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The Benefits of Web Directories

Webmasters and site administrators looking to spread the news about their web sites can share links to their sites with web directories. The directories are monitored by human editors, who comb through the sites submitted to determine the content and quality of submissions before they approve and list them.

TYPES OF WEB DIRECTORIES:

General - General web directories consist of lots of different categories that can be divided up into smaller categories. They will usually include many different kinds of sites, such as business, health, and computers, and are often very large, with new categories being added as new sites are included.

Niche - Niche directories are specialized, leading to them being called specialty directories. They cater to only one category of web sites, including sites for products, services, or a specific theme. This kind of directory can be more useful and less overwhelming than a general directory because there is less information to sort through to get to what you need.

Paid - A paid directory is one that charges a fee in order to review the web site in question and to place it on the directory. There is no guarantee that your web site will be placed on the directory even once your fee is paid, and there are no refunds if it is not. Other paid directories will include any site that pays the fees, which many webmasters prefer because of the speed of inclusion.

Reciprocal - If two websites create a mutual linkage in order to increase traffic between them, then they have set up what is known as a reciprocal directory. These directories require that anyone submitting a site must first place the link for the directory on their site. This does not necessarily guarantee acceptance, however, and some directories are less than legit, adding your site and then secretly removing it later.

Free - Free directories do not require a fee or a back-link, but approval process can take a long time, as the higher the page ranking of the directory, the more traffic and therefore more submissions they get. These can take time to become effective, however they are very useful in that they:

  • Provide your web site with incoming links, reciprocal links, or a combination of the two, increasing your page's ranking
  • Allowing your site to become indexed by the spiders sent out by search engines
  • Driving targeted traffic to your web site - visitors will already know that they are getting the right information because of the directory
  • Get higher rankings for your targeted keywords
  • Help you to increase your page ranks

The higher the page rank of the directory you are submitting to, the more people will see your site and click on your link. Page rank should not be the only factor determining which directories you use, however it is still an important factor. Others include the quality of the other sites, content, and back links. If you were to ignore every page that had no ranking so far, no new web site would ever gain an audience, including your own.

Watch out for:
  • 'No follow' tags that prevent search engines from following your link
  • Use of redirects
  • Removal of reciprocal links to boost their own incoming links
  • Embedded links that search engines cannot follow, like links in Java

Keep all this in mind when submitting to web directories, and you will have a great flow of traffic in no time.

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The Importance of Directory Links

One of the strategies often used by webmasters seeking to boost their page rank is manually submitting links to online directories. Typically, webmasters who manually submit directory links will cut time and effort by ignoring directories with PR0 or low PR value. The common assumption is that those websites will offer little return, and can actually chip away at your PR ranking and your web site's value. Since many search algorithms do take the PR of linked pages into account - the higher ranked are the pages that link to you, the more authority the search engine assigns to your page, and thus, the higher it will rank in the SERPs. However, there are times when submitting your link to a PR0 or low PR directory can pay off big in the future.

Directory sites are typically different than most types of web sites. They are generally maintained by webmasters whose goal is to increase the PR of each page on their site as high as possible. In addition, they typically nest multiple levels, which allows you to position your link in the most advantageous position possible. If you can position a link to your site at or near the top of a relevant directory page that eventually attains a high page ranking, your little bit of effort can reap internet link gold.

There are a number of advantages to the strategy of linking to low PR and PR0 directory pages. First, inclusion in those directories is usually free, especially in the early stages of development when the PR is low. If the site gains in popularity, however, you can bet that that will change. In addition, because low PR sites have less traffic or are new to the internet, it's relatively easy to score a top permanent link placement, where you can reap the potential rewards of that placement when the directory webmaster hits his stride and his site climbs in PR.

So how does a webmaster decide whether or not to submit a link to a PR0 or low PR site? What do you look for to help you decide that this directory is a good place to be linked? Here are a few clues to help your decision along:

  • The reputation of the webmaster. If the directory site is maintained by a webmaster with other successful directory sites, chances are good that this one will also climb up the SERPs
  • Link organization. Since the goal is to attain a top listing, you'll want a site that organizes links on a first-come-first-serve basis, rather than alphabetically.
  • SEO friendliness. Use what you know about SEO. If the site is set up to be SEO friendly, there's a good chance that the webmaster understands his business and his site's popularity will grow with time.
  • Appropriate categories. If a directory has a few categories, but at least one of them is appropriate for your web site listing, it may be worth the link.
  • Your own page rank. If your own site has a PR0 or low PR, it's probably worth the shot to rise on the tide if the directory does well.

How good are the odds? If you submit to 10 directories that are PR0 or low PR, and six of them gain a good page rank that is shared among all their pages, then you'll come out ahead. It's not difficult to gain PR - it's just a matter of collecting good backlinks. If the directory site has a reasonably able webmaster, he'll be working at creating good backlinks as well, since the higher his PR, the more successful his site will be. If you pick and choose carefully, you can ride on his success to increase the PR ranking of your site along with his.



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