Submitting Your Site to Web Directories

By Dave S.

One of the most important steps in creating and maintaining your new (or existing) website is getting an increasingly larger amount of visitors each day/week/month. This is not so much a step as it is an ongoing process that should never really end. There are many ways to increase the exposure of your web site. One of these is getting listed in web directories.

A directory is basically a giant, categorized, and usually searchable website that links to hundreds or thousands of other sites on the internet. This article focuses on entire sites that are web directories, not links pages or directories that are created as part of another site. There are general web directories that try to emulate dmoz.org or yahoo's directory and contain every category imaginable. There are also many niche directories that focus on only one area, such as a directory that lists different types of golf websites, or a pet directory, or a work at home mom directory. There are literally thousands of them out there. A GOOD directory will help web surfers find what they are looking for and contain many quality links in each category. In addition to all of the good directories around, there are also many that should be avoided, and are not worth your time.

Why do I want to list my site in directories?

It's simple. In general terms, the more quality links you have pointing to your site, the better off you are. You will get some visitors to your site from the directory, but more importantly, search engines will see more links to your site. More links to your site can help increase your rankings in the search engines (that is another article). In addition, it will help increase your pagerank. In my opinion, pagerank really doesn't mean a lot anymore BUT it still has its uses. Many people believe that pagerank is extremely important and that if a site does not have high pagerank then it is not worth linking to. You want your site to have high page rank so that you can more easily make link exchanges with other related sites (also another article).

How do I know which directories are good and which are bad?

There are a number of ways you can tell whether or not you should be spending your time submitting to a particular directory.

1. Are they indexed with Google? One way to tell this is by simply looking at the Google pagerank of their site (you will need the Google toolbar installed in your browser). You can also go to Google and type the following in the search field: "site:www.directoryurl.com" without the quotes, and replacing directoryurl.com with the actual domain of the directory. If nothing comes up they are either a brand new directory, or they have been banned from Google. Stay away!
2. Do they charge to get listed in their directory? A lot of directories do charge for a listing, but there are some that are worth paying for in my opinion. If the directory has no links or very very few links in their category pages, and low page rank, yet they are still charging for a submission, I would not bother with them. If you are getting a direct link to your site (see below) on a page that has high pagerank, and if their fees are within your budget, and they are not asking for a reciprocal link, then it is worth it to submit to a few of these. High quality one-way links to your site can be valuable. DON'T go overboard and break the bank submitting to every paid directory you can find. It's not worth it! Select a few of the better known, high quality ones and get listed. You will see a nice boost in your pagerank the next time Google updates.
   
   Some directories do not charge to submit your site, but ask for a reciprocal link instead. As long as they are indexed in the search engines, and follow the rules you are about to read below, then these are GREAT places to submit as well - and they don't cost you anything!
3. How do they link to your site? Are they "SEO Friendly"? This (along with making sure they are not banned from search engines) is one of the most important factors in choosing directories to submit your site you. Take a look at some of the sites that are already listed in the directory. What you want to see is the directory linking directly to their site using their site title (or other keywords). If the directory uses a php or cgi script to redirect to their site, run away! If they link the site listing to another page on their directory that is set up just for that listing, which THEN links to their site, this is also not good. Here is an example to make it more clear:


Let's say you are looking at a listing for Widgets R Us and their URL is http://www.widgetsrus.com

If the directory has "Widgets R Us" linked directly to http://www.widgetsrus.com then that is GOOD! That is exactly what you are hoping to see.

If the directory has "Widgets R Us" linked to something like http://www.directory.com/redirect.php?site=widgetsrus or anything that is not the actual widgetsrus.com URL then just move on - don't waste your time. Your site won't get any of the benefits of the reciprocal link.

If the directory has "Widgets R Us" linked to another page like http://www.directory.com/widgetsrus.html which then contains a link to http://www.widgetsrus.com on that page, again, move on.
4. Do they have a category that is related to your site? It is important to have your site listed on a page that is related to the content of your site. Listing a site about cooking on a page full of real estate listings doesn't do you much good at all. Even better than a related category page is to find a few niche directories that are related to your site.

To summarize, submitting your site to web directories is a great way to boost the exposure of your site if you make sure you are submitting to quality directories and avoid the bad ones. Your page rank will increase which will, in turn, make it easier for you to create link exchanges with other related sites. It can also help to boost your rankings in the search engines, and can even get you indexed in a few that you were not indexed in before.

Check out our listing of directories to submit your site to here. This is not an exhaustive list, but we are adding more great directories as we find them.