frequently asked,
honestly answered.

Not Another Sunday is the world's largest chain-free directory of specialty coffee cafes and roasters. 137,000+ listings across 30 countries, ranked by a transparent merit-based score called the NRI (Not-Another-Sunday Ranking Index). No chains, no pay-to-rank, no ads.

No. Chains (Starbucks, Costa, Pret, Caffè Nero, Dunkin', etc.) are flagged is_chain=true in our database and excluded from every default browse, search, and best-of view. We celebrate independents only.

Currently USA, UK, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and more. 30 countries total. We expand based on density of independent specialty coffee culture, not market size.

The NRI is a 0-100 merit-based score for every listing. It combines review quality (35), review volume (25), social + buzz (10), profile depth (10), web presence (8), photo coverage (7), and specialty + local credibility (5). Elite listings score 85+, Featured 70-84, Verified 50-69, Claimed 30-49, Basic below 30. Score recalculates weekly via cron.

Buzz measures social momentum over the past 30 days. Instagram hashtag mentions, TikTok search volume, and recent review velocity. States are on_fire (top 5%), trending, steady, quiet, dark (no activity), or new_wave (recently opened). Updated weekly via the buzz engine cron.

Local cred is the percentage of a listing's Google reviews written by locals versus tourists. We use reviewer profile signals (other reviews they've left, account age, location patterns) to classify each reviewer. A 90%+ local cred score means the locals actually love it. not just Instagram tourists.

By NRI score, descending, within any view (city page, country page, best-of, search). Ties broken by buzz score, then by review volume. No paid placement, no boost algorithm. the score is everything. Featured tier gets a visual badge but ranks identically to a Claimed listing with the same NRI.

Find your listing on Not Another Sunday, click 'claim' on the listing page, enter your business email (domain should match your website). We send a magic link. Click it, you're verified, and the listing is yours to edit. Takes 30 seconds.

Free forever for the Claimed tier. full edit access, NRI visibility, basic listing card. Featured is $200/year (works out to $17/month, billed annually). That's the only paid tier we offer publicly.

Everything in Claimed plus: 20 photos + 1 video, a dofollow backlink (worth $50-200 in link-building terms), two editorial blog articles per year written by our team, a +8 NRI boost for backlink exchange, priority placement on city + best-of pages, monthly analytics email, full schema markup, local citations across 10-15 directories, and the gives-back badge funding animal rescue.

No. Featured is annual-only at $200/year. Keeps our pricing predictable and operations sustainable. Cancel anytime. Featured benefits remain active until the end of the billing year.

A nofollow link tells Google not to pass authority (PageRank) through the link. A dofollow link does pass authority. Claimed listings get a nofollow backlink from their listing page to their website. useful for traffic, not for rankings. Featured listings get a dofollow backlink, which carries real SEO value. At our domain rating, a dofollow link is typically worth $50-200 in a link-building budget.

If a Featured listing adds a backlink to their Not Another Sunday listing page from their own website (footer, press page, or 'featured in' section), we add +8 to their NRI score within 24 hours of verification. The exchange is mutual: we give SEO juice, they boost their NRI ranking. One backlink, one boost.

A local citation is a mention of your business name, address, and phone (NAP) on a directory site. Yelp, Foursquare, Bing Places, Apple Maps, etc. Consistency of NAP across 10-15 citations is a top-3 ranking factor for Google Maps and the local pack. For Featured listings, we submit + monitor your NAP across our citation network.

Featured listings get: handcrafted meta title (e.g. '[Business Name] – Specialty Coffee in [City]'), custom meta description with USP, an extended AI-written description (500-800 words vs 150 for Claimed), rich schema markup (LocalBusiness + FoodEstablishment + Menu + AggregateRating + FAQPage), FAQ section with 3-5 questions, 'people also search for' related listings, optimized image alt text, and manual internal links from relevant blog posts + city guides.

Every Featured listing gets two editorial articles per year on notanothersunday.com/blog. We schedule the first within 30 days of signup, interview you briefly (10-15 minutes), and our team writes 500-800 words on your origin, roast philosophy, or signature drink. You supply 2-3 photos per article. Includes a permanent dofollow backlink to your site.

Every Featured listing automatically earns the gives-back paw badge. It signals that a portion of your subscription funds animal rescue work. currently focused on independent rescues in your country. The badge is the most trusted signal on our platform.

A portion of every Featured subscription is donated to animal rescue charities. Jazz the beagle (rescued from a shelter in 2024) is our mascot. We publish an annual transparency report listing every charity supported, donation amounts, and impact metrics. One listing, one rescue.