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What does Yell.com Bussiness Search Scraper do?

Introduction

Yell.com stands as the UK's leading online business directory, launched in 1996 by the publishers of the Yellow Pages directory, now hosting over 2.9 million businesses with their names, addresses, and telephone numbers at users' fingertips. Having evolved from the traditional physical Yellow Pages delivered through letterboxes, Yell has transformed into a comprehensive marketplace for local services, making it an invaluable resource for businesses, researchers, and marketers seeking comprehensive UK business intelligence.

The challenge lies in manually extracting this vast amount of structured business data from Yell.com's web interface. Whether you're conducting market research, building lead databases, competitor analysis, or developing business intelligence solutions, manually collecting information from thousands of business listings is time-consuming and inefficient. This is where a specialized Yell.com Business Scraper becomes essential, automating the data extraction process and providing structured access to this valuable business directory information.

Overview of the Yell.com Business Scraper

The Yell.com Business Scraper is a powerful automated tool designed to efficiently extract comprehensive business information from one of the UK's most extensive online business directories. With over 2.7 million UK businesses listed, Yell serves as the country's premier business directory, offering access to reviews, ratings, contact information, and detailed business profiles.

This scraper stands out for its ability to handle large-scale data extraction while respecting website policies and maintaining data accuracy. It's engineered to navigate Yell.com's complex structure, extract relevant business information systematically, and deliver it in a structured format suitable for various business applications.

The tool is particularly valuable for market researchers, sales professionals, business development teams, and data analysts who need reliable access to UK business data. By automating the extraction process, it eliminates the need for manual data collection, significantly reducing time investment while ensuring consistent data quality and format standardization across large datasets.

Input and Output Details

Example url 1: https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?keywords=carpenters+and+joiners&location=lancaster&scrambleSeed=1341422965

Example url 2: https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?scrambleSeed=1900970343&keywords=adhesive+magnets&location=Lancaster

Example url 3: https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?scrambleSeed=1737138800&keywords=butchers&location=Lancaster

Example Screenshot of bussiness information page:

Input Format

The scraper accepts a JSON configuration that allows precise control over the extraction process:

{
  "max_retries_per_url": 2,
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "SG"
  },
  "max_items_per_url": 20,
  "urls": [
    "https://www.yell.com/s/services-location.html",
    "https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?scrambleSeed=1900970343&keywords=adhesive+magnets&location=Lancaster",
    "https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?scrambleSeed=1737138800&keywords=butchers&location=Lancaster"
  ]
}

Input Parameters Explained:

• max_retries_per_url: Controls the maximum number of retry attempts when accessing URLs, ensuring robust data collection even with temporary network issues
• proxy configuration: Implements residential proxy usage to avoid bot detection and maintain consistent access to Yell.com's content
• apifyProxyCountry: Should be set to "GB" or "UK" for optimal performance when scraping UK-based Yell.com data
• max_items_per_url: Defines the pagination limit, controlling how many business listings to extract per search query
• urls: Array of Yell.com search result URLs targeting specific business categories or geographic locations

Output Format

You get the output from the Yell.com Bussiness Search Query Scraper stored in a tab. The following is an example of the Information Fields collected after running the Actor.

[ // List of bussiness information
  {
    "id": "https://www.yellowbot.com/begins-cafe-los-angeles-ca.html",
    "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/begins-cafe-los-angeles-ca.html",
    "title": "Begin's Cafe",
    "total_recommended": 10,
    "total_not_recommended": 1,
    "phone": "(213) 620-9565",
    "address": {
      "full_address": "100 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA  90012",
      "city": "Los Angeles",
      "zipcode": "90012"
    },
    "tags": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/american/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "American"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/americantraditional/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "American Traditional"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/bioresearchemcom/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "bioresearchem.com"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/breakfast/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Breakfast"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/cafe/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Cafe"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/cafeteria/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Cafeteria"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/casual/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Casual"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/cookies/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "cookies"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/food/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "food"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/goodforgroups/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Good for Groups"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/mobileappdevelopment/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "mobile app development"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/none/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "None"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/notnecessary/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Not Necessary"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/offshorewebdesignanddevelopment/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "offshore webdesign and development"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/pizza/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "pizza"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/sandwiches/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Sandwiches"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/street/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Street"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/takeout/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Take-out"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/tea/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "Tea"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/tags/websitedevelopment/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html",
        "name": "website development"
      }
    ],
    "from_url": "https://www.yellowbot.com/browse/pizza/Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA/page1.html"
  }, // ... Many other bussiness details
]

