# Yell.com Scraper — UK Business Directory | No Login (`bovi/yell-businesses`) Actor

Scrape UK business listings from Yell.com: name, phone, website, address, category, rating. Apify Residential proxy auto-configured (buyer-paid). Pay per business.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bovi/yell-businesses.md
- **Developed by:** [Vitalii Bondarev](https://apify.com/bovi) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Marketing, MCP servers
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.49 / 1,000 yell.com scraper — uk business directory | no logins

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Yell.com Scraper — UK Business Directory

**Pay-per-result: $1.50/1K businesses. Phone contacts included. No monthly fee, no minimum.**

Yell.com has 5 million+ UK business listings. Whether you're building a local prospecting list, auditing local competitors, or enriching a CRM — this actor gives you clean, structured data at $1.50 per 1,000 records.

Scrape UK business listings from [Yell.com](https://www.yell.com) — the UK's leading online business directory. Ideal for B2B lead generation, local business research, and market intelligence.

This actor uses Apify Residential proxy (auto-configured, billed to your Apify account — zero external setup).

### What you get

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `business_id` | Yell internal numeric ID |
| `name` | Business display name |
| `category` | Business category (e.g. "Plumbers") |
| `schema_type` | schema.org type (e.g. "Plumber") |
| `phone` | Primary phone number |
| `website` | External website URL (when listed) |
| `address` | Address text from listing card |
| `yell_url` | Full Yell.com business page URL |
| `search_keywords` | Your search query |
| `search_location` | Your location query |
| `parse_confidence` | 0–1 quality score per record |
| `warnings` | Machine-readable quality flags |

### Input

```json
{
  "keywords": "plumber",
  "location": "London",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}
```

- **keywords** — business type or service (e.g. "dentist", "electrician")
- **location** — UK city or area (e.g. "Manchester", "Birmingham")
- **maxResults** — max businesses to return (0 = no limit, ~25/page)
- **proxyConfiguration** — **required**: use Apify Proxy RESIDENTIAL group

### Pricing example

| Run size | Cost |
|---|---|
| 100 businesses | $0.15 |
| 500 businesses | $0.75 |
| 1,000 businesses | $1.50 |
| 5,000 businesses | $7.50 |

Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy is billed separately to your Apify account at standard proxy rates — no extra subscription.

### Output sample

```json
{
  "business_id": "90123456",
  "name": "City Plumbers Ltd",
  "category": "Plumbers",
  "schema_type": "Plumber",
  "phone": "020 7946 0123",
  "website": "https://cityplumbers.co.uk",
  "address": "14 Baker Street, London W1U 3BW",
  "yell_url": "https://www.yell.com/biz/city-plumbers-ltd-london-90123456/",
  "search_keywords": "plumber",
  "search_location": "London",
  "parse_confidence": 0.9,
  "warnings": []
}
```

### FAQ

**Do I need a proxy or API key?** No external proxy subscription needed. Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy is pre-configured in the input — Yell.com requires residential IPs and this is handled automatically. Proxy costs are billed to your Apify account at standard rates.

**What export formats are available?** JSON, CSV, Excel, and XML — all downloadable from the dataset page or via the Apify REST API.

**Can I schedule regular runs?** Yes. Use Apify Scheduler (or n8n/Zapier) to run on a cadence and push new results to Google Sheets, a database, or a webhook automatically.

**What if the actor returns no results?** Verify that `keywords` and `location` match Yell's search terms (e.g. "London" not "London, UK"). If you see a blocked/empty response without proxy, the pre-configured RESIDENTIAL proxy resolves this.

### Why this beats the competition

| | This actor | Typical Yell scrapers |
|---|---|---|
| Parse method | schema.org itemprop (resilient) | CSS class names (breaks on deploy) |
| parse\_confidence score | Yes — per record | No |
| Phone included | Yes (in base event) | Often missing |
| Proxy setup | Auto (Apify RESIDENTIAL) | Manual proxy required |
| Price | $1.50/1K | $3-5/1K or flat fee |

Every record ships a `parse_confidence` score (0.0–1.0). Below 0.7 is a machine-readable signal that the page structure has drifted — your data pipeline can filter automatically.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

This scraper is callable as a **tool by AI agents** (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, n8n, LangGraph, CrewAI, or any MCP-compatible client) via Apify's hosted Model Context Protocol server. An agent uses it to **look up UK local businesses with phone numbers and addresses mid-conversation** — e.g. "find plumbers in Manchester", "list electricians in Birmingham for our outreach".

Point your MCP client at this tool:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=bovi/yell-businesses",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Technical notes

- Data parsed from schema.org microdata (itemprop attributes) — structural and resilient to layout changes.
- 25 businesses per page, up to 5,000+ results per query.
- Address availability varies — some listings show "We serve \[area]" rather than a street address.
- **Not affiliated with Yell.com.**

### Integrations

Built for B2B lead-gen teams and local-SEO agencies building UK prospect lists by category and location — the JSON/dataset output drops into the tools you already run, no glue code:

- **n8n / Make / Zapier** — trigger a run or pipe every new dataset item into 500+ apps (Google Sheets, Airtable, Slack, HubSpot, your database) with no code: [n8n](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/n8n), [Make](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/make), [Zapier](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/zapier).
- **Webhooks** — fire your own endpoint the moment a run finishes, to push results straight into your pipeline ([docs](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks)).
- **MCP server** — expose this actor as a tool to Claude, Cursor, or any [MCP client](https://mcp.apify.com) so an AI agent can pull this data mid-conversation ([guide](https://blog.apify.com/how-to-use-mcp/)).
- **API & SDKs** — fetch the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel through the Apify REST API or the Python / JS SDKs.

See all [Apify integrations](https://apify.com/integrations).

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

Business type or service to search for. Example: 'plumber', 'dentist', 'electrician', 'solicitor'.

## `location` (type: `string`):

UK city or area to search in. Example: 'London', 'Manchester', 'Birmingham', 'Edinburgh'.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum total business records to return. Each returned record costs one PPE charge ($1.50/1K). Set 0 for no limit (~25 records per page). Default: 100.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Yell.com requires a residential proxy. Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy is pre-configured — costs are billed to your Apify account (not an extra subscription). Do not change unless you have a specific proxy requirement.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": "plumber",
  "location": "London",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing Yell Businesses records (business\_id, name, category, phone, website, address, yell\_url, search\_keywords, search\_location, scraped\_at, parse\_confidence, warnings).

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": "plumber",
    "location": "London",
    "maxResults": 100
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bovi/yell-businesses").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "keywords": "plumber",
    "location": "London",
    "maxResults": 100,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bovi/yell-businesses").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": "plumber",
  "location": "London",
  "maxResults": 100
}' |
apify call bovi/yell-businesses --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,bovi/yell-businesses"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/qlecAwR24iLDdenAa/builds/Meyq7nsUdB4uqBKS0/openapi.json