411 Business Listing: Get Listed in 411 Directories

A 411 business listing means different things on each side of the border. In the US, 411 is the phone number for directory assistance, so being listed means your name, address and phone number sit in the databases operators search, and the free route we found on a service’s own pages is ListYourself.net. In Canada, 411.ca and Canada411.ca are two separate websites, and a business gets onto them through Yellow Pages and its telephone provider. Our take: decide first which 411 you mean, then fix the phone number record at the source. Free listings exist in both countries, the paid tiers are optional, and a 411 listing is a phone-first citation that only works if your name, address and phone match everywhere else.

One note on sources. FCC web pages refused our fetch tools, so the US 411 history below comes from a 2019 North American Numbering Council report hosted on the FCC’s own document site. 411.info sat behind a bot check we did not try to get past. Everything else comes from the sites named, and where a page was silent we say so.

What 411 means: the US, Canada411 and 411.ca

Name	What it is, per its own pages	How a business gets in
411 (US phone service)	Directory assistance, used since the 1930s in the largest US cities. The FCC has not officially designated 411 but has allowed its use to continue	Your number must be in the databases that carriers and providers use
ListYourself.net	A listing service that calls itself “Your Free 411 Directory Assistance Listing”	A form plus an automated validation call
411.com	A Whitepages Inc. site titled “411 - White Pages” with people search and reverse phone lookup	We saw no business-listing page in its navigation
Canada411.ca	A Yellow Pages-trademarked directory of people and businesses in Canada	Its home page says to advertise with Yellow Pages; landline data comes from telephone providers
411.ca	Run by 411 Local Search Corp, “Search over 1.1 million businesses in Canada”	The Add your business button opens a Yellow Pages free listing request page

So the sites that carry 411 in their name are not one network. The US phone service is carrier-run, 411.com is a people search product, and the two Canadian sites have different owners.

How phone-company data feeds 411

This is the part most guides skip, and it explains why a 411 listing behaves unlike a directory profile.

In the US, there is no single 411 directory. The 2019 North American Numbering Council report says that for traditional carriers the local carrier decides how to handle 411, while for cellular and VoIP carriers calls may all go to the same third-party information provider. ListYourself puts it more bluntly: since deregulation, it says, there are more than 5,000 directory assistance providers, most carrying only their own customers’ numbers, so a caller on one carrier may not find a business listed with another. That is the vendor’s claim, but it matches the FCC-hosted description.

Carriers can outsource the data. TransUnion’s telecom directory listings page describes a service for communications service providers: it compiles a carrier’s authoritative database of directory listings and, as the carrier’s authorized agent, distributes to what it says is over 200 publishers and 5,000 directories. ListYourself’s FAQ also points to the TransUnion Digital Business Profile, which it calls the former Neustar Localeze, as the place to check that an online listing has started to propagate.

In Canada, the phone book is the source. Canada411’s help center says its residential listing information originates from publicly available local telephone records for published listings, that some independent telephone companies’ listings do not appear, and that data is 30 to 65 days old and refreshed monthly. For businesses, Yellow Pages’ customer service FAQ says that if you have a business landline, it publishes basic listing information (name, address, phone) based on what it receives from your telephone service provider.

The takeaway is that the phone company, or whoever it hands data to, is often the real record. Changing a web profile will not fix a wrong number in that chain.

Free vs paid 411 business listings

	Free	Paid
US, ListYourself	Individual listings: free, for one local area	Quick Start for the 240 closest localities: $25 a month plus a $25 set-up fee. National or multi-regional: $0.10 per locality per month with a $25 monthly minimum. Its footnote adds $1 a month for each unique listing text and phone number combination
US, TransUnion	No free tier found on the pages we could open	Digital Business Profile is sold as an annual subscription to more than 80 directories, maps, apps and social platforms. The launch release shows no price
Canada, Yellow Pages	A free online listing request, per Yellow Pages	Advertising and priority placement products
Canada, 411.ca and Canada411.ca	Add your business on 411.ca opens the Yellow Pages free request. Canada411.ca says to advertise to be listed	Advertising, via the advertising contacts each site gives

At the time of writing (November 2026), those ListYourself prices come from its local listings page, whose footnote also says billing uses the average daily count of published listings, describes a $5 fee for changes after the first month, and requires payment by credit card. The page carries no date, so confirm at checkout. TransUnion’s own launch release describes an annual subscription without a price, and its landing page was behind a bot check we did not try to get past.

How to get listed in US 411 directory assistance

Following ListYourself’s own flow and FAQ:

1. Choose the right number and name. List the number customers actually call. ListYourself advises minimal punctuation and names an operator can say aloud, because a caller will read the name to a hurried operator or an AI agent.
2. Fill in the listing form. Enter the phone number, residential or business, business name and category, and address.
3. Answer the automated validation call. The system calls immediately after you press Add Listing, with options for an extension or a spoken code. If nothing happens, it suggests trying a different browser.
4. Wait for the confirmation. Its form page says you receive a confirming email in five days after the listing is incorporated into the national 411 directory assistance listings database.
5. Allow for carrier delay. It says most directory assistance databases update in two to three business days, while wireline carriers, particularly the former Bell companies, can take much longer.
6. Test it. Call 411 from different carriers and ask for your business by name.
7. Expect a yearly check. ListYourself says it emails about a year later to confirm you still want the listing.

