Having the right keywords and Meta tags is vital before we go on to deploy SEO services. So is directory website submission, which plays an important role in search engine optimization strategies. Better known as part of the 'linking' method, it is a 'must' in the SEO business as well.
Not so long ago, directories used to be the main resource for incoming traffic to your site. Not any more. Search engines have gradually taken all the glory. Today the searcher is much more sophisticated and knows exactly what to look for and where to look. Today, reasons for being included in directories are very different.
Directory website submission is about incoming links to your website. Links are a major factor to consider when taking into account the search engine's algorithm. This is the same one that determines whether we are placed high on the search engine's lists. The better quality the links are, the higher your website place will be, and the more traffic will go through to you.
There are a few things to remember, though, while considering directory website submission. The first is its SEO friendliness. Not all links can be read by the search engines. Before making a directory website submission, you should check whether pages that should link to your website are not blocking the search engine's spider. Here's how to do this:
- Look at the directory page URL-if the page address is very long and/or filled with special characters such as %,$,?,#, chances are that the search engine spider won't follow it to see what's in there.
- Right click the relevant directory page, choose "view page source", and look for a Meta tag near the top of the page called ' < Meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow"/ > '
If you see an exact match, then the links on that page are not counted by the search engines. The same applies with links on the page that are recognized by the ' < a > ' tag. If you see attributes such as 'rel="nofollow"', these links are useless. It is easy to find what you are looking for on a current page source: Just press the 'F3' button, and a page search will be displayed onscreen. If you see these somewhere on the page source, ignore the directory and skip to the next one. - Look for the current links on the page source; links to web addresses should include a HTML anchor tag like this:' < a href="website web address..." > '. Otherwise, if made by a script language, links are difficult for search engines to follow and are probably ignored.
Second, when making directory website submissions, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Does it ask me to give a link back from my site? Two-way linking, which is known by the SEO term 'reciprocal linking,' counts less as far as the search algorithms are concerned. Unless the supposed directory is very popular or very niche-focused (about your business, of course) there are fewer chances to make a difference to your site.
- One-way links are the ones that matter, and a relevant directory niche or category is needed. If you're not in a niche, skip these. There are plenty of free directories to submit to. Quality counts.
- Look for the specific directory's Google Page Rank (PR). The directory page URL that links to yours should have a PR over zero. The higher the better. If you are not familiar with Page Rank, look it up on Google search.
- Unless it is a highly rated directory, look for the right directory page, one that is not overcrowded with links to your competitors. It is better to be on the shorter lists with higher PR.
Always remember that quality matters. Dmoz, or the Open Directory Project (ODP), is seen by most as the best directory there is. For more information about dmoz, please check out
Dmoz submission
popular directory besides free directory website submission there is the paid one. One such as Yahoo's may cost a bit, but sometimes it pays off in link popularity as far as it goes with the search engine.
See why paid directory submission pays off. Check out
Paid directory submission review
For free website submission practices, check out
Free directory submission guide and list
It is also considered a 'MUST' to submit to the biggest and most important directories. For free advice and submit links, see
Directory website submission-key list
