Web Directories
Web Directories With Price Tag Value
Oct 29th
Submitting to Internet directories remain a viable link building method that will greatly aid you in improving your site’s link popularity and alter your SERP rankings for the better.
Site owners who are serious about getting top rankings and enhancing their site’s link popularity need to come up with a concrete link building campaign composed of effective and diverse link building techniques. Directory submission contributes to link popularity because it focuses on increasing the number of backlinks that are pivotal in the SERP rankings. If you pursue high quality link building using other methods and increase inflow of backlinks by submitting your URL effectively to Internet directories, the greater your change in breezing ahead of your competitors.
The successful use of directory submission to boost link popularity and rankings depends on the number and quality of directories you submit your website to. The importance of “quality” in directory submissions, as in other link building methods cannot be overemphasized. Algorithms in Google and other major search engines favor sites listed in high quality directories.
Are Free Directories Worth It?
There are thousands of possible directories that you could submit your website to for your link building campaign, but screening out thousands into a group of high quality directories will take time. When time is an issue for you, you can hire a link building company to handle directory submissions for you.
High authority directories are the most popular go-to directories for site owners who are gunning for top spots in the SERP rankings. An important option you need to consider if you intend to submit a URL to an Internet directory for enhanced link popularity is The Open Directory Project at DMOZ.org. The Open Directory Project feeds content to search engines like Google, Lycos, Hotbot, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves and Netscape, among others. Listing your site at DMOZ is helpful to your link building campaign since this allows your information to be found on several smaller search engines and directories on the Web.
Moreover, DMOZ is considered to be among the free higher authority directories that are guaranteed to build link popularity. The downside with DMOZ however, is that its free listing feature subjects sites to very strict quality control procedures before submissions are accepted. Hence, acceptance is not easy and turnaround takes a considerable amount of time. Despite this, site owners must consider submitting to DMOZ and other free quality directories for link building. They must also submit to paid directories listings for site inclusion.
Paid Directories
Why do you need to pay fees to be included in the directory listing? According to Matt Cutts of Google, the purpose of the fee in a high quality directory is to compensate the time and effort of someone (an editor) doing a genuine evaluation of a URL or site. There have been concerns that Google’s rejection policy of URLs with paid links would render listing into paid directories useless in link building efforts, but Cutts has explained it clearly that Google does not penalize directories requiring minimum fees for editorial reviews. What Google blacklists are directories that sell links for link juice, passing PR and purely for profit with no regard for the end user.
If used effectively, directory submissions as a link building method guarantees a high return on investment (ROI). By increasing the number of backlinks to your site, directory submissions help you gain link popularity and a better placement on the SERP rankings. Directory submissions are a long-term advertising technique that can directly send customers at your doorstep. Since it acts like an online phonebook of sites, having your site listed in many quality directories means a greater likelihood for prospective customers to view your site and obtain contact information.
In the group of paid Internet directories, there are major differences in payment options. Some charge a lifetime or one-time fee and others charge an annual or recurring fee. Depending on your ROI goals, you need to evaluate the payment guidelines and review payment options before selecting the directory to submit to. Here are definitions to guide you:
- Paid web directories. These are Internet directories that charge site owners a fee for their site inclusion on the directory. They are also called premium, commercial, or pay-for directory listings. Among the high authority paid directories include Yahoo! Directory, Skaffe, Joeant, Abilogic, eLib, and BOTW Directory.
- Annual fee web directories are directories that charge site owners an annual fee to get listed on the directory. They are also referred to as recurring fee, recurring membership listings, or recurring fees.
- Permanent fee web directories require a one-time charge for directory listings. This means that you pay a lifetime fee for site inclusion.
There is some debate on which payment option is best. Some prefer the permanent fee listings since it is more economical, but others question the quality of services in one-time listings. Recurring or annual fees are usually paid in order to maintain directories. As submissions increase, the larger the directories become, so Internet directories deem it fitting to charge site owners to maintain the directories and pay for editorial costs to ensure effective and sustained indexing for Google rankings.
The choice is entirely left on the discretion of the site owner. A rule of thumb: do not pay too much for submission to paid directories. Submit to free directories and suggest your site only to high quality paid directories that guarantee ROI.
