THIS IS STEP BY STEP SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
PAGE 60 TO 62 CHAPTER 9
Chapter 9
Directory Submit,
Rinse, Repeat
During the early days of the Internet, directory submissions used to play a substantial role in search engine rankings. In today’s more complex world, search engines have gotten much more sophisticated in the way they determine rankings. That being said, there is still some value to submitting your website to directories.
The goal with this chapter is to help you identify how to find directories that will have the greatest impact on your link-building efforts and how to do so without paying a dime to the directories for inclusion. So let’s cut through the clutter, save time, and focus on directory submissions only where and when it makes sense.
It’s important to be very careful when submitting your site to directories. The practice of obtaining links from online directories has changed dramatically over the past few years. Poor-quality, spam-induced directories currently flood the Internet, and an unfocused effort to obtain links from these all-inclusive directories can actually harm your SEO efforts. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to have an evolved and focused strategy when engaging in directory submissions.
Let’s begin with what directory submissions are and how they can positively impact your search engine rankings. The concept is actually quite simple. You find a directory, such as www.botw.org, you select a category relevant to your site, and you then list your website info. The profile typically consists of the site’s title, a short description, any relevant key search terms, and the site’s web address. Once you fill out your information, you hit submit and you’re up on the directory once approved. Sounds simple enough, right?
Unfortunately, like so many things in life, it’s a bit more complicated than it appears on the surface.
First, there’s the process of finding directories and manually submitting requests to each one over and over again. There are bulk services out there that offer to do this for a nominal fee. Most of them are complete scams, though. Stay away from them and the information in this book has already paid for itself.
Second, there are always multiple options with these directories. Typically, the options involve paying for a link, adding a link on your own site in exchange for receiving a link, or submitting a regular link without the above requirements. Would you ever pay or add a link on your site if you didn’t have to? Probably not. Often, the directory threatens to take up to six months to get you listed, if they even allow it at all, unless you offer to pay for inclusion or include a link on your website that points back to the directory. Don’t worry about that.
My advice is to never add a link to your site or pay for inclusion; the benefit is almost never worth the cost. The best-quality directories provide free links because it encourages more businesses to register, which in turn makes their directories more useful. Also, adding a link to your site could actually harm your SEO efforts, as Google penalizes sites that are viewed as having lists of links with no relevant value.
So now that you’ve been thoroughly frightened with the potential perils of directories, let’s dive into the process and discuss some things to look out for.
Anyone interested in increasing his or her business or entity’s online presence should consider actively submitting to some directories with a high page ranking.
In this book you will find a list of two hundred free directories to which you can submit your site. I would recommend starting with the highest-valued directories in terms of page rank and then moving down the list. All of these directories should offer the opportunity to submit your site for free, but be aware that your site may take some time to show up and get placement.
Before going too crazy with the directories listed below, I’d like to add a word of caution about directory submissions. Recently, Google has begun penalizing sites deemed “over-optimized.” What this means is that if your site appears to have tremendous amounts of directories pointing back to it for no other reason than receiving a link, it could harm your efforts. Therefore, I strongly recommend you submit to ten or so on this list, review your progress for a month, and then submit some more. Slow and steady can definitely help you win this race.
With that being said, here is a list of two hundred free directories:
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