» How to get the most from web directories

September 24th, 2008 by Dave

How to get the most from web directories

Foundational link building Part I – Web directories

If you’ve ever considered directories for link building (or traffic) – what is your plan of attack? While using directories in your SEO efforts is not exactly a huge factor, it can be done wrong. Yeah, I know… how tough could it be right? Well, there are some things to consider… and we’ll be looking at them today.

I was recently working on a new edition of my e-book which will be focused on the fine art of link building. This got me thinking about publishing some posts on some of the basics; and so the next few posts will be geared towards just that – foundational link building.

All directories are not created equal

For starters, one should never simply go running about dropping submissions to every directory is site… Nope, that ain’t gonna cut it. You should first be hitting some of the more well known general directories and not some list of 2000 crap locales. For me, any link building activity needs to also have the potential for actual traffic. This is why targeting is an important aspect – though serious traffic is generally not likely.

Then you would be looking for directories in your niche. Topically related directories can be more effective and build relevance (as far as links are concerned). Finding market related (vertical) directories can be done a few ways such as using some Google Dorks (search operators) – we could try; electronics, directory, add / submit — or if we’re geo-targeting add a TLD operator; electronics, directory, add / submit site:.com.au

You get the idea; replace ‘electronics’ with your KW/Phrase and play with some searches. This is one good way for finding niche directories that Google has at least indexed which is a start. (To get you started, I shall list a whack of trusted directories in tomorrow’s post).

Or there are lists to find some niche directories to assess;

Vilesilencer Niche Directory list

Directory Critic – Niche Directories

Notice I said ‘assess’? It is important to evaluate a given directory to establish if it’s a target worth having. What I mean is that we want to ensure we’re not wasting time with a submission. Some of the common factors we can look at are;

Indexation – what is the sites indexation on the major engines (Google, Yahoo, Live)?
Domain Age – older domains tend to have more trust from search engines.
Require reciprocal link? Quality directories do not.
PageRank – not the greatest measure, but a minor metric in the mix.
Backlinks – are there many backlinks? What quality are they?
Domain information – has it been moved many times? Ownership changes?

By looking at some of these factors we can begin to get a feel for which directories are worth targeting and which ones aren’t. Be sure to take the time involved for ensuring submission is not a waste of time.

I would also suggest looking at some of the many paid directories out there as search engines tend to value these higher and the links tend to be of greater value. Either way, always look to establish some value to the asset.

Submission strategies make the difference

Now that we have a list of directories we are interested in (and associated values) it is time to get busy with the submission process. Now, this isn’t as simple as creating a Title and Description for the listing and hammering away. What we want to consider is link text diversity and timing.

Timing, in that link profiles will degrade over time and as such we want a nice steady stream of links. This means I would work on the process a few times per week over a 6 month period to ensure we get timed velocity. Each market will be different, so spend some time monitoring top competitors link profile growth rates before starting your own campaigns. For more read up on; historical ranking factors for link builders.

Also, we want to have diversity in the Title text (usually the link) and the description. You will have to take your keyword research and look at which target terms are most in need of links at the time of submission. These are often the core money terms, but often there will be the need for targeting lesser terms that are underperforming.

You would want to use some variants of semantic phrasings to further balance out the diversity of link texts in your profile. To that end I would suggest reading; Using keyword research to diversify link profiles.

By controlling the rate of submissions and the diversity of the listing titles and texts, you will be able to get the most from the exercise.

The lazy man’s submission services

And yes, there are submissions services out there… most simply don’t seem to have enough of a clue for me to get behind them. There are so many factors to be considered (such as we’ve outlined here) that one can’t reproduce it on a larger scale effectively. Because there needs to be diversity across multiple keywords and semantic concepts, it would be an expensive undertaking for most providers.

They offer maybe 2-3 varied titles and descriptions across hundreds of directories. Furthermore, because they don’t let us at the lists (business intelligence.. bah) we cannot ensure that we are actually hitting the cream of the crop. Also not a good thing. And what about timing? Will they be able to understand each niche/market well enough not to over do it? – Problematic on many levels.

And that’s the basics

Can you see what I was saying about doing it wrong? The difference between SEO geeks and the rest of the peeps – is in the strategy. Even from the most basic levels of foundational link building there is every opportunity to do it wrong…or at least not as well as you could. And this is the basics my friends…

Tomorrow I shall post lists of some of my fav directory resources… be sure to come back then…

Here’s the Discussion on the SR forums

Related reading elsewhere;

The power of directories - Search Engine People

The wisdom and folly of directory link building – SEO Moz

Link building and determining link quality - Search Engine Journal

The role of directories in link building - SEO Moz

Niche Marketing and link building resources – Search Engine Journal

A guide to one-way link building – SEO Theory

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11 comments to “ How to get the most from web directories ”

# 1 Peter has said:
September 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
It’s a well-rounded blog post about web directories.

Thanks for putting them together for submitters!
# 2 Chris has said:
September 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Solid advice here – and if you can’t find niche directories in your dubject area at least always go for ones that have relevant categories or that let you suggest relevant categories.
# 3 Data Entry Services has said:
September 26th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Great article. I will use the info to tweak my link building efforts and thanks!
# 4 Mark has said:
September 26th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Great article, your thoughts on the rel=”nofollow” tag in directories would have been interesting. Some directories that use this still show up in google webmaster tools external links? Is it worth listing if directories use this?
# 5 Dave has said:
September 26th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
@Peter – thanks!

@Chris – most certainly the tighter the targeting the better. I even prefer to look for verticals that are geared towards a given market.

Data Entry Services – strange name.. he he… I am not a huge fan of comments as a link source…

@Mark – well, to be honest if one was targeting low end directories then maybe avoid the NF’d links. But generally it won’t slow me down a lot… A. One may just get some minor traffic B. Some engines still aren’t strict on the NF tags so even from that angle it makes sense.

Also, nofollow doesn’t seem to mean ‘not to follow’ but more ‘not to valuate’… all in all I wouldn’t slow me totally. Likely a situational thing depending on the directory.
# 6 Bloggeries has said:
October 1st, 2008 at 8:28 am
Web directory submission is great for building a solid foundation as you mentioned.

Make sure you REALLY vary your description text and anchor text.

Search for your description in ” ” if it’s the same anywhere on the web it’s no good!

Don’t just copy your description from your site write something totally new and quality over quantity can’t be stressed enough.
# 7 Mount Juliet Golf has said:
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 am
Excellent – I think one problem people make is that they use the same title and keywords when submitting to hundreds of directories instead of changing the keywords within the submission.
Also, adding some rel”nofollow external links to a site the pagerank went from 3/10 to 6/10 in one week.
# 8 jacky has said:
October 20th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Great article, your thoughts on the rel=”nofollow” tag in directories would have been interesting. Some directories that use this still show up in google webmaster tools external links? Is it worth listing if directories use this?

http://www.mobilephone02.com
# 9 List of Free and Paid directories | Search engine optimization has said:
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
[...] we talked about some of the basics of link building in the form of using directories. Today, as promised, are some of the better locales for making submissions and the approved Gypsy [...]
# 10 Wavecrest Ltd has said:
March 18th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Very interesting post. I will bear your tips in mind. Thanks
# 11 Malcolm Evans has said:
May 25th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Good advice. I think your implication is that quality in reasonable qunatity wins over quantity with little thought to quality. I’d agree. We’re getting great results on niche forums, niche directories and in specific seo exchange of relevant information.