Finding the Correct Categories for Directory Submission
Oct 20th
The link building process is greatly enhanced when leveraged by web directories that can help acquire quality links for your website’s improved link popularity and increased user traffic. Needless to say, submitting your URL to web directories – free or paid-for – is a link building means that you must seriously consider.
Directory submissions to quality directories generate several benefits, particularly in relation to your link building efforts. When used appropriately and carefully, submitting your website for listing to web directories can provide visibility of your site in search engines, increase your site’s Page Rank (PR), improve your site’s link popularity, and generate inflow of traffic to your web site. In considering cost-benefit concerns, submissions to quality directories are an excellent investment that promises pay offs in terms of improved rankings and link popularity for several years. You can submit URL for directory listings on your own, or when time is something you don’t have, you can hire a good link building company to take care of it for you.
Why is correct category finding important in a link building campaign?
Before you can expect to fare well in link popularity or search engine rankings when using web directories for link building, it is crucial to understand how web directories actually work and how they operate. In simple terms, web directories serve as catalogs of web sites sorted by categories and subcategories. Unlike search engines that allow you to locate pages with relevant information, web directories allow you to locate websites according to category.
Directory submissions are one of the easiest ways to acquiring links to boost your website’s link popularity, but among the most confusing steps in suggesting a site for inclusion is the first step: selecting the right category to suggest your site to. Finding the right category is important for possible inclusion to a web directory because it increases your chances of getting your suggestions acted upon by editors more promptly. Sites that are suggested under incorrect categories delays the submission process. Hence, choosing the correct category is important if you are serious about improving your site’s link popularity.
How do I find correct categories for submission?
Emphasis on link building using web directories is on the most popular directories, namely Google Web Directory and Yahoo! Web Directory. Here is a preview of how each of them organizes categories so you can find the most suitable category to submit your URL to.
Google Web Directory
Google stands out among other web directories for some enhanced features such as importance ranking, which is a plus factor for link building campaigners. Google Web Directory has a corps of Open Directory volunteer editors that selects websites and categorizes them. Using Google’s patented PageRank mechanism, the web directory is able to display a ranking of sites based on importance. This notable feature makes the highest quality pages appear at the uppermost in any directory category.
Other web directories list sites within each category alphabetically, but Google uses PageRank to sort sites according to their importance. The highest-rated sites receive a green ratings bar to indicate their popularity in terms of PageRank. This helps users effectively launch a link building campaign by enabling them to determine which sites under any category are worth browsing.
When choosing the correct category for directory submission, submit your URL only under the most related categories to your site. Keep in mind that search engine rankings and link popularity emphasize on relevancy. Google directory narrows your search from a broad range of topics or category. It displays topics in a given category and can recommend terms that will help you conduct a narrowed search. Further, it lets you search subcategories once you narrow your topic of interest within a specific subsection.
To help you locate the most popular subcategories within a broad category, the largest subcategories are displayed in boldface. Google’s World Category features directory content using descriptions in non-English languages. To illustrate, in World/Francais, content and descriptions are written, not merely translated, entirely in French so that a whole section of the Web is displayed completely in that language.
Yahoo! Directory
The Yahoo! Directory features 14 main categories to browse on. Each main category is composed of several sub-categories that organize general information to specific information. The Yahoo! directory can list sites either in alphabetical order or by popularity. The popularity listing allows pages to be sorted by relevance based on Yahoo! Search Technology, helping your link building efforts focus on sites that are worth checking out.
When submitting for a URL to Yahoo! Directory with improving your site’s link popularity in mind, to choose the most suitable category for your website. Here are a few tips:
- Be specific. If you want to suggest your site for inclusion to Yahoo! Directory to help you improve link popularity, be meticulously specific. You can search Yahoo! Directory for words related to your site, and from there, view “Related Categories” that are displayed in the results.
- Indicate whether your site is commercial or non-commercial. If your website is entrepreneurial in nature, it belongs to the Business and Economy section. Commercial sites require paid-for listings which cost $299/year.
- Specify the region when applicable. If your site is of particular relevance to a region, you must suggest your URL to a regional category. For example, a museum in California should be suggested under Regional > U.S. States > California > Arts and Humanities > Museums, Galleries and Centers.
