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What Makes a Quality Web Directory?Getting a lot of links from low-quality websites won't help you. Instead, you want to focus upon getting links from quaility websites.One of the best ways to get links is to submit your site to web directories. But, how can you tell which directories are worth your time & which are not?
General directoriesA general directory is one which has a large range of categories - usually including arts, shopping, business, internet/computers, etc. When submitting your link to a general directory, you want to find the sub-category most closely related to your website, and submit to it.When deciding which general directories to submit my site, I look at several factors (in no particular order): are links direct?View the source code of a directory page, then closely scrutinize the way they code their links.Links should be direct (using a plain vanilla <a href=""> type of HTML link). Clicking the link will lead directly to your website. Also check to see if the directory incorporates the rel="nofollow" tag within the link coding. This is an instruction to Google not to follow the link to your site. Some directories redirect links using javascript, making it impossible for search engines such as Google to follow the link. If you find that the links are redirected or use the nofollow tag, it's probably not worthwhile to submit your site as these links will count for nothing with regard to Google. However, if the directory has very high traffic, you might get enough people clicking on the link that the increase in traffic to your site will make the link worthwhile. (For myself, I rarely will submit to directories which use such tricks. But it's your call.) will it let the search engines in?Webmasters can specify parts of the website from which it wants to exclude search engines. To see if the category to which you'd like to submit is off-limits to search engines, read the site's robots.txt file.Commonly websites make the images folder & folders needed to run the sites off-limits. But if the part of the site that contains your link is off-limits, the link won't help you much.
To check the robots. txt file, type in the website's address followed by a slash & robots.txt:
The Arts folder (probably the Arts category!) is off-limits if you see this: If you see Disallow: followed by nothing, that means nothing is disallowed to the search engines. That's good news. However, if you see Disallow: / (followed by a slash) that means the entire website is off-limits. In that case, move on! pagerankWhat's the homepage's PageRank? PR isn't the most important criteria for ranking a directory, but it will give you an inkling of how often the site is crawled by Google, and how well-marketed the site is.(However, if a site looks really good in all other respects, don't let low PageRank deter you from submitting your site. The site may be new. After the next PR export, the site's PageRank may go up.)
site design & maintenanceIs the site designed well? Does the owner care about it? Are there lots of typos, broken navigation links, etc. Is there old information ("news" from 2006?) there? Does it look nice & is it likely to attract visitors?I'd like my website to be associated with websites whose owners put as much thought & care into them as I do mine. If the owners don't care about the site, why should you? Such sites are likely to be unsuccessful and probably will pass little value to your site, whether it be in the form of human visitors or attention from the search engines. new listingsThis one is related to the issue above. Are new links added often?If there is a "newest links" listing, take a look & see if you can determine when the links were added. The directory owners should be updating it & adding new links frequently. It won't benefit you to submit to a site which is unlikely to consider or add your link, or which may even have been abandoned.
is there an appropriate category?Check to see if there's a top-level category related to your website - for instance "arts." Then, drill down into that category until you find an appropriate sub-category for your site; that's the one you'll want. Generally speaking, the more subcategories a directory has, a better. Subcategories also typically are less full, so that your listing will be even more easily found.Some directories offer a "suggest category" option which can be used if an appropriate category doesn't exist. But, if the directory doesn't offer that option, you'd do best to move on, as there is little or no benefit in submitting to a category that's unrelated to your topic.
how many links on the page?Are there a reasonable number of links on the page? More than about 20-30 per page is probably too much.Also beware of categories stuffed with too many links. This is often caused by having too few sub-categories. For instance, the top-level category Arts may have hundreds of links - and dozens of pages - encompassing all areas of the arts. Such directories are poorly-planned & less effective. A better situation would be if the links in the Arts category were broken down into subcategories (Visual Artists, Music, Literature...) and sub-sub-categories (Painters, Sculptors, Textile Artists, etc.). This is what you ideally want to see. Otherwise your link may drown in a sea of other links. check for relevancy & qualityAny given directory will receive both high and low quality submissions. The low quality ones are poorly written, dishonest, spammy, or unrelated to the category to which they're submitted. They may not follow the directory's stated submission rules.So, take a good look at the listings in each category (especially the category you want to be in!), and ask a few questions. If I want to be listed in the "booksellers" category, does it actually list booksellers, or are there unrelated listings (for example, viagra, real estate, poker, banking) there too? Links from relevant pages are best - but even the "bookseller" category isn't relevant if there aren't booksellers there. Even in the best directories, some listings will be submitted to the wrong category, and some will inevitably slip through. But if a significant number of irrelevant listing appear in the category you'd like, move on to the next directory or check another category.
is a reciprocal link required?Stay away from directories which require that you link back to their site. They will not help you.Many directories offer a reciprocal link as an option, along with free link submissions. That's OK - just choose the free, non-reciprocal link. The best policy is to only link out to sites which you highly recommend & believe in, those you believe will be of special value to your visitors. (This is much more likely to be the case for niche directories - those devoted to a specialized topic closely related to your site.) how old is the directory?Well-established directories have been proven over time (and often have really good PR), but many (not all) also take longer to approve links, due to popularity and the volume of submissions they get.Though a newer directory may not have a long track record, if they are of good quality, they can still be worth submitting to. When their owners put time and promotional effort into them, they will be well-established, too. nto promoting the directory, they will likely get it over time. New directories tend to add submitted links faster, as they have less backlog.does it all check out?It's very difficult to find directories which meet all these criteria. But keep these in mind as you look at directories, and try to hit most of these points. If a site checks out in all the areas described above, I'll consider submitting my site for inclusion.Specialized directoriesSpecialized directories - those focusing upon just one or two subject areas - can be scrutinized using the same criteria described above.However, since specialized directories relating to your topic will also be frequented by others interested in that topic, you may be comfortable with overlooking some flaws in exchange for some really good exposure to your target audience. For example, you might decide to overlook a redirected link, figuring that even if the search engines disregard it, it may be found by one of the directory's visitors who's looking for a site just like yours. Whether you set the same standards for specialized directories as you do for the general directories is up to you. More information about directoriesYou might also find these articles helpful:Directory Submission Tips How (& Why) to Get Links to Your Site Questions? Want help?Submitting to the directories isn't terribly difficult, but it is very detail-oriented & time-consuming. If you don't want to bother with it, consider using my services.I will write the descriptions & keyword lists you need (or you can supply your own) and will submit them to the directories. I'll provide you with a full report of where I submitted them and when. I also use a Quanta Webdesign email address so you never need to be bothered with spam from the directory companies. You'll find more details on my directory submission services page. Just drop me a line with any questions, or to get started. Good luck with your site. Please let me know if you'd like to use my services, or if you have any questions! I'm always glad to offer advice & would be pleased to hear from you.
best regards, p.s. Here's some feedback I recently received from someone who used these tips and the directories list to promote her own site: "I found your site on google a while back, and just wanted to drop you a HUGE "THANK YOU" for your extensive list of free directories!!! I haven't gotten around to submitting to all of them yet, but I have submitted to several, and thanks to that, plus lots of article submissions, link exchanges, etc, I'm already seeing my traffic increase, after only a couple of months online.
I just wanted to thank you for all the free help you've provided....it's been terrific to have all those directory lists, plus all your great suggestions / advice, in one convenient place!" ~ K.L.
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