Two limits are stated by the service itself: listings do not go into printed white pages, and online directories that use its data may take weeks or months to show it. If you would rather start at the source, ask your own telephone provider how it lists a landline.

How to get listed in Canada

1. Request the free online listing. Yellow Pages says you can register for a free online business profile on its site or by phone. Its free listing page is the one the Add your business button on 411.ca opens, and its blog post on the free listing gives the same offer.
2. Wait. Yellow Pages’ customer service FAQ says it may take 5 to 10 business days before the listing appears online and, past 10 days, asks you to call 1-844-875-4290 because information may be missing.
3. Fix your telephone provider’s record. For a business landline, Yellow Pages says name, address and phone updates must go through your telephone provider, and it updates once it receives the service order.
4. Ask about Canada411.ca separately. Its home page says “Want to have your business listed on Canada411.ca? Advertise with us.” The pages we read do not say whether the free Yellow Pages listing also appears on Canada411.ca or 411.ca, so ask when you apply instead of assuming.
5. Recheck every site by searching your name and phone number a few weeks later.

Our Canada citation sites page ranks the other directories worth having, and the Yellow Pages guide explains why the Yellow Pages name covers separate companies in each country.

Verify, edit and remove a 411 listing

• Verification. ListYourself uses the automated phone call. For 411.ca advertiser accounts, its contact page says that due to fraudulent email requests, all cancellations and updates require verification by phone at 1-866-411-4411.
• Edit in the US. ListYourself says to use Find my listing, which emails an edit link.
• Edit in Canada. Landline details change through your telephone provider. 411.ca lists help@411.ca (English) and aide@411.ca (French), weekdays 8am to 6pm, and Yellow Pages customer service lists 1-877-909-9356.
• Remove or unlist. ListYourself handles unlisting through Find my listing or by email. Canada411’s FAQ gives two options: change the number with your provider to unlisted (possibly a monthly fee, visible in one to two months), or submit its form to remove the listing from Canada411.ca only within two working days, which leaves the print directory and directory assistance untouched.
• Duplicates and wrong numbers. The removal form offers reasons including that the listed number does not belong to you or the listing is a duplicate. Our guide to finding and fixing duplicate listings covers the rest.

Reviews and 411

None of the 411 pages we read describes customer reviews as part of the listing. Reviews live on other platforms, so a 411 listing and a review profile are separate jobs.

Does a 411 business listing help local SEO?

Only as one accurate data point. Web-facing pages such as 411.ca and Canada411.ca are public records of your name, address and phone number, which supports the consistency search engines and AI assistants check, the idea behind a local citation. The US directory assistance record mostly lives in phone databases rather than on indexable pages, and ListYourself itself says online directories can take weeks or months to pick its data up. No independent source we know of publishes a 411 directory as a confirmed Google ranking factor.

What matters more is accuracy. If your phone number changed, a stale 411 record sends callers to the wrong place, which our guide to updating a phone number everywhere explains how to prevent. Run the free NAP checker to see where the number differs.

Beware fake invoices

411.ca’s contact page warns advertisers to be aware of fake invoices or solicitations and says it is taking action against fraudulent account modification requests, and Yellow Pages’ fraud prevention page says a common tactic is a fake Yellow Pages invoice, including an offer of a free listing that is really an order requiring payment later. Never pay a directory-listing invoice you did not order.

Alternatives and neighbors

• The core free pair: Bing Places and Google Business Profile.
• General directories: the other free business listing sites for your country.
• Yahoo: its local situation is similar, see how Yahoo Local works now.
• Your market: the local citation finder ranks directories by country and industry.

411 in our catalog

411.ca and Canada411 are both in our Canada catalog as national directories, labeled freemium and currently inactive. That is a statement about our catalog, not a judgment of the sites.

Common mistakes with 411 listings

• Treating 411 as one directory. US carriers run separate databases, and 411.ca, Canada411.ca and 411.com are different companies.
• Fixing the web profile but not the phone record. For landlines the telephone provider is often the source.
• Entering a name an operator cannot say. ListYourself warns that odd spelling and heavy punctuation can be missed.
• Ignoring the yearly confirmation email. ListYourself says it emails about a year later to ask whether you want to keep the listing, so watch for it.
• Paying an unexpected invoice. See the fraud warnings above.

Short checklist

• Decide which 411 you need: US directory assistance or the Canadian sites.
• Use the same business name and phone number as on your website and Google Business Profile.
• Submit the free listing, then confirm it a week or two later from more than one carrier.
• Keep the confirmation emails and set a yearly reminder.

For the wider set of directories beyond one phone record, start with the local citation finder.