Submitting Your Website To Web Directories

Strategies For Submitting Your Website To Web Directories

Webmasters like you and me are always on the lookout to enhance the link popularity of their sites. One method of doing so is to seek out authority sites in your niche – sites that are widely known on the Internet (through the sheer number of back links) and have been around for some time (think more in terms of several years). Unfortunately, such websites are often at a Page Rank of 6+ and as such, link exchange or text link ad placement is very, very expensive.

Luckily, there is a cheaper alternative. You can use web directories to not only enhance your Search Engine Marketing (through increased link popularity), but by targeting niche categories and using sponsored listings where necessary, you can get a big jump in your traffic as well.
So, let's get started.

What is a Web Directory?

A web directory is a collection of links broken down into relevant categories. Think Yahoo! and their directory, the Open Directory Project or even the Google Directory (which, incidentally, is pulled from the ODP). At its most basic level, a web directory is a collection of bookmarks made available to the public. In other cases, like Yahoo, it is a professional resource for people actively looking for information.

To get listed in such a directory, you can either get listed for free (which might take a while), or in many cases, pay a one-time fee to have your website reviewed and entered in the directory. One major exception is Yahoo, which charges a recurring fee for its commercial listings, and we'll look at that later.

The Benefits of Being Listed in a Web Directory

In theory, there are two main benefits of being listed in a web directory:

• Increased link-popularity due to a one-way link from a highly-respected resource.
• Increased traffic due to being listed in a directory that is searched by many people every day.

In reality though, these benefits are directly related to how popular the directory is itself, and how much money you have paid for your listing. Of course, if the link is for free, there is nothing to worry about.

But if you are paying for submission, you need to know some very important facts.

Link Popularity
As far as link-popularity is concerned, you need to factor in several variables:
- The Page Rank of the directory- The Page Rank of the category page on which you are listed- Where you are listed on the page- The number of competing websites on that page- If there are other websites in your niche that can offer you the same conditions for the same price or less (very, very important).

The last point is very important from the cost/benefit angle. A web directory, while being a hub itself, is NOT a niche website or an authority site. Even within categories and sub-categories, the lack of valuable content means that web directories are, at the end of the day, link pages and nothing more.

Where directories win out is the fact that they require one-time fees. In contrast, authority sites (or most websites with a Page Rank greater than 5 or 6) tend to use text links as a source of revenue, and thus charge monthly fees. A directory listing then becomes a much better option (but only for link popularity).

More Traffic
Directory listings are also used as traffic building opportunities. How this works is that many directories are searchable for their visitors, so that users can look for information. In theory this is great – you can get lifetime traffic for just a nominal payment, but you should not expect a sudden deluge of traffic from just one directory listing. Here's why:

Most directories, apart from the top twenty or so, are usually used for link-building and not pure searching. This means that while people may use GoGuides or Yahoo for regular searches, you should expect that the smaller directories are mainly for link-popularity, and plan your investment as such.

Many directories offer listings based on an alphabetical ordering, or a first-come, first-serve ordering. In both cases, your website has quite a big chance of being lost out in the noise.

Directory-search algorithms differ greatly. Some directories, like JoeAnt, base their search on keyword relevancy (which makes it more of an exercise of stuffing your directory listing with keywords rather than making a good website), while others take a more "editorial" approach by factoring in editor ratings. And still, many directories display sponsored listings first, reinforcing the adage that even on the Internet, it's your advertising budget that talks, and not necessarily the quality of your website.

After you factor in the above points, you realize that there are only a handful of web directories where it is a definite benefit to "pay" to be listed. And even then, you cannot just rely on just being listed – sponsor listings get much more exposure. But before we discuss these dozen or so web directories, I'd like to tell you how you can make sure your website is accepted.

How To Get Listed – An Overview

Getting listed in a web directory is a function of three things:

Time
It takes a certain amount of time before an editor can review your website and approve (or reject) your request. This is usually anywhere between a week to almost never (in huge web directories like Yahoo and Dmoz). You can reduce this to within a week by using the paid listing option.

Money
Apart from Dmoz, the big directories usually require a nominal payment for your website to be listed. While you can calculate the benefit of such a listing from reading the previous section, know that usually there are several listing options, which for the better services (that give your website more directory visibility) obviously cost more.

