Tips In Choosing which Directories to Submit to

[MrCat]

Originally Posted by Dom

I beg to differ on this point.....

Having a lot of reciprocal links back to a directory tells Google that other sites think that the directory is important, which will increase the directory's PageRank.

I think you got confused on my post. I posted to skip directories that require reciprocal links... Why? Simply because the SEO value you get from them outweighs the benefit you give to them.

In terms of SEO - one-way links outweighs reciprocals.

[roymogg]

Hi Fiscx,

I hope I am not too late in responding - this is quite an old thread and I don't want to be bumping it unnecessarily.

I have posted on my small forum a list of directories with their PR:

I cannot put the link here for some 15 or so posts but if you look at the seo forum on bizface you can get a copy for free

I also did a web submit for the 60 or so free directories at scrub-the- web but then you get inundated with SEO offers and all sorts of other information.

Moderators I can post the list but its well over a hundred directories and takes ages to load on an seo enabled forum and you are quite tight on your URL rule.

cheers

Roy at Bizface

[roymogg]

Hi MrCat,

I agree with this reciprocal links in directories that have low PR are not much value ( I was wrong in my earlier post) - they do it to pull some of your PR. Plus to be honest I don't like cluttering my website with lots of useless anchor tags. You submit in directories to get some PR not for traffic - ignore those who ask for a reciprocal there are plenty out there.

There is a nice article on the seven mistakes of link building - do a search I think its on sitepro news

cheers

Roy at Bizface

Originally Posted by MrCat

I think you got confused on my post. I posted to skip directories that require reciprocal links... Why? Simply because the SEO value you get from them outweighs the benefit you give to them.

In terms of SEO - one-way links outweighs reciprocals.

[fisicx]

Originally Posted by roymogg

You submit in directories to get some PR not for traffic

No No No No No No!!!!

Use directories for traffic not PageRank. That's PageRank not the stupid green bar you have in your google spyware toolbar.

PS: Gave up trying to find your SEO forum on bizface.

[roymogg]

Hi fisicx,

We just disagree on this point -

Why should we submit to Web Directories?

Directory submission is the most popular and widely used form of earning back links for web sites and is the most significant factor that has greatest impact on SEO

Most web directories will publish your website with a direct text link and a short blurb about you - this is what I did to a pile of them recently. The advantage is that search engines can crawl the link and read the text being used to describe your website, from another source - if the directory has a nice PR you can get some benefit from this.

The key is to make sure that you use well optimized copy (description and Tags) as it can help with your natural search results – where possible include popular search terms. I created my search terms using a tool at 'scrub the web' dot com .

Submitting your website to web directories is beneficial when aiming to increase your backward link count and accordingly helping page rank by the process above.

You can expect some traffic but don't bank on it - most links in directories get you one or two hits per week if you are lucky - Local directories are better (local to your area) if you want qualified referrals- direct traffic from the directory will be low.

A link in a directory is counted as a vote by Google that bumps your PR and helps with the traffic - building links in directories, blogs or forums like this one builds a networks of paths back to your site and that’s what we are trying to do.

Cheers

Roy

Submitting articles or blog content is a different matter and is about generating traffic

The directory list is the first posy on the bizface.co.uk - web, seo and information technology forum (I think)

[fisicx]

Originally Posted by roymogg

Hi fisicx,

We just disagree on this point -

Why should we submit to Web Directories?

Directory submission is the most popular and widely used form of earning back links for web sites and is the most significant factor that has greatest impact on SEO

google guidelines clearly state:

Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.

Last year google downgraded just about all directories and they continue to ignore most of the listings. The effect on your PageRank (not Toolbar PR) is minimal. If you read the reports on how PageRank is calculated then you will soon realize that 90% of all directories are a waste of time.

The major SEO factors are 1. Page title, 2. Content, 3. Navigation, not directory submission.

Sorry to be bit forceful but this whole directory submission thing collapsed last year in the same way that blog links will soon bite the dust as well.

[roymogg]

Hi All,

This is one way to get the post count up! - I was actually responding to a post where someone asked about the value of directory submissions - all I was suggesting is directory submission should form part of a integrated general strategy and is not an end in itself and one should be careful with expectations of traffic and selective in which ones (esp paid directories) should be used. This is the perceived wisdom of the rest of the web community and I agree with it.