- Personal. Suggest your personal web pages under the category Society and Culture > People > Personal Homepages.
Uncertain? If you think you have found the right category to submit to, check out what sites are already listed under it. If you find that they are unrelated, think twice before submitting. View the “Description” of this category or go to the “See also” heading and look at a list of related categories to help you find a better location.
To use directories effectively and establish your site’s link popularity, always ensure that you submit your URL to the relevant directories and to the correct categories and subcategories within these web directories. The task may be time-consuming, but with a little patience, you will see inflow of links to your site.
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What to Look for When Choosing Web Directories
Oct 16th
The mainstay for any promotional or marketing campaign is how to obtain inbound links to your website. Failing to acquire quality links puts the existence of your website in jeopardy. To avoid this, an excellent link building strategy must be developed. In order to harvest quality and natural links, different link building methods can be used every now and then in order to secure the continuous flow of inbound links to your site that builds link popularity and enhance search engine rankings. One of these methods includes submission or registration to web directories.
Web directories are Internet-based resources that specialize in categorizing websites and linking to them. They could either be a general directory or a specialized directory. General directories contain a large range of categories while specialized directories contain just one or two topics/areas. When choosing web directories to submit or register to, quality is the most important thing to look for. Quality directories are a fantastic link building resource that generate potential for user traffic and create link popularity.
The difficult part is choosing which directory to choose for submissions. There are literally thousands of web directories sprawled over the Web and you need to pick those that will augment and not derail your link building campaign. It is important to sort out which of them is of high quality and which is of low quality, to achieve link popularity for your site. Here are tips to help you judge quality in web directories and decide whether to skip or keep:
- Direct Links. Ideally, links in web directories must be direct, meaning that when you click the link, it leads directly to your website. Check a directory page’s source code and examine the link coding used. Direct links follow the a href=”" HTML link. Check whether the directory incorporates a rel=”nofollow tag in the code. If it does, submitting to such a directory would be wasteful since it yields nothing as far as Google is concerned. Moreover, check if the directory redirects using javascript and if so, skip it since this renders the link impossible to follow by search engines.
- Accessibility. You can check whether a category in a web directory is inaccessible to search engines. Make sure to read the site’s robot.txt file by typing the site address, followed by a slash and robots.txt – http://www.directorysite.com/robots.txt Also, check the image and images folder because this is what websites usually use to make the site off limits. If in the Arts folder or category you see: Disallow: /Arts, this means it is inaccessible. If you see Disallow: /Arts, then it’s a keeper.
- Pagerank. Although not the most important criteria in ranking a directory, PR reveals a directory’s search engine exposure and clue you in on a site’s link popularity. It tells how frequently a site is crawled by Google. A search engine manifests its love to a site by indexing many of its internal pages.
- Site Design and Maintenance. Generally you can judge the quality of a directory by simply looking at it. If a site is designed and maintained well, the more likely it is to attract traffic and build link popularity. Quality requires time, effort, and serious thought. A quality site is regularly maintained, free from typos, broken pages or dead links. If the site offers obsolete information, it means its maintenance is sub-standard. Another way to check for maintenance is to look for a “newest links” listing and determine when these links were added. Owners of quality directories update and add new links on a regular basis.
- Quality Control. Ideally, quality directories that build link popularity are those that are not clogged with spam and ads. It is better to submit to directories that have quality standards in place when considering listings for submission and do not approve every website unless it passes those standards. Search engines dislike low standards in sites. If you want to build link popularity, it is better to skip these directories. Also look out for directories that list MFA or Made for AdSense sites; these sites are sure to sink your ratings.
- Category Structure. Check for a directory that offers a top level category that is related to your website. Relevancy is a top criterion in link building. If you find that there is a sub-category that fits your site, then this is a keeper. What’s better is that some directories offer a “suggest category” field in case an appropriate category does not exist. If a directory does not contain that option, you better skip it. You have nothing to gain from submitting to a category that is irrelevant to your topic.
- Links. Examine the number of links present in a directory. If there are over 20-30 links a single page, that number may be unreasonable. Avoid directories that are loaded with too many links because this is a sure indication that a directory has too few sub-categories. Look for a directory that features categories broken down into as many sub-categories as appropriate.
