Search Engine Optimization

Are you wondering whether directory submission is an outdated practice?  With the rising costs of directory submission and the falling quality of directories, webmasters have to be cautious about how they approach directory submission.  That’s not to say, however, that directory submission doesn’t hold value.  Directory submission is still a highly effective off-page SEO tactic and traffic-building technique, but you have to know how to utilize it correctly.

What to Look for (And What to Avoid) in a Directory

Make sure that you choose reputable directories that are selective about the sites they allow to be submitted.  Furthermore, select a directory that suits your needs in order to achieve the best results.  For example, if you are trying to improve a blog’s ranking, your best bet would be to submit it to blog directories.  Other types of directories out there include general, niche, article, podcast, and regional directories.

A bad directory that’s not worth submitting to typically has tons of categories with few listings.  Furthermore, a directory is not worth your time if it receives little traffic, has a low page rank, and/or has very little content.  It’s also important to determine whether or not a directory’s interior category pages are indexed by the search engines because if they aren’t, no link juice will be passed to your site.

Another factor you ought to consider is how many links each category page of a directory contains.  The more links there are on the page, the less link juice your site gets.  For example, if there are 300 links on a page, it means that you have to share the link juice with 299 other sites.

What’s the Deal with Directories that Use the NOFOLLOW Attribute?

If a directory adds the NOFOLLOW attribute to its listings, it’s not going to help you improve your site’s search engine rankings.  However, submitting your site to a directory that uses the NOFOLLOW attribute is worthwhile if the directory has the potential to send traffic to your site. Typically, niche directories send a good amount of traffic to the sites they list because their category pages have good search engine visibility.

Don’t Be Repetitive

Once you determine which directories you’d like to submit your site to, figure out which anchor text and descriptions you’ll use.  Don’t use the same anchor text on every directory submission because the search engines do not appreciate duplicate content.

Some Recommended Directories

-DMOZ
-Yahoo
-Business.com
-JoeAnt
-Uncover the Net
-AroundTheWeb

Remember: directories are constantly evolving.  A good link today may be worthless tomorrow.  If you’re paying for a directory listing, it’s advisable to get a yearly package so you can scope out the situation every year.

Conclusion

Mass directory submission is no longer useful, but you can still get a lot of value out of submitting your site to the right directories.  Take all of the above factors into consideration and make the effort to find quality directories in order to make directory submission a worthwhile endeavor.