Quality
In some cases (very rarely nowadays), directory inclusions can be rejected due to the poor quality of a website. Maybe the editor considered that your website was not 'useful' enough (meaning it had little or no useful / original / any content), or sometimes, there may be moral issues (although editors are urged to abide by directory guidelines and not personal beliefs). If rejected, you will almost always receive feedback (you might have to ask for it) on how to improve your website.

In earlier days, quality was a big issue. Today, it is still a major concern for top directories like Yahoo, but this is more to separate the truly atrocious from the rest rather than to separate the best from the rest.

Each web directory has their personalized criteria, but there are two crucial elements to getting listed:

Paid Inclusions – Apart from Dmoz, and some directories where you can sign-up to be an editor, the top directories require payment – anywhere from $15 to $299.

Website Quality – By this I don't mean design; I'm talking about having truly useful information – even if your website is a commercial website, simply putting up a bunch of affiliate links will not count as a quality website.

The Big Guns
Yahoo and Dmoz are the two biggest directories on the Internet, and it's only fair that I talk about how to get listed on them individually.

Yahoo

A listing in Yahoo's directory has direct benefits:

Google – and perhaps other search engines as well – give your website an added importance if your website is listed in the Yahoo directory.

Yahoo is the portal of choice for millions of users. This makes your potential target market at least in the hundreds of thousands, even for obscure niches.

To get listed in the Yahoo directory, you have to access Yahoo Directory Submit and work from there. You will be required to open a Yahoo account, if you don't have one already. The review process will cost $299, and is no guarantee that your website will be listed.

However, if you have a useful website, and follow the guidelines detailed by Yahoo, there is no reason for your website to be rejected.

The Open Directory Project
Dmoz, or the open directory project, is a directory that rivals the reach of Yahoo. Why? Because directories like the Google Directory and many others are powered by the results from Dmoz. This gives a listing in the ODP a very high premium.

However, because a listing in Dmoz is essentially free, there is very little you can do about the time factor. Many websites that are submitted are never indexed, and that happens mainly due to a lack of time.

On the other hand, quality websites that are added into their relevant categories are almost always accepted, so make sure you follow their guidelines.

Instructions for submitting the Open Directory Project can be found here: http://www.dmoz.org/add.html.

Resources

Getting listed in Yahoo and Dmoz is the bare minimum for any website looking to establish themselves at the top of their niche. And if you're looking to move beyond the big two and move on to second-tier directories, here's a quick list.

Directories

Editorial Note: The author failed to provide links to the directories below so we took the liberty of adding them. Hopefully, we got them right.

Find Web Designers - multiple paid options
Portal Boost Directory - non-profit website – free, commercial website - $15
Around The Web - $15
Index Unlimited - multiple paid options from free to $99.
GoGuides - $39.99 or $69.95
Data Spear - $39.99
This Is Our Year - $19.95
Browse8 - $35
Uncover The Net - Multiple paid options, $39 one-time to $29/month
Rubber Stamped - $25
Joe Ant - $39.99
Best Of The Web - $39.95
Premier Directory - Free

Directories of Directories
In addition, there are several directories that are focused completely on directories (you can find similar listings by looking through Yahoo or Dmoz).

Directory Archives
Complete Planet

A directory listing is, in most cases, useful only for the link popularity. In such scenarios, if you can find better deals on authority sites in your niche, then you should go for them. However, a directory listing is cheaper (one-time versus monthly payment), and with the big directories like Yahoo, Dmoz and GoGuides, it can also bring you reasonable traffic.

As always, remember that directory listings form a small part of your overall online marketing strategy. If you don't have the budget for a Yahoo listing, don't sweat it – focus on other forms of marketing, and come back to it when you can afford it. Directory listings are important, but only when you are looking to squeeze every possible drop of search engine placement out of your links and your website.

- By Brad M. Callen (c) 2005. Get your free guide on getting top search engine rankings! http://www.seoelite.com/7DaysToMassiveWebsiteTraffic.htm

Google and Jagger's Aftermath

Google and Jagger's Aftermath

Starting somewhere between September 22 and November 17, 2005, Google launched a major update to their search algorithm which shook up the search engine optimization (SEO) community and millions of website rankings. The update has been named Jagger and is apparently finished.

