Tips In Choosing which Directories to Submit to

[MrCat]

Directories have been good sources of one-way links for a long time. It is a one of the easiest link building method especially for newer sites. But quality is still the name of the game. Some pointers in selecting the directories to submit to:

High PR - indication that Google sees some value in the directory.
Well maintained - listed sites are in the proper category
High Traffic - getting traffic could be minimal from directories, but majority are targeted
Kewords ranking high in SERP - Well optimized, shows that the directory is well-marketed and SEO'ed.

Which to avoid:
Link farms that pose as directories
Directories that require reciprocal links
Crappy ones with crappy sites listed

What are your thoughts? Care to add more pointers?

[Dom]

Originally Posted by MrCat

...Directories that require reciprocal links...

I beg to differ on this point. While it can be a nuisance if some directories require you to have a link to their site on your homepage, a lof them don't. And having reciprocal links is what differentiates link farms from good directories.

Link farms are simply massive pages of links, with nobody returning links to the farm, so in Google's eyes, the link farm itself is not important, or else people would be linking back to it. 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.

And if the directory that links to your site has a high PR, then it's likely that your site will benefit also.

[Dom]

**a lot of them dont.

Sorry, I've no idea how to edit a post on these forums!

[bermuda]

Directories are still good, especially the older ones and the one way links they provide are good for two reasons; for link popularity and also increasing PR.

[roymogg]

This is a summary from the SEO Book by Aaron Wall

Its is best to register with about a half-dozen to a dozen of the better general directories if you are targeting Google - which most are (they have around 90% of the search market in Europe)

If you are targeting the other engines first and can wait on Google, you may want to register with about twenty to fifty general directories.
Register with at least a couple local or niche-specific directories.

Niche-specific directories are findable via search engines and some are listed at http://www.isedb.com, but you should check to ensure they provide static links before spending money registering your sites, although directories that rank well may deliver quality traffic even if they do not provide direct links.

Search for things like “<my keywords> + <add URL>” to find other niche
directories. Most top ranking sites in mildly competitive fields do not
have text links from fifty different sites pointing to them, so if you can afford it,
doing this offers a huge advantage to you for your Yahoo! and MSN rankings, but
you need to choose directories carefully when considering how TrustRank
may effect Google.

Some recommended directories Yahoo!, DMOZ, Business.com, JoeAnt,

Overall link farms are a waste of time - they are discounted by Google. I like to look for a directory that asks for a link or track-back personally.


cheers

Roy

[fisicx]

Originally Posted by Roymogg

I like to look for a directory that asks for a link or track-back personally.

Why? I would suggest that this exactly the type of directory to avoid.

As to DMOZ and Yahoo, many designers now include the NOODP and NOYDIR tags in the document head to avoid being listed by these directories because they result can harm rather than help. In any case, DMOZ as a directory is pretty much dead, I don't know of anybody who still uses it and google can index a site long before the DMOZ editors even get round to consider your application. This means that the effect on your ranking will be almost zero.

Have you been following the discussion on the great google directory ban?

[roymogg]

Hi fisicx,

Not sure about using NOODP or NOYDIR in a meta tag to stop listing in DMOZ or Google. The tag actually is used more to prevent the search engines from using the description snippets from DMOZ and YAHOO and to force them to use your own descriptor snippet - the NODP means no open directory project (thus don't use the descriptor snippet in DMOZ). You can stop crawlers by making a simple robot.txt file if you like.

Back to directories - as always it depends what you are trying to do. If you list with directories to drive traffic that might not be a good strategy as it won't work - what you are interested in is linking back to your site from the directory and perhaps inheriting some of their PR. Obviously with this in mind only high PR directories are worth worrying about (and certainly paying for!) - so you have to be very selective. In my view it only forms part of a linkback strategy better to put some deccent content up and get visitors to quote them in blogs whatever and generate linkbacks that way and get you PR up.

So if you look at a candidate directory check out with the PR tool (its pretty hopeless but will give a clue) and if it looks interesting go for it. With reciprocal link requirements also be selective - if it is a powerful site or matches closely your own theme (and has good PR) then it is worth considering. one last point be careful of sites that ask for reciprocals if they sell premium content on the side.

I could post a list of directories - will try and see if the forum will allow me.

Cheers

Roy

by the way DMOZ although the world will end before they list a site has a page strength of 10 along with the paid yahoo site

[fisicx]

Yerp, my mistake, got too enthusiatic in my typing. You are quite correct, it's those pesky snippets that you don't want displayed.

Be interested to see your list of directories. Be even better if you can supply reasons why you make the recommendations.

[Elisor]

It's not a directory per se, but do any of you use www.AboutUs.org? If so, have you had any success from it?

[OldWelshGuy]

Originally Posted by fisicx

Why? I would suggest that this exactly the type of directory to avoid.

As to DMOZ and Yahoo, many designers now include the NOODP and NOYDIR tags in the document head to avoid being listed by these directories because they result can harm rather than help. In any case, DMOZ as a directory is pretty much dead, I don't know of anybody who still uses it and google can index a site long before the DMOZ editors even get round to consider your application. This means that the effect on your ranking will be almost zero.

Have you been following the discussion on the great google directory ban?

I am not sure what you are saying here, but the search engines only DISPLAY this information, they dont replace your site info for use in the ranking algorithm. They STILL use your site information (Title 7 Description) they just display the other in the serps. I have had this first hand from google in private at SES.