- Reciprocal Links. Bear in mind that quality directories never ask for a reciprocal link in exchange for listing. Stay away from directories that impose such a condition because clearly, that directory seeks inbound links more than it does great sites. Linking to so-called “bad neighborhoods” will injure your link popularity and search engine rankings.
These are some of the most important criteria to consider when judging quality directories. Submit and register to a quality directory, use other helpful link building methods, and seek help and guidance from a link building service or a link building company to be on your way to a great spot at the search engine rankings.
Easy, Fast and Powerful: Web Directories for Link Building
Oct 16th
By now, you’d have heard of the importance of keyword density and metadata in improving search engine rankings, and indeed, these have proven to be useful SEO strategies. However, most SEO experts agree that a link building campaign remains of equal or greater importance than others.
The end goal for any link building campaign is to establish link popularity. The more “quality” links that point to your site, the more worthy and relevant it is in the sight of search engines, ergo, the better the rank it earns. The term “quality” must be emphasized since search engines like Google are very particular about this. If you want to boost search engine rankings, focus on how to acquire quality links using link building techniques.
There is no one best method to launch a successful link building campaign. There are several ways, in fact. When you are after link popularity, using different but reliable means of getting links should always be welcome. This is why leveraging the power of web directories to elevate your link popularity and catapult your site to the top of SERP hierarchy deserves serious attention.
What is a web directory?
A web directory is oftentimes mistaken for a search engine but a distinction has to be drawn. A web directory acts like a catalog on the World Wide Web that lists sites according to category and subcategory. These directories are considered human edited resources because sites are subjected to a manual review process before their listing gets approved. Any website owner can submit their URL to a web directory – some for free and some for a fee. Since we are talking about getting free links to improve link popularity, we focus on submission to free directories available on the Web.
How does directory submission contribute to link popularity?
Judging by the single link and search capability of a web directory, a site owner acquires a vast number of potential link partners begging to be added. With the use of appropriate strategies, web directories can improve link popularity to a great degree.
In order to get a clear picture of how free quality directories boost link popularity, it is important to understand how search engines work. Basically, search engines aid users in locating relevant information based on keywords typed in the search. Search engines then evaluate the relevance of your page based on a number of factors, including: 1) meta data on your page, to include page title and keywords; 2) page content and keyword density; 3) absence or presence of keywords in the URL leading to the page; 4) number of links from related pages on quality sites that link back to the page; and 5) number of links pointing from your site to related pages on quality sites. While all of the factors are rated with a certain value by search engines, all rate the number of links pointing to the page highly.
Several benefits can be reaped by submitting your URL to a free web directory:
- Listing your website with free directories give you permanent links that boost link popularity. By using targeted anchor text and “themed” submissions, the relevancy of keywords on your site are improved.
- Link building through directory submissions let you acquire links from related pages. For instance, if your site is related to travel, your URL submission is approved only if it is submitted under a travel category, or a travel category within a general directory. This guarantees that links pointing to your web site come only from relevant pages, which search engines love.
- Directory submissions replicate “natural links,” which are favored by search engines. A natural link is acquired once a site owner voluntarily creates a link pointed at your site.
- Submitting to directories give you instant targeted visitors that are vital to any link building effort. Although their popularity has been replaced by search engines, people still depend on online directories to locate relevant websites. Having your website listed in free quality directories increase the potentiality of receiving user traffic.
- Free quality directories can create one-way links. Site owners commonly link to other sites for link building. Swapping or trading links are usually done in order to get a permanent back link from a related website. While there are many free directories that act as link exchanges, there are also free quality directories where links are permanent, free, and does not require reciprocal linking. If you have a terrific website, directory owners would be more than willing to link to your site if you request so.
- Free directory submissions provide permanent results for a one-time investment. Whether you do the directory submission yourself or hire a link building company to do it for you, it is a worthwhile effort. For a one-time investment, you get permanent and free links that will enhance link popularity and visibility of your site.
Where and how do I submit my URL?
The most popular choice is the DMOZ directory, which is a free listing online directory. DMOZ has been operating for many years and catalogs more than four million categorized Web sites. It is maintained by a large number of editors that add new URLs of approved sites to for categorization under relevant topics or areas.