The keywords that people used to find your site within Google may not be producing as many visits any more because the Jagger changes caused your rankings to plummet. Of course many people have seen their rankings stay the same or improve in Jagger's aftermath too.
If your site's rankings have decreased, what can be done to get back to where you were or better in the post-Jagger Google world?

There are still a lot of questions to be sure, but there are some good beginnings of answers as well. Since this update was rolled out over months and in three distinct phases, it has been much more difficult to determine what factors have been given more or less weight.

For instance, IBL (inbound links to your site) have always been important to achieve high rankings in Google. But, there are many different kinds of IBL's. Link trades, where you put my link on your site and I put your link on my site may be less valuable than a one-way link. This has been the case for a while, but is the importance of each changed now since Jagger? Probably. I don't know all the answers, and I don't think anyone knows all the answers save the people at the 'plex (short for Google-plex).

What are some theories? Here are some of the top ones, but I am not saying they are necessarily true or false. And, this is not a full list; there are most likely numerous other factors that affect Google rankings after Jagger that no one has recognized at all yet. The following list consists of ideas I have read online, which I spend hours each day doing, or that are the result of some of our own hard-earned observations using the large number of clients' websites in many different industries to learn from. Read the following with a grain of salt, which is always a good idea when reading any articles or forum posts about SEO or Jagger.

Things That Could Possibly HELP You More In Jagger's Aftermath

1. Aged Domains - Sites with domains that are older rank better now - the older the domain, the better its rankings with all other things being equal. (This is probably true to some degree).
2. Very Relevant Links - IBL (inbound links) and OBL (outbound links) relevancy is more important after Jagger. This means that if you point to related sites or you get links from other sites that are related to your website, you may rank better after Jagger with all other things being equal. (This is probably true to some degree as well).
3. Links From Trusted Sites Help - TrustRank (or a similar concept) is more important than ever after Jagger. TrustRank is a concept that says if you get a link pointing to your site that is highly trusted by Google (trusted either programatically or by human editors), then you will rank better with all other things being equal. (See http://www.vldb.org/conf/2004/RS15P3.PDF.
4. Variety of Links - Links from .edu and .org websites are good for increasing your rankings and are more important than ever. (It's vital to get links form a wide variety of websites. Just like your investing, you need to diversify your IBL's. (This has probably been true even before Jagger).
5. Aged Links - The older the link that points to your site, the more weight it's given now. (This also has probably been true even before Jagger).
6. Embedded Links - Links that are embedded in sentences and paragraphs instead of stand-alone links are weighted more heavily now. (This may be true soon if not already).
7. Article Links - Articles are what directories had been a year or two ago for link building. Links from the author by-line or within the article that point back to your site will positively affect your rankings. (And this is one reason I've chosen to write this article).
8. Fresh & Unique Content - Now, more than ever, regularly updated and added ordinal content will help your rankings. (This is almost definitely true.)
9. Be a Big Guy - If you are a big behemoth site like Wikipedia, Yahoo, AOL, Ebay, Amazon, etc., you will rank better than you did before Jagger.
10. High Traffic & Stickiness - User popularity statistics now, or will soon, affect rankings. In other words, user actions on your website, like how long they stay (stickiness), how many pages they visit, and even how many people visit your site in a given period, can all affect how Google ranks your site. (This may be true soon if not already).

Things That Could Possibly Not Help You Anymore, or May Even HURT You More In Jagger's Aftermath

1. Duplicate Content - Any kind of duplicate content can hurt your rankings. Some say this only refers to other sites having the same content as you while others say even duplicate content within your own site can be bad. I find the latter hard to believe since all sites have repeating slogans, phrases, checkout instructions, or any number of other duplicate sentences within the same site. (Use Copyscape.com to find people who are stealing your original written content and publishing it on their site).
2. Hidden Text - Hidden text within your html, in tags, CSS, or comments, can negatively affect your rankings. (This is something you should never do).
   
