Richard Patey

Why my directories let businesses pay to rank, and say so on every page

By Richard Patey. Last updated 29 October 2026.

Short version: Almost every directory is pay-to-rank. The “featured” spots, the sponsored top three, the “partner” badge. Most hide it. I run two directories, BidPadel for the UK padel industry and Snowbistro for UK skiers, and on both the paid part is public, priced and labelled.

The problem with “best of” lists

Search “best padel ball” or “best ski hire in Morzine” and most of the results are lists. Most of those lists are paid for, through affiliate commission, a sponsored slot, or a quiet arrangement. The reader can’t tell which.

This used to be a search engine problem. It’s now an AI problem. ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode build their answers from these same lists. When we ran AI visibility checks for a padel ball brand, 11 of the 20 pages the AI engines read to answer “best premium padel balls” were third-party buyer’s guides. Whoever controls the lists controls the answer.

What I do instead

BidPadel is an open auction. Any business that serves UK padel clubs can list for free. To move up, you bid, from £10. Bids are cumulative and the totals are public. The board says, on every category: paid visibility, not a quality ranking. I take no affiliate or ambassador deals from padel brands, so nothing on the board earns me commission.

Snowbistro keeps paid and editorial apart. The comparison of 50 UK ski operators is ranked by data: search traffic, ATOL capacity, Trustpilot, years trading. Operators can’t pay to move. The paid products sit in a separate trade section and are labelled as paid.

Why the honest version works better

  1. The bid is information. On BidPadel, a supplier that bids is telling club owners it wants UK business now. That’s a more useful signal than a “featured” badge with no price attached.
  2. It’s what AI engines reward. Pages that disclose methods, dates and sources get cited more than pages that just assert. A board that explains exactly how it ranks is easier to quote.
  3. It’s sellable. I build businesses to sell. A buyer can audit a directory where the money is public. They can’t audit a pile of quiet deals.

The trade-off

Being open costs something. Some businesses won’t bid when everyone can see how little or how much they paid. Some readers distrust any paid ranking, labelled or not. I’d still rather be the directory that tells you exactly what you’re looking at.

Disclosure: I own BidPadel and Snowbistro, and Cited, which runs the AI visibility checks mentioned above.