Yell (company)

Last updated

Yell Group Limited
FormerlyHibu Group Limited
IndustryOnline Marketing
PredecessorBritish Telecom
Founded1966 (1966)
Headquarters
Reading
,
Berkshire, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Mark Clisby (Co-CEO)
Luke Taylor (Co-CEO)
Products Yellow Pages (1966–2019)
Yell.com (1996–present)
Website design
Google PPC
Online advertising
Website https://about.yell.com/

Yell Group Limited, 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 campaigns for customers in the United Kingdom. [1] [2] Yell published Yellow Pages from 1966, originally as part of the General Post Office (GPO) telephone directory, and launched its Yell.com website in 1996.

Contents

History

The GPO first included Yellow Pages in its telephone directory for Brighton in 1966, expanding it throughout the UK from 1973. [3] [4]

Yell.com was first launched in January 1996 as the local search engine for businesses in the UK. [5] [6] In January 2001, Yell announced a demerger from its parent company, BT (the GPO's post-privatisation successor), abandoning a proposed stock market flotation. [7] In May 2001, Yell was sold to venture capitalists Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion in May 2001. [8]

It was announced in April 2005 that Yell was partnering with Google to make local classified content available through Google's search engine. [5] Yell integrated Apttus technology into its search engine to broaden its search capacity and enhance site development. [9] Yell also expanded its offerings in 2009 to include Google Ads. [10]

In 2006, Yell threatened Yellowikis with legal action, claiming that consumers would confuse the two organisations. [11]

A Yell.com app was launched on the iPhone app store in 2009. [12] The following year, Yell UK announced that it was changing its traditional Yellow Pages A4 format to a smaller size to improve usage of the directory. At that time, the directories contained an average of 54 per cent recycled fibre content. [13]

Yell moved into their new headquarters in Reading, Berkshire, in October and Richard Hanscott was named as the company's new CEO the following year. [14] [15] Yell’s parent company, Yell Group, announced in 2012 that it was changing its name to Hibu, but reverted to Yell in 2014. [16] [17]

The company relaunched with updated websites, pay-per-click advertising and a new display advertising proposition. [16] Glassdoor named Richard Hanscott in November 2016 to its list of “Highest Rated CEOs in the United Kingdom”. [18] In 2017, the company announced that the publishing of Yellow Pages on paper would cease. [19] The final edition was published in January 2019 for Brighton. [20]

Claire Miles, (formerly of Centrica), was announced as the new CEO in 2019. [21] Florida-based private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital acquired Yell’s sister company Hibu on 29 March 2021, including their US-based business assets. [22]

In January 2023, Mark Clisby and Luke Taylor become Co-CEOs of Yell following Claire Mile's decision to step away from the company. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Search</span> Search engine from Google

Google Search is a search engine operated by Google. It allows users to search for information on the Internet by entering keywords or phrases. Google Search uses algorithms to analyze and rank websites based on their relevance to the search query. It is the most popular search engine worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Page</span> American computer scientist and businessman (born 1973)

Lawrence Edward Page is an American businessman, computer scientist, and internet entrepreneur best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct traffic or paid traffic. Unpaid traffic may originate from different kinds of searches, including image search, video search, academic search, news search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Yahoo! is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Management and 10% by Verizon Communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dogpile</span> Metasearch engine

Dogpile is a metasearch engine for information on the World Wide Web that fetches results from Google, Yahoo!, Yandex, Bing, and other popular search engines, including those from audio and video content providers such as Yahoo!.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow pages</span> Telephone directory of businesses by category

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 non-commercial listings. The traditional term "yellow pages" is now also applied to online directories of businesses.

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese web portal. It was the most-visited website in Japan, nearing monopolistic status.