3. Footer Links – Some say links in the footer are disregarded now. (This is one we have found no evidence for).
4. Directory Links - Links from directories are weighted less now. (This is one we have found no evidence for, but is most likely true or will be soon)
5. Decreased Rate of Link Building - The speed and volume of inbound link creation to your site from other websites, if changed, can negatively affect your rankings more so now. (This one is most likely true too).
6. Reciprocal Links - Reciprocal link trades are worth less then they were before or are worth nothing now. (It's probably true that they are at least worth less now).
7. Linking to Bad Neighborhoods - Reciprocal link trades hurt your rankings when you link to sites that are considered 'bad neighborhoods' by Google, such as link farms or sites that are banned by Google. (This is most likely true and has been for a while).
8. Link Schemes - Participating in link schemes such as Co-ops or Link Vault can hurt your ranking more than help them. (I have not found any evidence of this so far for my clients' sites, but this could be true).

Again, I don't think anyone outside Google knows which of the above factors are true or false, and how each one affects a given keyword phrase's ranking. In fact, that's the idea. Google doesn't want people 'gaming' their system. There are so many variables that need to be considered that it is very difficult to figure out which ones affect what.

So, what do you do now if your site's ranking has dropped since Jagger?

If your site was ranking well in the Google SERP's (search engine ranking position) before Jagger, then it was nowhere to be found right after Jagger hit, and now your site has still not bounced back at all, then you probably tripped a filter, got penalized or even banned. You may have duplicate content on another site, or someone copied a lot of your content, or you may have a canonical issue (where yoursite.com and www.yoursite.com are considered two different sites by Google causing it to look like duplicate content). You may have hidden text, or keyword stuffed your pages or any number of other things. You're definitely going to need more knowledge than this article can give you to get your rankings back.

Some say that Google updates have happened before around the same time of year, and many sites that tanked came back after the first of the year. I don't know if this is true, we'll just have to wait and see. For those who have still not rebounded, this may be nice to know.

Interestingly, most of our clients' sites either stayed the same or improved after Jagger. Our own company site improved. But unfortunately, a few of our other clients saw some decreases in their rankings right after Jagger, and have since rebounded, but not at quite the same pre-Jagger levels. Here's what we did for them:

• Scoured their site for bad outgoing links and made sure that each site they linked to was indexed by Google and was not trying to game Google. Any questionable links were deleted immediately. But we did not get rid of all our link partners, we just culled.
• Determined the ratio of the different types of incoming links to learn where improvements were needed. In other words, we determined the percentage of links to their site that were link trades, one-way links from related sites, one-ways from unrelated sites, link advertisements, directory links, forum signature links and more. We then advised them to increase their one-way related inbound links that are embedded in sentences, and not concentrate so much on link trades and stop getting one-way unrelated link development altogether.
• Cleaned up the HTML on every page, made sure all tags were closed and that there was no extraneous code on any page. And we put CSS and JavaScript's in separate files.
• Took out any inadvertent hidden text. One client had keywords in comment tags in their HTML that we deleted.
• Decreased file size of pages, by taking out old links and superfluous verbiage, and by re-optimizing the .gif's and .jpg's.
• Wrote much more succinct Meta descriptions and on-page verbiage.
• Made sure that every title tag on every page within the site was different.
• Coached them about the importance of continually developing good, quality, original content.
• Brainstormed ways in which their sites could entice other webmasters to link to them because of what their site offers, such as good content, free Web tools, articles and many other things. This is called natural linking and what Google regards as the only legitimate way to build links. Therefore, this is vital.

We tried to look at the overall link development strategy, the value of their site, and the quality of the site, both the content quality and the html quality. A clean, simple, fast-loading site with natural links pointing to it from a variety of other related websites, some .org's and .edu's, others from trusted authority sites, and many from small related websites, that adds fresh and unique content daily, will rank well in Google over time and won't be affected by any update, including Jagger.

The best way for you to learn what to do in Jagger's aftermath is to read articles like this, participate in forums that discuss these topics, and most importantly, by experimenting with your own sites to see what works. This takes time and patience. So does building quality sites that have things to offer and that subsequently get natural links. But it's all worth it.

- About The AuthorJason OConnor is president of Oak Web Works, LLC, a full-service Web firm.