Directory Submissions
Section XII
Inclusion Strategies
Submit Yourself Here
Topic/Industry Specific Directories
Directories are handy because anybody worthy can get into them. Directories are also only marginally useful because anybody can get into them. Since you are somebody, you may as well get yourself in as many directories as you can. They not only provide links (some valuable, some less so) but they increase your online presence.
Inclusion Strategies:
First, be upfront about the type of content you offer. Give an honest, thorough, compelling description of your site: make people want to check you out, but be able to deliver on their expectations. To use the phonebook analogy again, nobody wants to call for pizza and get a mortuary. When submitting to directories, make sure to vary anchor text and try to use your keywords in the description and title fields as naturally as possible.
The more valuable and applicable your site is within its directory category, the more visitors (and potential customers and/or linkers) you’ll receive. Additionally, much like search engines, directories tend to promote the most valuable listings higher on the results pages. You should also try to maintain a relationship with the directory. Update your listing as needed and feel free to e-mail them about getting a better or higher listing (especially if you’ve made major changes or seen a big jump in rankings or traffic).
Submit Yourself Here:
A few of the best directories to target as far as getting valuable links are probably the following:
1.Yahoo! Directory: The Yahoo! Directory is the biggest and oldest directory on the web, and one of the few directories that can send direct traffic. While the $299.00 annual fee may seem steep, a PageRank 8 link is a pretty valuable commodity, especially when it can bring a lot of associated traffic.
2.DMOZ: The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) is a free, volunteer-run directory. Google and many other sites pull directory information directly from DMOZ. It’s a Page Rank 8 link and it’s totally free. What are you waiting for?
3.Starting Point: This general directory lists new sites on the same day they’re submitted and users can vote to promote your site. The $99.00 submission fee gets you yet another PageRank 8 link.
4.Business.com: A huge business-related directory. Mostly intended for B2B products and services. PPC sites receive preferential listing, other listings are alphabetic. $199.00 per year for a PR7 link.
5.ExactSeek: This is a relatively large meta tag-based search engine. No specific focus per se, but it is free and PR7. For around $12.00 you can get a featured, top 10 listing for your selected keywords.
6.Best of The Web: One of the oldest web directories around, BoTW provides a solid PR7 link for $69.95/yr or $149.95 one time. Sites are reviewed relatively quickly and listed alphabetically by category.
7.Librarians’ Internet Index: A fairly selective, but free, PR8 directory. They will only include sites with quality, freely available content.
Strongest Links has a complete list of hundreds more web directories you can submit your site to. Keep in mind that PageRank is a very rough approximation of value and, while we mention it as a quick and dirty metric, it’s far from the most important consideration when valuating a link.
SEOmoz on the Yahoo! Directory:
Topic/Industry Specific Directories:
For many content areas there are industry-specific sites and directories you should consider submitting your site to. For example, lawyers may want to join Findlaw and film and television professionals or productions should build profiles at the Internet Movie Database. Do some research to find sites and directories appropriate to your niche.
While we’ll discuss it more in later sections, local organizations and directories such as the Better Business Bureau, Citysearch and local newspaper sites can also be extremely helpful in building powerful links.
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