However, there are alternative free online directories out there that can help your link building campaign. Identify those directories first. Once you come up with a list of free web directories and before you submit your URL to them, go to each site and review their guidelines for submission to the letter. Generally, experts put a red flag on directory submission services since it gives you no control over how the submission is handled, if at all. It could also turn you into a potential spammer, which will eventually get you blacklisted, and hurt your site’s link popularity. Google and other search engines are known to penalize associations to so-called “bad neighborhoods,” or sites that abuse SEO techniques and search engine algorithms.
A Blogger’s Guide to Getting Free Links
Oct 16th
Despite the influx of many SEO strategies, link building remains the most effective method to obtain a high search engine ranking for your site. Links are a crucial component in ranking algorithms. The number of quality links that point to your site can thrust your website to the top of the search engine results pages. Since backlinks are viewed by search engines as a vote made by other sites in your favor, getting them becomes the most successful means of boosting your link popularity.
Blogging has become an indispensable method of building link popularity. Although a lengthy and time-consuming process, the value of blogging in trying to get noticed on the Internet is very high. Blogging works this way: you share your knowledge on a preferred niche or topic and readers can send you feedbacks through comments. Since content is something very valuable in the eyes of the search engine, high quality content and sound link building methods can propel your blog to the top of the rankings. Your blog’s popularity can be gauged by examining the number of subscribers on your RSS feed and the frequency of exchanges and comments that occur between you and your readers. You can hire a link building company to increase your blog’s rankings. There are several firms that offer professional link building services to assist you. However, there are also useful do-it-yourself tips to maximize your blog’s link popularity.
Below are a few tips on how to acquire free links that can help catapult your blog’s rankings to the top spot.
- Add your URL to major search engine directories. Essentially, this means Google, Yahoo, and MSN. All you have to do is visit Google Webmaster tools, login, add your site, and make sure to verify it. After verification, it takes about a week for Google to crawl your site. As for Yahoo, aside from adding your site, you will also need to authenticate it. Authentication takes around one or two days and it will entail about a week for Yahoo to crawl your web site. The same goes for MSN. Go to MSN Webmaster, login, add your site and upload the XML file provided to you by MSN on your site for verification.
- Submit your URL to directory listings. Submitting your site to web directories will help you get free back links that will increase your search engine ranking. The trick is to choose the best free web directories to submit your URL to. Identify all possible web directories for submission but be picky. Search engines are rumored to blacklist some directory submissions for abusive behavior so it is best to do a little research on prospective web directories. Go to the site of each listed directory and review their submission rules and privacy guidelines. Avoid a directory submission service because you might not have control on the submission, you face the threat of being labeled a spammer, or your blog or site could get blacklisted.
- Do some link swapping. Link swapping is a great way to build link popularity since it allows you to connect with the community of bloggers. It enables you to trade links with bloggers who share similar interests with you. In the end, link swapping generates more readership, more traffic, and consequently, link popularity to your site. Examples of sites that facilitate link swapping among bloggers are BlogLinker and Link2Blogs.
- Button exchanges. A button exchange is a network where member sites display button ads and getting ads in return, which are displayed on other web sites. All you have to do is submit an 88 x 31 button and put the network’s code on your web site. In doing so, other participating sites will display your 88 x 31 button on their sites. This could hopefully increase your chance of getting people to click your site once they see your button, generate traffic, and build link popularity.
- Traffic exchanges. A traffic exchange is a service where you can sign up to generate traffic to your blog or site and boost link popularity. It works like this: you get to view other people’s web pages in exchange for having your own pages viewed by others. If you view another member’s web page for a certain period of time, your credit balance increases. If a member views your web page for the same amount of time, your credit balance increases. Consequently, the more you surf the Internet and view other people’s web pages, the greater your chances of your site getting more hits and views, increasing link popularity. There are two types of traffic exchanges – manual and auto. A manual exchange involves a human being viewing web pages, whereas an auto exchange can run in your web browser and automatically refresh to a new web page.
When trying out these tips, always bear in mind that link building is a process that will necessarily take time. Therefore, patience is a virtue when it comes to building link popularity. In addition to the advice mentioned above, you should always educate yourself on the newest and most effective link building methods that you could use in order to get your blog noticed on the Internet.