Top 10 Free Business Directories in South Africa
Search Engine Optimisation
There's a saying 'no man is an island' and when it comes to websites this is particularly true. Especially if you want to increase your rankings. This process is called backlinking and is a function of Search Engine Optimisation.
Building links is fairly simple on the face of it. You get other websites to insert a link in their websites to your website. But delve deeper and you'll see that not all websites are equal. According to Google, some are better than others.
Free Listings
Here's our top ten list of free business directories in South Africa. Included with each free listing are three of the most important statistics about each site. Their Domain Authority - the higher the domain authority the better for your website. The number of keywords they have and their estimated organic traffic. The higher the number the more popular they are likely to be and the more likely your business listing is to be seen.
Below we've sorted 10 of South Africa's Business Directory Websites starting with the lowest rankers first. But these statistics change daily. In each section below you'll find a Domain Authority link. Click it to check their current rankings on ubersuggest.org It will look something like this:
PS Feel free to use this same tool to check your website's rankings.
#1 ACTIVE WEB
As at July 2020 they had 2715 Organic Keywords and an estimated 651 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa
ABOUT
ActiveWeb is a new online business directory with an easy to use interface. They offer free and premium options and their prices are very low.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Your Logo
- Product Images
- Contact Details and Address
- A biography
- A listing description
- Keywords
#2 HOTFROG
As at July 2020 they had 67591 Organic Keywords and an estimated 23825 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa
ABOUT
Hotfrog is an international business directory which operates in 38 countries around the globe. While they encourage you to sign up for a priority listing of R150 a month you can get a free listing. A good feature is that they give you a monthly search results graph.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Your Logo
- Product Image/s
- Operating Hours
- Contact Details and Address
- Social Media Links
- Keywords
#4 BEST DIRECTORY
As at July 2020 they had 18019 Organic Keywords, an estimated 7986 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa.
ABOUT
What makes this directory great is that in total, there are only 4925 listings. Which when it comes to online listings means you have more of a chance of being seen.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Your Logo
- Up to 10 Product Images
- Contact Details and Address
- Operating Hours
- Facebook and Twitter URL's only
- A short description and a long description (2000 word max)
#5 BRABYS
As at July 2020 they had 93198 Organic Keywords and an estimated 94631 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa.
ABOUT
Out of all the free business directories we've signed up for so far, Brabys is probably the quickest to sign up for. They don't have a registering facility. You just fill in a form with very basic info and submit it. And hey presto you're done. This can be a big relief if you've been diligently submitting your url for the last hour but in the long run it presents some challenges if you ever want to amend or update your companies info you'll have to email them directly.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- A Product Category
- Contact Details and Address
- Operating Hours
#6 YALWA
As at July 2020 they had 10942 Organic Keywords and an estimated 564 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa.
ABOUT
A nice quick interface, register and add your listing in one go.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Your Logo (20 Images in Total)
- Contact Details and Address
#7 SAYELLOW
As at July 2020 they had 236165 Organic Keywords and an estimated 249701 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa.
ABOUT
A nice easy to use interface. You get to create your free listing and register at the same time. After you've registered you can add your social networks. A logo or product image upload is only available for premium accounts.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Contact Details and Address
- Operating Hours
- Social Media URL's
#8 CYLEX "MOST IMPROVED BUSINESS DIRECTORY"
As at July 2020 they had 120 550 Organic Keywords and an estimated 45792 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa.
ABOUT
Everything you've come to expect from an online business directory. Lots of added features. Like listing your favorite website page. This process is a bit long if you forget to click the save changes link at the bottom of each page like I did. Don't forget to fill out the offers and products section though. (You'll find it right at the end)
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Your Logo
- URL of your popular website pages
- Product Images
- Contact Details and Address
- +++ (just have everything you can think of at hand)
PS Wait till you see what you get. It's well worth the effort.
Since this articles first publication in Feb 2020 Cylex has doubled it's site traffic and has had a huge jump in domain authority. Making Cylex the most improved business directory on our list.
#9 YELLOSA
As at July 2020 they had 115222 Organic Keywords and an estimated 95294 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa.
ABOUT
Get up to 3 product listings. Nice easy to follow signup system. What I noticed with the image upload is while they recommend a 300x300 image. When you preview the listing it transforms the image into a landscape orientation. Which if you used a square image with text it's not going to display nicely. I ended up going with a business card sized image which worked well.
YOU WILL NEED
For your free listing gather up the following .
