing as Special hours.

In search, Nova and some other themes show an Open now button above the results whenever your site has the opening hours field. It keeps only businesses open at that moment. See Search and filters.

Claims: let businesses take over their listing

Directories often start with listings the owner adds: you list the local businesses yourself, then invite them to take them over. A signed-in member who works for the business clicks Claim this business on its listing.

• Verified by email. If the listing has a website, the member can give an email address at the website’s domain, for example anna@bakery.com for bakery.com. They get a 6-digit code, valid for 30 minutes, and type it on the listing. If the listing still belongs to you (an administrator), it moves to their account straight away.
• Verified by a text message (Nova only). If the listing has a phone number, nobody owns it yet and your site sends text messages (Twilio, Clickatell or 2Factor, set up for SMS sign-in), the member can click Text a code to ••• 1234 (the listing’s own number, with all but its last digits hidden). Whoever answers that phone works there, which suits businesses without an email address at their own domain. This option is off until you switch it on (see below).
• Reviewed by you. Every other claim waits for you, with the member’s message (How can we check it is your business?). This includes verified claims on a listing that already belongs to another member.

To let businesses claim by text message:

1. Set up an SMS add-on (Twilio, Clickatell or 2Factor), as for SMS sign-in.
2. Go to Settings › General.
3. In Access & privacy, switch on Claim a listing by phone.
4. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

The switch only shows on a directory site. If it says Set by Yclas support for your site., ask us through Support to change it.

Review claims in Listings › Claims in the sidebar, which shows how many are waiting. Click Approve to give the listing to the member, or Reject. Under Latest decisions you see who decided each claim, how and when.

The listing’s current owner is always emailed when someone claims it and when it changes hands. A listing that belongs to an approved business seller account can’t be claimed: that business already manages it. Each member can make up to 5 claims a day.

Paid claims

A claim is a good moment to sell a business a plan: it has just found its listing and wants to manage it. If you sell membership plans, you can ask for one when a business claims its listing.

1. Switch on memberships and create your plans. Set what each one adds to a listing under Listing level: more photos, more deals, statistics, a badge.
2. Go to Settings › General.
3. In Access & privacy, choose an option in Claims and plans (see the table).
4. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

Option	What happens
Claiming is free	The default. The listing moves to the business as soon as the claim is verified or you approve it.
Free, then show the plans to the new owner	The same, and the confirmation tells the new owner that your plans add more photos, deals, statistics and a badge to the listing.
The business must choose a plan to take over the listing	Once the claim is verified or approved, it waits for the business to buy a plan. They get the directory-claim-plan email with a link to your plans, and the listing tells them Your claim is confirmed. Choose a plan and this listing moves to your account. The listing moves to them as soon as their plan starts.

Claims and plans only shows on a directory site with memberships on. With memberships off, claiming is free.

With a paid claim, a business already on a running plan takes the listing over straight away. In Listings › Claims, waiting claims show under Latest decisions as Approved, waiting for the claimant’s plan. If the listing changes hands before their plan starts, that claim is rejected and the listing stays with its new owner.

Quote requests

Every business listing has a Get a quote box with a Request a quote button. Visitors don’t need an account: they give their name, email, an optional phone number and what they need, and click Send request. The business is emailed about each request.

This is the directory’s lead form, sent to the business by email. It’s different from Request a quote, where a buyer asks a seller for a price in messages and pays it online.

Requests have spam protection: a hidden trap field, a check that the form was sent from your site, Cloudflare Turnstile when your site uses it, and a daily limit per visitor.

Send requests to the nearest businesses

The Request quotes section you can add to your home page (see With the AI page builder) sends one request to up to 5 businesses in a category. Normally those are the newest business listings in it. With Send quote requests to the nearest businesses on, the request goes to the businesses nearest the area the visitor types in Your area, within 50 km. If the area can’t be found on the map, or no business with a map point is that close, it goes to the newest ones as before. Businesses are placed on the map from their listing’s address.

The same switch shows how quickly each business usually answers: a line such as Usually responds within ~3 hours on its listings. It is worked out once a day from the last 90 days of quote requests and conversations about the business’s listings, once there are at least 3. A business that leaves most requests unanswered shows no time.

A reply to a quote request counts when the business clicks the visitor’s email address in the request email, which opens their email app to answer. With messages on, their replies in chat count too.

To switch it on:

1. Go to Settings › General.
2. In Access & privacy, switch on Send quote requests to the nearest businesses.
3. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

The switch only shows once Site type is Directory (businesses) or Both.

Free or paid

Out of the box, quote requests are free: the business gets the visitor’s contact details by email straight away. You can instead charge businesses for them, which is a common way for a directory to earn money.