Just a few scrapes from around the web on this issue ( I cannot reference them on this site so apologies to the writers).

There is a lot of disagreement re the relevance and priority but the general thrust is clear.

General SEO Issues Areas to Address:

On Page Optimization
On Page Optimization includes variations within the website code and structure to make it more search engine friendly and attractive for human eye. There are many criteria’s which are responsible for better On Page Optimization like Meta Tags, Use of H1 & H2 tags, use of bold and italics tags and many others

Off Page Optimization
This is termed as one of the most important factors in search engine optimization industry as back links are a third party review given to your website. The Off Page Optimization includes search engine submissions, directory submissions, article submissions, press release submissions and the most important Link Building

Technical Optimization
There are various technical factors which are responsible for achieving the improvement in search engine rankings. Some of these factors responsible are Server Header Redirects, Htaccess Optimization, Custom 404 page optimization and many others.

Content Optimization
The content for any website needs to be optimized in terms to keywords and looks to make it search engine and human friendly. In addition there should be regular updating made on the website in terms of new content which helps the search engine crawler to visit your website more frequently.

· Content - all text, links, headings, bold, italics etc. is most important. Make sure all outgoing links are working and relevant. Use descriptive titles and headings. High quality semantic code that ALL search engines can understand is highly important.
· Incoming Links from other quality & related websites/pages (good descriptive link text/phrases) to multiple pages, not just your home page. It is very important your incoming links are to multiple pages, not just your home page. Make sure they are unpaid, don’t mess around with link buying and other scams that will just end up getting your site penalized by the search engines.
· Links with good phrases to other internal pages within your site, and links to other external quality & related websites / pages also. This is number three on the list, but could easily move up to second depending on the type of website. Once again, this deals with your on page content. Link to other pages on your site, and link to other sites, and you will create a better user experience. You will gain trust with your readers and the search engines will award you as well.
· Title tags (what you see at top of browser when viewing a page, within <title> tags. Use descriptive and appealing titles to insure you get the most people interested in visiting.
· Meta Description tags that are relatively short and precise, must match on page content. Not all search engines even look at this, so don’t spend too much time worrying about the perfect descriptions.
· ALT Attributes for image tags. You’d be surprised at how much traffic you can get by simply adding short, descriptive, 3-5 word ALT phrases for all your images.
· Meta Keywords (relatively few and precise - if you really want to add them, make sure the on page content matches, or you could get penalized. Notice they are last on the list

Top 10 Ranking Factors in 2007: from SEO-MOZ where I am a member - some agreement on the general direction although to be fair quite some diversion amongst the industry group who put this together when you look at the detailed stats.

1.0 Keyword Use in Title Tag
2.0 Global Link Popularity of Site
3.0 Anchor Text of Inbound Link
4.0 Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure
5.0 Age of Site
6.0 Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site
7.0 Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
8.0 Keyword Use in Body Text
9.0 Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
10.0 Topical Relationship of Linking Page


Enough said about links I think - I now move on

Cheers

Roy

[fisicx]

Roy,

There are some very good points in you post but a few iffy suggestions as well.

For example:
Bold and italic text is NOT a ranking factor.
Meta tags are NOT a ranking factor (see google webmasterblog).
SE sumbission is NOT SEO (SEM maybe but still pointless).

The markup you use may have a tiny effect but it's more important to use logical and hierarcal page and site structures.

Directory submission didn't appear in the SEOMOz list. But SEOMOz does have a very good article on which directories are important - most of the rest can be dismissed.

Good discussion BTW.

[peterjhale]

A great discussion, BTW...

Originally Posted by fisicx

Bold and italic text is NOT a ranking factor.
Meta tags are NOT a ranking factor (see google webmasterblog).

The bold/ italic *used* to help in ranking - it may still help a little

The description meta tag also may help in ranking if you have a word in the description but not on the page of your website

[fisicx]

Originally Posted by peterjhale

The description meta tag also may help in ranking if you have a word in the description but not on the page of your website

Nope. Not one squiddly diddly bit: Google blog post

While the use of a description meta tag is optional and will have no effect on your rankings...