This free business listing can help your Sheffield business gain Council contracts and appear in more AI searches

Here's a quick win for Sheffield businesses we've just learned about and want to pass on. It's free, takes about 5 minutes, and get help gain business for your company.

Get yourself a free online directory listing at this site:

👉 https://www.sheffield-business.co.uk/

It's backed by Sheffield City Council amongst others, and is designed to make it easier for the Council and the public to find local suppliers when sourcing goods and services. The Council has even pledged to seek at least 2 quotes up to £150,000 from local businesses wherever possible, and being on this directory will help you be part of that process.

We stumbled across this recently and figured plenty of Sheffield SMEs would appreciate the heads‑up on a free resource that can help you gain business and get seen in search.

Why it’s worth getting yourself listed

We’re an IT Managed Services provider, not a marketing agency, but here's a few reasons why grabbing your free listing makes sense:

• It gives customers another place to discover your business (including the Council).
• It reinforces that you’re a real, local, Sheffield operation (to people and AI search bots)
• It takes only takes a few minutes. .
• It’s free. Completely free.

A bit of free visibility is surely worth 5 minutes of your time..

Are directory listings still a thing (in the age of AI search)?

You’d think old‑school directories would’ve died off by now, but they're actually becoming useful again.

Search has changed. People aren’t just Googling anymore. They’re asking AI tools stuff like:

• “Best electrician in Sheffield”
• “Recommended accountants near me”
• “IT support company in Sheffield”

And AI doesn’t magically know the answers. It pulls trusted, structured information from around the web, and local directories are perfect for local queries.

A directory listing is basically a tidy little bundle of facts:

Who you are → What you do → Where you are → How to contact you.

Exactly the sort of fluff-free, easy‑to-read info AI loves.

So even if it doesn’t drive loads of traffic directly, it helps your business show up where it matters.

There's ones for Chesterfield, Hull and others too

If your customers stretch beyond the Steel City, they’ve also got free directories for:

• Hull
• Derby
• Chesterfield
• Nottingham

Same idea. Same simple setup.

Get an extra boost for free

Once you've added your listing, if you add a link to their directory from your website and let them know, they’ll ensure you're on page one for your category and remove ads from your listing,.

And yes...that’s also why we’re writing this blog. 😄

So maybe it's not quite completely free after all 😉