Yell, also known as Yell UK, is a digital marketing and online directory business in the United Kingdom. Yell has created over 110,000 websites and managed 90,000

pay per click Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a search engine, website owner, or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked. Pay-per-click is usually ...

campaigns for customers in the United Kingdom. Yell has been publishing

yellow pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...

since 1966 originally as a portion of the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...

, and launched its Yell.com website in January 1996.

History

The

first included Yellow Pages in its telephone directory for

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

of 1966. The General Post Office expanded its Yellow Pages throughout the United Kingdom in 1973. Yell.com was first launched in January 1996 as the

local search engine Local search is the use of specialized Internet search engines that allow users to submit geographically constrained searches against a structured database of local business listings. Typical local search queries include not only information abou ...

for businesses in the United Kingdom. Yell announced a demerger from its parent company BT in January 2001, abandoning plans for a proposed stock market flotation. Yell was officially sold to venture capitalists

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...

and

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst HM Capital Partners was a private equity firm in the United States that specialized in leveraged buyouts. The firm was previously known as Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. It was founded in 1989 by Tom Hicks and John Muse as Hicks, Muse & Co. and was ch ...

for £2.1 billion in May 2001. It was announced in April 2005 that Yell was partnering with

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

to make local classified content available through Google’s search engine. Yell integrated Apttus technology into its search engine to broaden is search capacity and enhance site development in January 2008. Yell expanded its offerings to include

Google Ads Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It can place ads both in the result ...

in May 2009. Yell threatened

Yellowikis Yellowikis was a MediaWiki website collecting basic information about businesses. This information included basic contact details such as company name, address, websites, and telephone numbers, as well as internal Yellowiki wikilinks to competitors ...

with legal action in July 2006, claiming that consumers would confuse the two organisations. An app was launched for Yell.com on the iPhone app store in October 2009. Yell UK announced that it was changing its traditional Yellow Pages A4 format to a smaller size in February 2010 in order to improve usage of the directory. At that time, the directories contained an average of 54% recycled fibre content. Yell moved in their new headquarters in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, United Kingdom in October 2010. Richard Hanscott was named CEO of Yell in June 2011. Yell’s parent company, Yell Group, announced that it was changing its name to ''

Hibu Hibu Inc. (styled hibü), formerly Yellowbook Inc., is a provider of digital marketing and advertising solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses across the US. Hibu’s specialties includes web development and hosting, digital listings and ...

'' in May 2012. Hibu UK changed its customer facing brand back to Yell in August 2014. They relaunched with updated websites, pay per click advertising and a new display advertising proposition.

Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, it has additional offices in Chicago, Dublin, London, and São Paulo. Glassdoor also allows its users to ...

named Richard Hanscott in November 2016 to its list of “Highest Rated CEOs in the United Kingdom”. It was announced in September 2017 that the Yellow Pages will be no longer be published on paper from 2018 since it launched in 1966. The final edition was published in January 2019 in

. It was announced in August 2019 that Claire Miles (formerly of

Centrica Centrica plc is a British multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire. Its principal activity is the supply of electricity and gas to consumers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the largest su ...

) would become the new

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

for Yell starting in October 2019. Private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital, which is based in Florida, acquired Yell’s sister company

on 29 March 2021 including their business assets based in the United States.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Telephone directory publishing companies 1966 establishments in England British companies established in 1966 Publishing companies of the United Kingdom Publishing companies established in 1966 Telecommunications companies established in 1966 Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Marketing companies of the United Kingdom Marketing companies established in 1966 Companies based in Reading, Berkshire