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Submitting
your Web Site to Free Directories
by Adrian Kennelly
Submitting your website to the various
online directories is an important part of any Link Popularity
campaign. Whilst your traffic from many directories may be minor or
irrelevant, relevant incoming links to your website will help in
your overall search engine link popularity.
Other than Yahoo!, which is quite frankly beyond the reach of many
smaller websites, paying for your directory submission can be a
waste of money. You can get just as good a result from submitting to
free directories, or those that are free with a reciprocal link. If
the directory is exceptionally good, the cost is low, and your
directory ranking will be improved by paying a fee, do so if you
wish. Personally, I wouldn't recommend you pay for what you can get
free elsewhere.
To start with on your submission campaign, in my opinion it is
better to submit to those directories that will allow you to easily
modify your listing. That way, you can correct mistakes and get your
campaign down pat before submitting to directories that don't allow
you to logon and modify your submission, thus saving yourself from
wasting or reducing in value your efforts in those directories.
What Directories to Submit To
The best are Search Engine Friendly directories (those that actually
have your site URL listed at some point, rather than outlinks that
are simply code). Some will ask for a reciprocal link, some will
not. One list of non-reciprocal directories is at http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly.php.
Opinion at the moment is suggesting that non-reciprocal or one-way
links are better, although any relevant link is useful. Directories
that encode their links are mostly useful for traffic if their Alexa
Ranking is high enough. Directories that do not encode outgoing
links will help your website's Search Engine Ranking.
Deep Linking
It can be worth linking to other pages on your site other than your
main page. Before doing this, make sure that the directory you are
submitting to permits you to both submit URLs other than your home
page (some only allow top level submission), and for the same site
to be submitted to different categories (not all directories permit
what are essentially multiple submissions of the same website). This
will work especially if you have online tools or directories (such
as your links page) on your site that are useful and relevant to add
to other directory categories.
Choose the Relevant Directory Category
Most directories will have many categories you can submit your site
to. Decide on the one that is most relevant, preferably a keyword
that you are aiming for high search engine ranking in, and try to
submit to the same or similar category in every directory, at least
for your main page (also see Deep Linking below). This will increase
the ranking of your site relating to the keyword chosen.
Submit to Different Categories
If the directory allows multiple submissions, and your website is
relevant in several categories, submit to all the relevant
categories you can. This will increase the number of incoming links
to your website. Again, carefully check the terms of any directory
before trying this to make sure it is permitted.
Write Title
Write the title for your website. Try to include a keyword you are
aiming for ranking in in the title, but make the use of it
appropriate, don't just bang a keyword in for the sake of it; you
could get your site submission rejected.
Write Description
Describe your website in a way that will attract visitors. The
length of your description will vary from directory to directory,
but most will be under 250 characters. Some will allow up to 1,000
characters, and in those cases write the most comprehensive
description of your site and its features that you can. It is a good
idea to write several descriptions of different lengths, say from
under 50 characters for a brief overview, to around 150 characters
for a fuller description, up to 250 characters for a yet more
comprehensive listing, and finally a full description as previously
mentioned for over 250 characters. Keep your listing pertinent to
your website, insert keywords where relevant and appropriate, but do
not just submit a keyword listing, as most directories will reject
your submission. Save all your descriptions in a text file, and just
copy & paste into the descriptions boxes when needed rather than
typing the same descriptions out again and again.
Choose Keywords
Again, as with the description mentioned above, the amount of
keywords you can use will vary from directory to directory. Some
will not give the option, some will allow you numbers of keywords,
whilst others go by numbers of characters. Make a list of all
relevant keywords for your site, from most important to least, and
basically keep adding keywords until either you get to the bottom of
your list (unlikely unless your list is really short) or you run out
allowed characters/keywords. Check what keywords your competitors
are going for if you need inspiration. This can often be done by
viewing the source of a web page and checking the META tags. Again,
save your keywords to a text file.
Keep Track of Your Progress
Keep a careful record of what directories you have submitted to, and
your progress. It is far too easy to totally lose track of what you
are doing, which does not help your linking campaign at all. The
best way is by using a spreadsheet, such as Excel, to keep track of
your campaign. At a minimum, you need to keep track of the
following: Directory URL, Directory Name, Date Submitted, User Login
& Password for those directories that allow you to alter your
details and Response (accepted/declined). Other categories can
include: Directory Alexa Ranking, Directory Page Rank (this will be
for the home page only), Referral URL (if the directory will improve
your ranking for referring visitors) and any Notes. If you are using
the deep linking and multiple submissions strategies above, also
keep track of what other pages you have submitted to each directory.
Make a seperate entry for each URL submitted. For example, your
spreadsheet columns could go as follows: Directory Name, Directory
URL, URL Submitted, Referral URL, Login, Password, Alexa Ranking,
Page Rank, Date Submitted, Response. I would advise keeping the list
in alphabetical order, rather than order submitted, as that way you
can check more easily whether or not you have submitted to a
particular directory.
About the Author
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