Thomson Local is a local business telephone directory, published up until 2016 in the United Kingdom by Thomson Directories Ltd from its former head office at Thomson House in Farnborough, Hampshire.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hibu</span> Provider of web development and hosting

Hibu Inc., formerly Yellowbook Inc., is a provider of web development and hosting, digital listings and reputation management, search engine and social media marketing, and digital advertisements. Hibu is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Indeed, Inc. is an American worldwide employment website for job listings launched in November 2004. It is an independent subsidiary of multinational company Recruit Holdings. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and Stamford, Connecticut, with additional offices around the world. As a single topic search engine, its central functionality is also an example of vertical search. Indeed is currently available in over 60 countries and 28 languages. In October 2010, Indeed.com surpassed Monster.com to become the highest-traffic job website in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowpages.com</span> Online business search site

Yellowpages.com is a United States-based web site operated by Thryv that provides listings for local businesses. In 2013, it was re-branded as YP.com or simply "YP". It currently offers a broad range of marketing tools including online presence, local search, display ads and direct marketing. It was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T.

Yahoo! was founded in January 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, who were electrical engineering graduates at Stanford University when they created a website named "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web". The Guide was a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. In April 1994, Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web was renamed "Yahoo!". The word "YAHOO" is a backronym for "Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle" or "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle." The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995.

Electronic Yellow Pages are online versions of traditional printed business directories produced by telephone companies around the world. Typical functionalities of online yellow pages include the alphabetical listings of businesses and search functionality of the business database by name, business or location. Since Electronic Yellow Pages are not limited by space considerations, they often contain far more comprehensive business information such as vicinity maps, company profiles, product information, and more.

Intelius, Inc. is a public records business headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It provides information services, including people and property search, background checks and reverse phone lookup. Users also have the ability to perform reverse address lookups to find people using Intelius’ services and an address. Intelius, founded by former InfoSpace executives, was started in 2003. It is owned and operated by PeopleConnect, Inc.

192.com is a British company that publishes an online directory as well as information contained within the public domain for the United Kingdom, based in London, England.

HubSpot, Inc. is an American developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. HubSpot was founded by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in 2006.

Phillip Keague Bentley is a British businessman. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Mitie, and formerly the CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications. and the managing director of British Gas, the British retail arm of the energy company Centrica.

Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies, operated by the company of the same name.

References

  1. ↑ "Websites". Yell Business. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "Pay-Per-Click". Yell Business. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  3. ↑ Classified Directory Advertising Services Market Investigation. The Stationery Office. 29 June 2006.
  4. ↑ "Delivering Sustainable Directories" (PDF). Data Publishers Association. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Yell.com joins forces with Google for UK local classified offering". Campaign. 19 April 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  6. ↑ Richard Wray (18 May 2010). "City shocked as Yell boss Condron announced his retirement". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "BT abandons Yell float in favour of demerger". telegraph.co.uk. 28 January 2001. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  8. ↑ "British Telecom PLC (BTA)". investegate.co.uk. 10 May 2001. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  9. ↑ "UK's local search engine Yell.com chooses Apptus' technology for future development". Ideon. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  10. ↑ Robert Andrews (14 May 2009). "Yell.com stops competing with Google, sells its adWords instead". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  11. ↑ "Legal threat to wiki listing site". BBC News. 12 July 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "Yell.com App now available on App store". Total Telecom. 5 October 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  13. ↑ "Yellow Pages targets reduced waste with smaller directory". Lets Recycle. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  14. ↑ David Millward (21 October 2010). "Yell's new building is something to shout about". Get Reading. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  15. ↑ "Richard Hanscott appointed CEO of Yell UK". he Business Desk. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  16. 1 2 Gideon Spanier (17 June 2014). "Yellow Pages in u-turn over Hibu brand" . Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  17. ↑ "Company Names Tribunal: Signed Order 08851040" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  18. ↑ "Highest Rated CEOs - UK". Glassdoor. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  19. ↑ "Yellow Pages to stop printing directory after 51-year run". BBC News. 1 September 2017.
  20. ↑ "Yell to become a purely digital business with the announcement of the final publication of Yellow Pages". business.yell.com. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  21. ↑ "Centrica's smart home boss to step down". Energy Live News. 1 August 2019.
  22. ↑ "H.I.G. Capital Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Hibu". Business Wire. 26 March 2021.
  23. ↑ "News article referencing Mark Clisby". Business Matters. 15 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.