Healthy Link Building – Link Directories
Posted : 02/6/10 3:44 AM
Hello and welcome to our second post in our Healthy Link Building series. In this post we’re going to take a good hard look at one of the most popular, one of the most abused, and one of the most misunderstood methods on building links. This method is submitting your link to online link directories. But before we get in to the do’s, dont’s, and questions about submitting to link directories lets look at what exactly a link directory is and learn a little about their history.
Directories have been around on the Internet for a long, long time. In fact, before search engines they were the primary way of finding what you were looking for on the Internet. Similar to a phone book, an online link directory contains listings organized by some manner with each listing containing a description and contact information. And just like phone books, a link directories primary purpose is to help someone find the information they are looking for.
When submitting to link directories you must keep the primary purpose of a link directory in mind. You don’t want to submit your link to directories where no one is going to find your link right? So how do you decide what directories you should submit to and which ones you should pass on?
1. Look at how the link directory is constructed. Is it eye appealing? Is it easy to find what you’re looking for? Would you use this link directory for anything other than submitting your link? These are all important questions to ask yourself. You want to submit your link to directories that are easy to navigate.
2. How visible is this link directory? Is it easy to find on the Internet? What’s the directories Alexa Rank and Page Rank? Where does it rank in the SERPS ( Search Engine Results Page ) on the major search engines ( Yahoo, Google, and Bing ). Where did you find this link directory? You want to submit your link to active directories with high visibility and regular traffic.
3. Does the link directory have a category that fits your website? Submitting your site in the proper category is crucial. Not only will it be easier for people to find your site if it’s in the proper category, but the search engines will also associate your website with the name of the category influencing what keywords you will rank for.
4. Are any of your competitors websites found in this directory? Are they getting any traffic from the directory? You want to submit to link directories that will send you direct targeted traffic. Don’t worry about what the link directory can do to get your site ranked higher in the SERPS because if the link directory is sending you targeted traffic you’re completing your end goal any way. Plus in general if the directory is sending you quality regular traffic chances are the increase in the SERPS will soon follow. If you’re not sure how to find out if your competitors are getting traffic from the directory simply ask them. It may seem nerve racking but 9 times out of 10 a webmaster ( competitor or not ) doesn’t have a problem giving you some information about a link directory.
So now you have a good idea on what types of link directories you should submit your site to. Before I end this post I leave you a small list of some of the best directories. Some are paid, others are free, and all of them have something unique to offer. In our next post we’ll be discussing another popular link building strategy. Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments.
1. DMOZ ( Open Directory Project ) – This directory is free, human edited, and can be very difficult to get in to.
2. Yahoo Directory – Arguably the best link directory on the Internet the Yahoo Directory will bring your website quality traffic and help you in the SERPS. However, it is a little pricey.
3. Best Of The Web – Best of the web is a great paid, human edited link directory that can really help your site get noticed on the web.
4. Search Sight – Some say that this is a search engine but it’s really a link directory with a search bar. Search Sight can really help you get some high quality traffic to your site.
5. Business.com – This is a great directory for B2B traffic. However, just like the Yahoo directory it is a little pricey.
Just wanted to say that you have some awesome content on your blog. If it’s allowed I would like to use some of the information you provided on my website. So my question is if I link back to this page do I have your permission to do so?
Thank you web directory. I’m glad to hear you are finding our blog beneficial. And the answer to your question is yes, you may use the content found on this blog on your website. At MR Web Design we’re about more than just building websites, we’re about education and growth. If you feel you can use this information to provide a better experience for your websites viewers than you are more than welcome to do so. However, although you are not required to do so we ask that you give credit where credit is due, and you can do so by linking to our website or this blog post.
Never really thought of online directories like offline directories but you’re right. Great article. I’ll be bookmarking it for sure!
Excellent! I’ve shared this already!
Hello,
Interesting, did you plan to continue this article?
This is a great post. I found your site very informative. Backlinks are very good in terms of SEO.ALways consider quality and good backlinks when doing link building. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hello just came across your blog and have been reading some of your entries and just wondering why you selected a WordPress site, dont you find it difficult to do anything with?
What is the best way to get on the first page of GOOGLE?I owned few domains, fully developed but not showing on SERPs.Please advise.
What a relief to locate a blog post that’s finally really worth reading through! I’ve been seeking about about this topic yet folks just set trash posts, or small unreadable posts. I have viewed a couple vids on youtube but it is now the same as reading through a good article. Great job! Sorry for my crooked english.
strange this post is totaly irrelevant to the search query I entered in google but it was listed on the first page.
Hello, this is really interesting. Can you show me additional resources to read more ??
Thanks for the interesting post
I want to thank the blogger very much not only for this articles but also for his all previous efforts. I found http://mr-web-design.com/blog/healthy-link-building-link-directories/ to be greatly interesting. I will be coming back for more articles. Have a Excellent day!
Hi, Good content throughout the site. This page iswhere I got the most useful information for my research. Thanks for posting, maybe we can see more on this. Are you aware of any other websites on this subject
Hi just stumbled your site and i thank you for your article it was informative. I am curious about doing link building for my website too. Have you used the scrapebox.com program? If so is it good? If not then what is the best program? Thank you.
very sweet post
Thanks for this post, it is great
Hello. I just now realized that your site seems like it has a few code problems around the very bottom of your website’s page. I don’t know if absolutely everyone is getting this exact same problem when exploring your site? I will be utilizing a totally different web browser than most people, known as Opera, so that is what could be causing it? I just wanted to make sure you know. Thanks for posting some great postings and I’ll try to return back with a very different browser to check things out!
Just had a look at the site using Opera’s latest edition ( 10.51 ) and didn’t notice any errors. I’m not sure what you were experiencing but thank you for your comment.
I found your site via yahoo thanks for the post. I will save it for future reference. Thanks
Yeah really nice blog
I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds :-p
Hi, I found your blog on msn. I’m pretty glad to have found your website because I think it is interesting! I will definitely come back! Great resource for my students.
You’re right on the money with this post, keep it up!
thanks !! very helpful post!
Thanks for the post!
Yahoo back links, having .GOV and .EDU backlinks is a good method to diversify your latest backlink creating system. Receiving .GOV and .EDU backlinks is a superb strategy to diversify your latest backlink making method as well as give your web page a solid raise in search engine optimization rankings as these include really potent and large authority one-way links. I believed I’d just give a short information in order to discover these unusual and potent backlinks. The initial factor to complete is always to load up Yahoo; we’re about to use selected parameters to sort to the websites we want.
Just finished reading your post… great work. Hope your next post will be posted soon!!
After reading Your ideas is very good on your Blog. I bookmark it. ty for posting this good information
I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.. Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success in your business.