Link Centre

What Link Centre does

Link Centre (LinkCentre) is a London-based, privately-held web directory and search engine that has operated continuously since 1996, owned by Interlink Digital Group Limited and founded by Nick Cookson. The platform maintains a human-curated international directory of websites organized across 50,000+ categories and 16+ country-specific indexes, with every listing reviewed by staff prior to publication. As of the latest disclosures, the platform claims 1,543,939+ active members and 150,178+ UK charities in a dedicated charity directory sub-brand, alongside a games sub-brand (LinkCentre Games) and a community activity feed. The technology stack combines manual editorial review with an AI-enhanced natural language search layer, and integrates payment processing through Paddle, Stripe, PayPal, and ChargeBee with Google OAuth for identity.

The company operates a freemium self-serve model: a free basic listing tier and three paid annual subscriptions — Plus at £30/year, Pro at £50/year, and Premium at £82.50/year — with Premium unlocking API access, white-label options, dedicated account management, and AI-enhanced descriptions. Additional revenue streams include one-time premium upgrade fees, featured homepage rotation, and third-party advertising served on the platform. Distribution is exclusively digital and self-service through linkcentre.com, with acquisition driven by the domain's organic SEO authority, content marketing via a news/blog section, community engagement, an affiliate program, and a social presence on X and Facebook under the Interlink Digital Group parent brand. The primary customer segment is small and medium businesses and individual website owners seeking directory visibility, SEO backlinks, and online discovery, with secondary segments including UK charities and general consumers browsing for verified websites. The company employs 1-10 staff, has no disclosed external funding, and presents as a founder-operated lifestyle/small business rather than a venture-backed growth company.

Name

Link Centre

Legal name

Interlink Digital Group Limited

Website

https://linkcentre.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Link Centre is a London-based web directory and search engine, operating since 1996 under Interlink Digital Group Limited. It offers human-curated website listings across 50,000+ categories to SMBs and website owners worldwide via a freemium subscription model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Web Directory Platform

NAICS

Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

akta.pro primary industry

Web Directories & Link Indexes (BPAMAAAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local Search & Business Directories (BPAMAAAE), News & Content Aggregation Portals (BPAMAAAI)

Keywords

• Web directory services
• Business listing platform
• Online directory submission
• Search engine directory
• Website submission directory

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription Membership Tiers: Annual subscription plans providing tiered access to enhanced directory features including premium placement, analytics dashboards, and SEO tools. Four tiers: Free (basic listing), Plus (£30/year), Pro (£50/year), and Premium (£82.50/year).
2. Premium Upgrades: One-time fees for fast-track review and guaranteed page one placement for listings
3. Featured Listings: Featured homepage rotation and premium listing placement for increased visibility
4. Third-Party Advertising: Third-party advertising companies serve targeted advertisements on the platform (noted in privacy policy)

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Link Centre operates an international web directory and search engine where website owners can list their sites for online discovery. The platform combines human-curated editorial review with AI-enhanced search across 50,000+ categories and 20+ countries. Revenue is generated primarily through tiered subscription memberships (Free, Plus, Pro, Premium) that unlock placement priority, analytics, and SEO tools.

Product overview

LinkCentre operates as a unified web directory and search engine platform that has been online since 1996. The core offering is the LinkCentre Web Directory, a human-curated international directory with 50,000+ categories. The platform follows a tiered subscription model: the Free Plan provides basic directory listing, while Plus (£30/year), Pro (£50/year), and Premium (£82.50/year) memberships unlock progressively advanced features including AI-enhanced descriptions, SEO tools, API access, and dedicated account management. The platform extends beyond pure directory services with complementary sub-brands including LinkCentre Games (offering puzzles and casual games) and the UK Charity Directory (150,178+ charities). Additional community features like the Activity Feed enable member engagement, while the SEO & AI Toolkit (Premium tier) provides AI-powered search enhancement using natural language processing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• LinkCentre Web Directory A long-running international web directory and AI-enhanced search engine where website owners can list their sites for online discovery. Offers human-curated editorial review, free listings for non-commercial sites, and tiered paid membership upgrades (Plus, Pro, Premium) that unlock priority placement, analytics dashboards, and SEO and AI tools. Targets small businesses, sole traders, freelancers, and individual website owners seeking affordable online visibility and SEO backlinks.
• UK Charity Directory
• LinkCentre Games

Quantifiable outcome

• Join 12,000+ new businesses every month (self-reported on pricing page)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hotfrog: Global business directory with SMB listings across multiple countries. Comparable in geographic coverage, freemium listings model, and category browsing structure.
• FreeIndex: UK-focused free business directory with reviews and paid upgrade options. Overlaps closely with LinkCentre's UK SMB customer base and freemium discovery use case.
• Yelp: Consumer-facing business directory and review platform with a tiered advertising/revenue model targeting SMBs. Directly comparable in use case (discovery + reviews) and customer segment (small businesses paying for visibility).
• Curlie (formerly DMOZ): Open human-edited web directory in the same category as LinkCentre. The most direct functional analog — multi-category, human-curated, free-to-submit — though currently minimal in scale.
• Yell.com (Yellow Pages UK): UK-headquartered business directory and SMB advertising platform. Comparable in geography, customer base (UK SMBs), and tiered subscription/lead-gen business model.
• Best of the Web (BOTW): Long-running paid web directory offering tiered listings and SEO link value. Direct competitor in the premium directory listings segment targeting SMBs and SEO-conscious site owners.

Emerging players

• Foursquare: Location-based discovery platform with SMB tools for visibility. Comparable as a digital SMB discovery/advertising channel with similar self-serve onboarding mechanics.
• Trustpilot: Consumer review platform increasingly used by SMBs for visibility and trust signals. Adjacent category — competes for the same SMB marketing budget and consumer discovery intent.

Broad incumbents

• Tripadvisor: Large-scale consumer discovery and review platform with a similar SMB self-serve advertising model. Demonstrates how a discovery/review directory can scale into a major global brand — and the scale gap LinkCentre faces.
• Google Business Profile: Free, dominant business listing product from Google. The structural incumbent LinkCentre competes against for SMB visibility spend and consumer discovery traffic.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/linkcentre
• Facebookfacebook.com/interlinkdigital
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/linkcentre

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Link Centre