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The Ultimate Guide to Directory Submissions
By David Eaves (c) 2008

Submitting to directories is a great way to build links and
increase your search engine rankings. In semi-competitive
industries it can produce great results. If you add article
creation and social media marketing into the link building
equation then you can achieve great results for any industry.

The Ultimate Guide to Directory Submissions

Free or Paid Directories?

When choosing directories going for the paid ones can be better,
mainly because the links seem to last a lot longer. Many of the
free directories seem to disappear or delete links after a year
or so. However, there are a few free directories out there that
should always be used - directories that have stood the test of
time.

Niche or General Directories?

Submitting to a combination of both niche and general directories
is usually a good idea.

For most industries there are a variety of niche directories out
there - the best way to find them is through a search engine. Do
a search on Google, MSN or Yahoo for directories in your niche
area - those that come up in the first few pages of results are
usually the best ones to use.

With general directories it's better to go for those that are
more established. The older a directory is, the better.

PageRank - Does It Still Matter?

Because directories are generally quite large, they need a
certain amount of PageRank to get all of their pages indexed
properly. However a high PageRank isn't the be-all and end-all.
Google's recent crackdown on directories
(http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/09/06/
is-google-hitting-directory-links) has made visible PageRank
even more irrelevant when it comes to choosing directories.
There are directories out there that have no PageRank whatsoever
that can offer value.

If a directory is ranking well in the search engines then you
can rest assured that it has enough PageRank. If you're unsure
then check how many links it has via Yahoo! Site Explorer
(http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/) or another link
popularity checker.

Anchor Text

It's always best to get the main search phrases that you are
targeting in the links to your site. However this isn't always
possible and unfortunately many of the best directories won't
let you do this. Sometimes you can get around this problem by
slipping in a search phrase at the end of your company name.

Before submitting, have a good look around a directory and get
a feel for what you can and can't get away with. Some directory
owners will let you use a search phrase on its own, whereas
others are very strict and will only use your business/website
name. In between you have those where you might just be able to
slip a search phrase in.

Doing your homework comes in handy - if you try to use a search
phrase on its own and they change it to your business/website
name then it's very unlikely you'll be able to get them to change
it to your website name with a search phrase at the end. If
you'd submitted it like that in the first place you may have got
away with it.

Always try to get one of your search phrases in and vary the
anchor text as much as possible - this will appear more natural
to the search engines.

Varying Your Description

Many directories will provide you with your own page about your
business. If you have the same description on every page across
different directory websites, then many of these will be seen as
duplicate content by the search engines and your links will get
devalued.

To avoid this, write a unique and substantial description for
every single directory (200+ characters works best). Make sure
the descriptions accurately mirror your products and services
and that they read well.

Deep Linking

Many directories allow you to add extra links directly to
internal pages of your website. You should take turns in linking
to different pages of your website using different variations of
the phrases you're targeting on each page. Using the same anchor
text to link to the same page over and over again will appear
unnatural to the search engines and this could work against you.

How Many Directories Should You Submit To?

There's no fixed number of directories that you should get
listed in. Work out a 12 month directory submission budget for
each site and then do so many each week or month for the full
duration.

When you're building links to your site via directories or any
other method, you should do it over time. Submitting to 100
directories in a week and then forgetting about it won't be as
effective as spreading the 100 directory submissions over a 3
month period.

The Top 10 Directories

Finally, here's a list of the top free and paid general
directories to get you started.

5 of the best free directories include:

    * Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org/)
    * World Site Index (http://www.worldsiteindex.com/)
    * Domaining.in (http://www.domaining.in/)
    * Web World (http://www.webworldindex.com/)
    * Search Sight (http://www.searchsight.com/)

5 of the best paid directories include:

    * Yahoo! Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com/)
    * Best of the Web (http://botw.org/)
    * Business.com (http://www.business.com/)
    * Aviva (http://www.avivadirectory.com/)
    * Ezilon (http://www.ezilon.com/)
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David Eaves has been working in the search engine optimisation
(http://www.seoco.co.uk/) industry for the last 5 years. More of
his articles can be found at his SEO blog (http://www.seoco.co.uk/blog/).
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