1. Click Make money in the sidebar and choose Charge sellers.
2. In What sellers pay for, switch on Quote requests.
3. Choose how to charge (see the table) and set the Price per lead.
4. Finish the steps and click Save and switch on. See Make money for the rest of the page.

Billing	How it works
Per lead	Each request creates an order for the business. The business is emailed that a request arrived, with a link to pay. The visitor’s name, email, phone and message are sent once it pays.
Included in the plan	Each membership plan includes a number of requests per period, set in Quote requests included on the plan’s page. Requests beyond that are charged per lead. Needs seller plans on.

Businesses pay through the payment methods you’ve set up, like any other order. Requests to a listing that still belongs to you are never charged: you get them in full.

Listings › Leads lists every request with the listing, the sender, the message and how it was billed: Free, Awaiting payment, Paid, Plan credit or Refunded.

Several locations per business

A chain or a business with several branches can list them all on one listing, instead of posting the same business again for each address. With Several locations per business on, the seller of a business listing sees Add your other locations on it. They add up to 20 branches, each with a name, address and phone. The listing shows them under Locations, each with a Directions link, and they appear as markers on the map page. One claim covers the whole business.

1. Go to Settings › General.
2. In Access & privacy, switch on Several locations per business.
3. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

Like lead matching, the switch only shows on a directory site.

Fill your directory and earn from it

An empty directory is hard to sell to visitors or to businesses. These guides help you get started and make money:

• Add businesses from open data — fill your directory with real businesses from open map data included in your plan, ready for them to claim.
• Import businesses from Google — fill your directory with real businesses from a Google Places search, ready for them to claim.
• Review replies, invitations and awards — owner replies, review invitations with a QR poster, a rating badge for businesses’ websites, yearly awards, fake-review protection and AI summaries.
• Licensed and Insured badges — let tradespeople prove their licence and insurance.
• Listing performance — show businesses the calls, website visits and searches their listing brings them.
• Deals on listings — businesses post offers, collected on a Deals page, with a voucher for each customer.
• Listing levels — sell Bronze, Silver and Gold plans with more photos, deals, statistics and a badge.
• Sponsored in search results and banners advertisers buy themselves — paid places you sell to businesses.
• Compare listings — visitors compare up to 4 businesses side by side.

Which theme shows what

Feature	Nova	Other built-in themes
Open now badge, services and prices, social links	Yes	Yes
Request a quote, claim this business (email code or review), paid claims	Yes	Yes
Weekly timetable	Yes	From the theme’s custom field display
Special hours, several locations, reply times, plan badge	Yes	Yes
Deals, compare, Ask about this listing, review extras, sponsored results	Yes	Yes
Claim by a code texted to the business’s phone	Yes	No
Open now button in search	Yes	Some themes

On themes other than Nova, the business details appear in a box of their own on the listing page, styled to fit any theme.

A custom theme made for your site, with its own copy of the listing, reviews or results page, may not show the newer features: their switches stay hidden or have no effect there until the theme is updated. Ask us through Support.

Emails

Reword them in Email templates:

Template	Sent to	When
directory-claim-code	The claimant, at the business address	With the code to confirm a claim.
directory-claim-received	The listing’s owner	Someone claimed their listing.
directory-claim-approved	The claimant	Their claim was approved.
directory-claim-transferred	The previous owner	The listing changed hands.
directory-claim-plan	The claimant	Their claim is confirmed, and they need a plan to take the listing over (paid claims).
directory-new-lead	The business	A quote request, with the visitor’s contact details (free, or once paid for).
directory-new-lead-paid	The business	A request it must pay for, with a link to pay.

With the AI page builder

If your plan includes the AI page builder, ask it for directory sections on your home page: featured businesses, a “claim your business” call to action, upcoming events, or a quote form that sends one request to up to 5 matching businesses in a category.

Good to know

• Only listings with This is a business ticked get the business details. Ordinary listings look as they did.
• The Claims and Leads pages are for administrators. They appear in the sidebar once directory mode is on.
• A visitor’s contact details are sent by email; the business doesn’t see them in its account. You see them all in Leads.
• For dealers and agencies who post many listings, also look at business seller accounts.
• With Structured data by listing type on in Settings › SEO, business listings are described to Google as a local business, with their address, map point, phone, website and opening hours. It is on for directory sites created in the sign-up wizard; on other sites, switch it on yourself. See SEO for your marketplace.

Related guides

• Business sellers — business accounts with a badge, trader details and bulk import.
• Special custom fields — opening hours, event dates and more.
• Review replies, invitations and awards — the review tools directories rely on.
• Add businesses from open data — seed an empty directory, included in your plan.
• Import businesses from Google — seed an empty directory.
• Membership plans — include quote requests in a plan, set listing levels and ask for a plan on claims.
• Marketplace ideas — other ways to set up your site.