Plain and simple, most link building activities are a pain in the ass. While there is some satisfaction when you’re successful, the process can be pretty repetitive. Submitting to directories is one link building technique that is especially lame. While I think there is some value in it, I don’t spend too much time doing it because it’s just not very effective in helping your rankings.
That being said, here’s what you need to know:
1. Major directories – Two directories that every serious online business need to be a part of are DMOZ (http://www.dmoz.org) and the Yahoo Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com/). DMOZ is a free, human-edited directory that is by far the most legitimate directory on the web. You can go there and submit your site, but don’t hold your breath. DMOZ has been know to take weeks, errr, months, errr, years, errr, forever to get your website listed in. It’s still worth the five minutes it takes to submit your site for the potential SEO benefit down the road. The Yahoo directory will cost you $300 per year but will pretty much ensure that your website is indexed by the major search engines in a short amount of time. Additionally, it will look good on your SEO resume.
2. Secondary directories – There are literally thousands of ‘other’ directories out there. So how do you know which ones to submit to? Simple, do a Google search for website directories and start clicking away. Many directories will list your website for free and many will ask you for just a little money. With the exception of the Yahoo directory, I wouldn’t pay another penny for a directory listing. While at the beginning you may be a little desperate for links, you’ll realize in the long run that second rate directories aren’t worth paying for. If you want to buy links, there are better links to buy (more on that later).
3. Niche website directories – Whatever your business, there are niche directories for you. If you run a surfing website, you’ll find a slew of surfing website directories. If you run a knitting website, the same will be true. I tend to think it more logical to find and submit to niche and specialty websites than the general directories I talked about in #2 above. To find niche directories, try searching good for terms related to your website and tack on a inurl:directory in Google. If I was searching for surf directories, it would look like this:
The inurl command in Google is a useful one. There are also several other Google search commands.
As you dig through the masses of directories, you’ll probably question whether you’re doing yourself any good. The answer might be yes but is probably is no. I tend to spend very little time looking through directories because I think there are more effective ways to build links. If anything, I focus on the niche directories because they are at least topical.
Since I do actually spend some time doing it, I felt obligated to write about it. If you’re the type of guy or gal who would rather focus on more effective techniques, submit to DMOZ, pay for Yahoo, find a couple niche directories and be on your way.
Leave a Reply