Listing Eligibility & Acceptability

These rules explain which businesses can be listed on Listingo and what a listing may contain. They keep the directory accurate and safe, so people can trust what they find and every honest business competes fairly. They apply to every listing, featured placement, badge and ad, and they form part of our Terms of Use.

The listing form checks most of these rules for you as you type. If something needs changing, it tells you what and why before you save.

Who can list

You can list a business on Listingo if all of these are true:

• It's a real business that serves customers in India, from a physical location such as a shop, office, clinic or studio, or in a local area it serves, such as a plumber or tutor.
• It's open now, or opening soon with a confirmed address. Closed businesses are marked closed, not listed as new.
• You own it or are authorised to manage it. Staff and agencies can manage a listing with the owner's permission.
• It operates legally and holds the licences or registrations its work requires.

Shops, restaurants, service providers, clinics, schools, freelancers, professionals and non-profits are all welcome.

A business with several branches can list each branch that has its own address and serves customers there. Each branch gets one listing.

What can't be listed

We don't accept listings for:

• anything illegal in India, or goods and services that need a licence the business doesn't hold
• drugs and drug paraphernalia, weapons, ammunition and explosives
• adult services, escort services, and sexually explicit content or products
• gambling, betting, lotteries and casinos, including online ones
• counterfeit or replica goods, and anything that infringes a brand's trademark
• cryptocurrency and trading-tips schemes, "double your money" offers, chit funds, pyramid or multi-level marketing recruitment, and other get-rich-quick offers
• hacking, spying, fake documents, fake reviews, and exam or certificate "guarantees"
• groups or services that promote hatred, violence or discrimination
• "customer care" or helpline listings for a company you don't represent
• online-only businesses with no service for customers in any Indian location, and lead-generation pages that simply pass customers on to others
• listings made only to advertise a website, phone number or social profile rather than a real business

Businesses we check more closely

Some kinds of business carry a higher risk of fraud or harm to customers. They can be listed, but with extra conditions:

• Banking, loans, insurance and investment. Owners can't add these themselves, because fake loan and "KYC" listings are common. Regulated businesses in these fields can contact us, and we add the listing after checking their RBI, SEBI, IRDAI or other registration.
• Healthcare. Doctors, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and labs must show the practitioner's or business's real name and hold the registration their work requires. No claims to cure diseases, and no prescription medicines offered without a prescription.
• Legal, tax and immigration services. These must be provided by qualified or registered professionals, without promising a result.
• Alcohol, tobacco and similar products. These businesses must be licensed, may be listed only where the law allows, and may not advertise to anyone under the legal age.
• Real estate. Where RERA registration is required, the listing must show the registration number.
• Astrology, spiritual and alternative-therapy services. These can't promise guaranteed results or ask for payment to lift curses or remove threats.

We may ask any business for proof of its licence or registration. If it isn't provided, we may hide the listing until it is.

Business name

Use the business's real name, exactly as customers see it on its signboard, website or documents. The form will ask you to change a name that:

• adds a place or keywords, for example "Sharma Sweets - Delhi", "Sharma Sweets in Karol Bagh" or "Sharma Sweets | Best Mithai". If the place is genuinely part of the name, as in "Delhi Darbar", it's fine.
• adds a slogan or tagline after a dash, colon or bar
• uses promotional words such as "best", "top", "no. 1", "cheapest", "guaranteed", "trusted" or "call now"
• uses another company's brand when you aren't that company, such as "Samsung Service Centre" for an independent repair shop. You can describe the brands you service in your description instead.
• uses capital letters for whole words (unless it's a real acronym, such as "ABC Motors"), emojis or symbols, or repeats the same word
• is longer than the allowed length

Description, categories and details

• Description: describe what the business offers, in your own words. Don't copy text from other websites or listings, stuff it with keywords or place names, or use restricted words. Links to other websites are allowed only on plans that include them; email addresses are fine.
• Categories: choose the categories that describe what the business mainly does. Choosing unrelated categories to appear in more searches isn't allowed. The number of categories depends on your plan.
• Address and map pin: give the real address and place the pin at the entrance. Don't use virtual offices, PO boxes, or addresses where you don't meet customers or work from.
• Opening hours: show the hours you're actually open, and update them for closures.
• Offers and prices: they must be real and available, with any conditions stated. An offer that has ended must be removed.

Contact details

• Phone and WhatsApp: use a working number that belongs to the business: an Indian 10-digit number or an international number with its country code. The WhatsApp number must be a mobile. Placeholder numbers, such as 9999999999 or 1234567890, are refused.
• Email: use a real mailbox you check. Disposable or temporary email addresses and addresses on made-up domains are refused.
• Website: use the business's own website. Social media profiles, maps, short links, chat links, file-sharing links and other directories aren't accepted as a website. Add social profiles in the social links section instead.

Photos

• Upload photos of the business itself: its storefront, interior, products, team or work. Photos must be JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 8 MB each.
• Use only photos you took or have permission to use. No stock photos presented as your own, and no photos copied from other listings or websites.
• No photos with text-heavy adverts, phone numbers or website addresses placed over them, and no sexual, violent or shocking images.
• Don't upload photos that show other people's faces clearly unless they have agreed.

We convert photos to a web format and remove hidden location data. A photo that can't be processed safely is refused.

One listing per business

Each business location may have only one listing. Duplicate listings, such as the same business under a different name, phone number or category, are flagged by our system and removed or merged. If your business is already listed, claim that listing instead of creating a new one.

Paid placements, badges and ads

Featured placements, badges and ads follow all the rules on this page. In addition:

• Every ad is reviewed by our team before it runs.
• Ad images and text must be accurate. They can't imitate Listingo's own design or warnings, make misleading claims, or use another brand without permission.
• An ad's link must go to the business's own page or website, and must work for as long as the ad runs.
• Paid placements are always labelled "Featured", "Sponsored" or as an ad. Paying doesn't exempt a listing from these rules or change its reviews.

How we enforce these rules

• Checks when you save: the listing form checks the name, description, category, contact details and photos, and explains anything that needs changing.
• Review of changes: once a listing is live, a new business name, email address, website or address from the owner is checked by our team before it appears. Other edits appear when they're saved.
• Reports and monitoring: we review listings reported by visitors, and our system looks for duplicates and suspicious activity.

If a listing breaks these rules, we may:

• ask you to fix it
• correct small errors ourselves
• hide or unpublish the listing
• remove verification or paid features
• close the account, for serious or repeated breaches, fraud or anything illegal

We tell you what's wrong whenever we can. Paid services removed for breaking these rules aren't refunded, as explained in our Refund and Returns Policy.

Disagree with a decision?

If you think we've got it wrong, contact us with the listing's name or link and tell us why. A different member of our team looks at the decision again, and we reply within 5 business days. You can also raise it with our Grievance Officer, as described in our Terms of Use.

To report a listing that breaks these rules, use Report a listing.