Submitting your web site to the top directories in your
field is a strategy that will gain you a lot of links and
improve your search engine rankings. The best directories
to submit to are the paid directories because they contain
the most inbound links (except for Open Directory which is
free), are a trusted resource and keep their links up to
date.
If your budget does not allow you to invest in the paid
directories, focus on free directories. Many of the
specialized directories are free and targeted to the
subject matter of your web site.
How to find top quality directories related to your niche
(free and paid)
1. Enter keyword+directory in each of the large search
engines ie Google, Yahoo, MSN
2. Find the directories with the highest pagerank (download
the Google toolbar
Here is Google’s explanation of pagerank
The highest ranked sites will have a high PR (ie PR 7-10).
Check the PR of the internal pages. Often the home page of
a web site has the highest PR but not internal pages
because all incoming links have been directed to the home
page. Your link will most likely be placed on one of the
internal pages.
3. Search Alexa.com to see where they are ranked in the top
100,000 sites on the Net and view the amount of traffic
they are receiving. A directory in the first 100,000 sites
definitely gets a lot of traffic.
4. Check for “disallow” in the robots.txt file of the
directory. Web Site owners often specify parts of their web
site to be excluded from the search engines. Their would be
no point adding your web site to a directory that does not
allow access to the page your link is on.
To check for robots.txt file, type the website’s address
followed by a slash & robots.txt:
http://www.example.com/robots.txt
If you see Disallow: followed by nothing, that means
nothing is disallowed to the search engines. You should
submit to this directory. If you see Disallow: / (followed
by a slash) that means the entire website is off-limits.
Skip this directory and move on to the next one.
5. View the source code of the directory page. Check the
way they code their links. Links should be direct (using a
plain vanilla “a href” type of HTML link). Clicking the
link should lead directly to your website.
6. Check for the rel=”nofollow” tag within the link coding.
This is an instruction for Google not to follow the link to
your site. If this tag exists, don’t add your site to this
directory as it won’t help your link building strategy.
7. Relevancy of links and link descriptions. Check that the
links are related to the categories. If categories contain
links that are off subject, this can mean the directory
owner doesn’t care where the links go. Make sure the link
descriptions
8. Ad filled directories. If the directory contains lots of
ads this may be a sign they are more concerned about ad
revenue than your link. Ads on the same page as your link
distract visitors, decreasing chances your site will
visited.
9. Reciprocal links. If the directory requires a link
exchange make sure the directory is related to your own
site. Large directories will contain many categories, so a
link exchange would be of no value. Google’s terms of
services states you should link to “bad neighborhoods”. A
link added to these directories will only hurt your
rankings.
10. Don’t submit to directories with few links. These
directories are probably new so they won’t have much
traffic.
11. When submitting to directories, vary the anchor text
and use your keywords in the description and title fields
as naturally as possible.
12. Directory fees. This is generally for the time taken to
evaluate and submit your web site to the directory. If it’s
not obvious why they are charging a fee, ask the directory
owner.
Resources
List of quality free general & niche directories.
http://www.quantawebdesign.com/tips/directories.html
General Web Directories Rated by Inbound Link Quality
http://www.seocompany.ca/directory/top-web-directories.html
SEO Friendly Directories
http://www.21stsoft.com/seo-friendly-directories-list.asp
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