DIRECTORY SUBMISSION PAID DIRECTORIES RECIPROCAL DIRECTORIS

Web directories are a brave attempt to create a human-maintained taxonomy or classification of the entire web and their numbers have grown dramatically over the last four or five years. By contrast to reciprocal linking, very few search engine marketers would dare suggest that directory submissions are a waste of time. However, it is important to be focused. I tend to group directories into five categories. One directory may, in fact, fit into more than one category (and most do). Directories may
also evolve over time, moving from one category to another. However, the categorization is useful nonetheless:
- Paid directories, which charge webmasters to list their sites or carry their pay-per-click adverts, either on a one-off basis or using a recurring monthly or annual fee. An example is business.com, one of the oldest and best-established directories on the web. Reciprocal directories, which will list sites but only in exchange
for a reciprocal backlink (typically to the homepage of the directory and using keyword-rich anchor text).
- Free directories, which are prepared to list your site for free (although typically after quite a long wait; people tend to like doing things for free and there is often a long submission queue).
- Bidding directories, a relatively new type of directory service, where webmasters bid against each other to maintain key positions in the directory for their chosen keywords.
- Deep link directories (whether paid, reciprocal, bidding, or free), which are prepared to list one or more deep links direct to the inner pages of your website. As I have said, many directories fall into more than one category. For example, some will offer a free submission service (with a long queue), a free reciprocal service (with a shorter queue), and a paid expressreview service (with a 12–24-hour guaranteed turnaround). You may also come across the term “niche directory.” This describes a directory focused on a particular industry or interest (for example the UK Wedding Directory at www.uk-wedding-directory.com). Niche directories are increasingly popular, following Google’s increased emphasis on link relevance, and should definitely be on your shopping list. The key point about directory services, whatever their type, is that they are in the business of creating anchor-rich links to sites like yours, from category pages full of sites relevant to your industry. Some sites are given much authority by Google, with a PR8 for the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org) and Yahoo! Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com). Before I consider each directory category more closely, I would like to outline a few general recommendations for directory submission:
- Create both a long (60–70 words) and a short (30–40 words) description of your site and put them in a text file on your desktop that you can easily copy and paste from. This should be similar to what you came up with for your meta-description tag (see page 103) and should be sensibly loaded with your best keywords.
The longer description is to cater for directories that set a minimum for the length of the description field. 144 Landing the links
- You may wish to create a number of variants of these descriptions to provide variety and help with future tracking of your submissions.
- Create a keyword list of your site-wide keywords and put that in the same text file as your descriptions. Some directories will ask you for a keyword list, so it is good to have this to hand. If the directory you are submitting to does not provide instructions to the contrary, separate each phrase with a comma and no space.
- Place a list of your reciprocal link page URLs into the text file.
When you do reciprocal directory submissions, you will again need to copy and paste these into input boxes in the directory submission form.
- Pay close attention to the style and submission guide for each directory, adjusting your description and link text where necessary. For example, some directories require you to use the name of your business in the link text. If you have chosen a keywordrich domain, this will make this rule more bearable.
- If you do not already have one, create a business PayPal account. Many paid directories use PayPal as their payment method of choice, so you will find it difficult to avoid. Try to load up your PayPal account with your budget in advance, so you can more readily keep a track on what you spend in your campaign
Paid directories
Paid submissions are often better value than they look and are typically more reliable than any other type of submission. Most of the directories of greatest importance to your rankings are paid only. For this reason, I recommend taking a deep breath before you start and considering your budget. In a regular offline business, you might happily spend up to $1,500 a year or more for Yellow Pages listings. You might cough up a similar sum for a single full-page newspaper advertisement. If your budget runs to radio advertising or cable television, you will be accustomed to laying out even bigger amounts. You might also spend several hundred dollars a month already on paid web advertising. Why is it, then, that I find so many of my clients reluctant to spend out on directory submissions? After all, most paid submissions are for a
one-off fee that then delivers value almost into perpetuity. A newspaper or magazine ad has a shelf life of a month at most. The upside is the very fact that so many eople share this reluctance – it gives you an edge. If you are prepared to put aside $4,000 or so for paid listings (and approximately $1,000 per year after that), it may well be the best advertising money you have ever spent. So set a budget (whatever you can afford) and stick to it. The directory sites listed overleaf are the top 20 best to get started on, as they share high PageRank, established domains, and a respected submission standard, backed by thorough human editing of results. Unless therwise
noted the costs are on a one-time basis. Of the paid directories Yahoo! is by far the most important (and has a price tag to match). Obtaining a listing in Yahoo! can mean up to 20 different links to your site from the different local instances of the directory around the world. All of these pages have a decent PageRank, so you are getting real value for money. Yahoo! editors are known for their editorial zeal, so you can expect your final listing to differ somewhat from your submission. However, in my experience they are very willing to listen and tweak the listing if you can be persuasive and present a good argument for why they should. Missing out on a Yahoo! listing to save money is a false economy.
Reciprocal directories
The most important factor to look for in reciprocal directories is their reliability. The last thing you want to do is create lots of outbound links from your site that are not quickly and properly reciprocated by the directory owner.