Yell

Yell is the digital successor to Yellow Pages, which most people under 40 never used. The basic Yell listing is free and worth having — not because many customers find tradespeople through Yell anymore, but because it's a citation. A citation is any online mention of your business name, address and phone number. Google cross-references citations to verify your business information, and having consistent NAP across Yell, Thomson Local, Yelp and other directories supports your local SEO.

The paid Yell listing is a different matter. Enhanced Yell listings cost roughly £30-150/month depending on tier and trade. Yell's own traffic has declined consistently year on year as Google has become the dominant way people find local services. The question isn't whether Yell has any users — it does — but whether the cost per enquiry stacks up against alternatives.

For most trades in most areas, it doesn't. A £99/month managed website targeting local Google search generates more enquiries than a £99/month Yell listing. The difference is that the website compounds over time (rankings improve, content builds up, reviews accumulate) while the Yell listing stays the same.

What to do with Yell: Claim your free listing, make sure your name, address and phone number match exactly what's on your website and Google Business Profile, and leave it at that. You don't need to pay for an enhanced listing.

Rated People

Rated People is a pay-per-lead platform. A homeowner posts a job, the platform distributes it to relevant tradespeople in the area, you receive the lead and pay a credit fee to respond. Leads typically cost £3-12 depending on job type and location.

The leads are shared — usually with two or three other tradespeople who've also paid to receive the same job. This creates a competitive tender situation before you've even spoken to the customer. The homeowner receives multiple quotes and compares on price, which favours cheaper operators.

Rated People works better for higher-value planned work (bathroom renovations, full kitchen fits, loft conversions) than for emergency callouts or small reactive jobs. For larger projects, the per-lead cost is proportionate to the potential job value, and customers are more likely to be selecting on quality and reviews rather than pure price.

It's worth using during the period when you're building your Google presence and need work now. It's not worth building a business model around long-term.

MyBuilder

Similar model to Rated People — pay per lead, shared with competitors, homeowner compares quotes. MyBuilder tends to attract slightly larger jobs on average and has a somewhat different customer demographic. Lead costs run £3-15.

The same analysis applies. Useful as a supplementary channel or a gap-filler in slow periods. Not a substitute for owning your Google presence. If you're paying £200/month on MyBuilder leads and converting 20% of them, that's five enquiries at £40 each. A website that generates five enquiries per month from Google at no per-lead cost takes 3-6 months to establish but then runs indefinitely.

Bark.com

Bark operates differently — you buy credits and spend them responding to posted jobs, rather than paying per lead received. The volume is high, but so is the noise. Bark attracts a significant proportion of price-sensitive enquiries and high competition from other tradespeople responding to the same job.

Most experienced tradespeople who've tried Bark describe it as high volume, low quality. Average job values tend to be lower than on Rated People or MyBuilder, and conversion rates are depressed by the number of competing quotes. It can generate work for someone just starting out and willing to price competitively, but it's rarely the best use of marketing spend for an established trade business.

The common problem with all of these platforms

None of them are assets you own. When you spend money on Yell, Rated People, MyBuilder or Bark, you're renting visibility on someone else's platform. If they change their pricing, their algorithm, or their business model, your lead source changes with it. You're also competing for leads rather than receiving them exclusively.

The alternative — your own website ranking on Google — is different in a fundamental way. When someone searches "plumber in Doncaster" and calls the number on your website, they chose you specifically. They're not comparing three quotes. The conversion rate on exclusive inbound leads is much higher than on shared directory leads.

How to use these platforms sensibly

The sensible approach for most tradespeople is: use pay-per-lead platforms (Rated People or MyBuilder) while your Google presence is being established. As organic enquiries build up from your website and GBP, reduce your spend on paid platforms. Once your Google channel is generating consistent work, you may not need them at all.

This transition typically takes 3-6 months. Plan for it rather than treating paid lead platforms as a permanent cost of business.