The scraper returns structured business data in the following format:

Output Fields Explained:

• ID: Unique internal identifier for each business listing, essential for database management and preventing duplicates during data processing
• URL: Direct link to the business's Yell.com profile page, valuable for accessing additional details or verifying information accuracy
• Title: Official business name as listed on Yell.com, crucial for lead generation and business identification
• Total Recommended: Numerical count of positive customer recommendations, indicating business reputation and customer satisfaction levels
• Total Not Recommended: Count of negative feedback, providing insight into potential business issues or customer service concerns
• Phone: Primary contact telephone number, essential for direct business outreach and lead qualification
• Address: Complete business location including street address, city, and postal code, vital for geographic analysis and local market research
• Tags: Category classifications and service descriptors, useful for industry segmentation and competitive analysis

Usage Guide

Step 1: Configure Your Parameters Set up your input configuration with appropriate proxy settings. For UK data extraction, ensure your proxy country is set to "GB" to maintain optimal access and data accuracy.

Step 2: Define Target URLs Identify specific Yell.com search pages that match your target criteria. Focus on category-specific or location-specific search results to maximize data relevance.

Step 3: Set Extraction Limits Configure max_items_per_url based on your needs. Start with smaller batches (10-20 items) for testing, then scale up for production runs.

Step 4: Monitor and Optimize Review extraction results for data quality and adjust retry settings if you encounter frequent timeouts or missing data.

Best Practices:

• Use residential proxies to maintain consistent access
• Implement reasonable delays between requests to respect server resources
• Regularly validate extracted phone numbers and addresses for accuracy
• Monitor recommendation ratios to identify high-quality business prospects

Common Issues and Solutions:

• Missing Data: Increase retry attempts or check URL formatting
• Blocked Requests: Verify proxy configuration and consider rotating proxy locations
• Incomplete Addresses: Some listings may have limited address information; filter results based on completeness requirements

Benefits and Applications

The Yell.com Business Scraper delivers significant time savings by automating data collection that would otherwise require hundreds of hours of manual work. By accessing Yell's comprehensive database that helps businesses and customers connect brilliantly, you gain competitive advantages in market analysis and lead generation.

Practical Applications:

• Lead Generation: Build targeted prospect lists for B2B sales campaigns using verified contact information and business ratings
• Market Research: Analyze business density, competition levels, and service availability across different UK regions
• Competitive Intelligence: Monitor competitor presence, customer feedback trends, and market positioning
• Business Intelligence: Create comprehensive databases for CRM systems, marketing automation, and customer acquisition strategies

The extracted recommendation data provides valuable insights into business reputation and customer satisfaction, enabling more informed business decisions and partnership opportunities.

Conclusion

The Yell.com Business Scraper transforms the complex task of UK business data collection into an efficient, automated process. By leveraging Yell.com's extensive database of over 3 million UK businesses, this tool provides access to comprehensive business intelligence that drives informed decision-making and competitive advantage.

Whether you're expanding into the UK market, conducting competitive analysis, or building comprehensive business databases, this scraper delivers the structured data you need with minimal manual intervention. Start extracting valuable UK business insights today and unlock the potential of one of the country's most comprehensive business directories.

Related Actors

• Yell.com Business Details Scraper: Your comprehensive tool for extracting valuable business information from Yell extensive directory platform.

Your feedback

We are always working to improve Actors' performance. So, if you have any technical feedback about Yell.com Bussiness Search Query Scraper or simply found a bug, please create an issue on the Actor's Issues tab in Apify Console.