- Your Logo
- Product Images
- Contact Details and Address
- Product Listing
#10 NICHE MARKET
As at July 2020 they had 68352 Organic Keywords and an estimated 53832 Organic Monthly Traffic
ABOUT
Nichemarket is more than just a plain old business directory, they are South Africa's first social online marketplace for entrepreneurs and SME's. Create a FREE business listing which acts as a mini-website, fully optimised and submitted to Google search.
YOU WILL NEED
In addittion to a short intro about yourself/your business you will also need.
- Your Logo
- Product Image/s
- FAQ Questions and Answers
- Operating Hours
- Contact Details and Address
Bonus Listings
As at October 2020 they had 204091 Organic Keywords and an estimated 90031 Organic Monthly Traffic
ABOUT
Tuugo is a Business to Business and Customer Search Engine with global dimension and approach with offices in several countries. They made it onto this list because we got a call from someone who found us on their site. Which is pretty cool. Based on their stats they are top 10 contenders. Free sign up is quick and easy, the whole process takes about 15 minutes provided you know what you want to say and have your info ready.
YOU WILL NEED
In addition to a short intro about yourself/your business you will also need.
- Your Logo
- Operating Hours
- Contact Details and Address
- A list of your industries keywords
As at November 2020 they had 1203073 Organic Keywords and an estimated 204091 Organic Monthly Traffic. Making clutch.co South Africa's top free business listing website.
ABOUT
When you consider that market insight to guide business buying decisions is limited and often unorganized. Add to this that advertorials paid endorsements, and sponsored posts make finding credible and accessible market research difficult. It makes sense that real data, case studies, and client testimonials to guide you through the process of choosing a business service or solution is what you really need. But where can you find these resources, especially all in one place? Clutch.co is the solution, making it your premium go to business directory.
Besides their free listing Clutch offers premium services that start at $100 and can range up to $23000 a month. When you look at the level of information they ask for when you sign up for a free listing you'll quickly see the value they paid subscriptions receive.
YOU WILL NEED
- A square logo image (preferably an icon)
- Minimum project price
- Hourly rate
- Company size
- The year your company was founded
- A tagline
- Up to 2000 word description
- Contact details
- Physical Address
- Your companies focus (multiple choice selection)
- You also need to state the amount of time you spend delivering each service or product.
- How big are your clients. Another multiple-choice and percentage allocation.
- A specializations section.
- Up to 6 Project Images or URL's. For each project you need to list a:
- Category
- Title
- Description
- Provide an admin email address
- Your Linkedin URL
- Your Facebook URL
- Your Twitter URL
Click submit and you're done. From start to finish it took us 40 minutes to receive our free listing.
LISTINGS THAT HAVE BEEN REMOVED #3 ENTREPO
UPDATE - ENTREPO IS NO LONGER FREE!!!!
DOMAIN AUTHORITY - Was 18 Now 55
As at July 2020 Entrepo had 2550 Organic Keywords and an estimated 888 Organic Monthly Traffic here in South Africa. As at June 2021 where we discovered that they are no longer free, their organic keywords have plummeted to 483 as has their traffic which now sits at 296. As such they have been removed from our top 10 list.
WHAT IS ENTREPO ABOUT
Entrepo is an online business magazine that publishes articles and reviews on all types of businesses and industries in South Africa. To add your business listing on their directory is completely free but they are discerning as to who posts a listing and you can wait up to 10 days for your listing to be approved.
Where can I advertise my Website Design Business from Home?
Hi Mariette Thanks for reaching out. For starters advertising on the free search engine sites is one place. Id also recommend Linkedin. But when it comes to getting work it’s always best to be pro-active and originate the ads yourself, which often means paying or sitting and sending them out one by one.. Email’s and Whatsapps are another “free” way to advertise if you ignore the hours that go into cultivating those relationships. Just remember that people do business with people, try and stay as “real” as possible, send out messages communicating your USP’s aka advertise, advertise, advertise and soon you’ll have a loyal following. Hope that helps. Regards Kim
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hi
I just want to bring to your attention that there is another Business directory http://www.sabusinesses.co.za which was started during the lockdown and has taken off nicely. Very colorful and easy to use.
Free South African Business Directory is http://www.sabusinesses.co.za
SA Businesses
Great list of business listings. Thank you, we have made use of all the suggestions.
Any recommendation for an online directory developer
Hi Henry
There are loads of plugins that make it possible to create a business directory website. Free and premium. Just search business directory wordpress plugins and see for yourself. Hope that helps.