Online Directories

[Scottish Business Owner]

In terms of getting links I understand that directories maybe only give a little value BUT a little value is better than nothing

Does anyone keep a list of directories they submit too is is that asking too much? What do you look for to decide whether it's worthwhile adding your business details to these.

Two examples below of what I hink are good directories. I would appreciate you opinions on these and links to any others so that maybe I can even try and build my own spreadsheet and then give it away to people on the blog

Hot Frog - Your UK Business Directory
Free UK business directory - FreeIndex

Thoughts please?

 

[stuarty]

,

Are you trying to boost the profile of the forum? I'm guessing this from the recent posts on linkbuilding and so on. We spoke about this at the last meet and I strongly suggest you consider links from chamber of commerce websites, local government websites and the likes of the business gateways. You could also try asking for links from universities. Links from these sources add great weight and authority plus they can attract secondary links from other sources - such as business consultants etc.

This will work very well for the forum.

Concentrate on quality links and apply this to all your other methods of linkbuilding. Whilst it may take say 5 times the effort to get one quality link it may well be that your one quality link will be the equal of 1000 crappy links.

Re directories - the value passed from all but the best directories is hardly worth the hassle IMO.

The likes of Google are very wise to the stuff that goes on regarding directories and probably why they have been devalued over the years.

Selective directories like Yahoo and Dmoz are your best bets.Why? Because they're hard to get into in the first place and they're normally vetted by humans. Others like business.com are extremely hard to get in but if you can then its a winner.

Directories that are well reviewed and have lots of links from quality sources are worth the effort too.

Directories that rank well are worth the effort. If it ranks well for it's own title tags then its a sure indication that it will give ranking boosts.

Avoid or be very wary directory owners who are active on SEO forums and blogs - chances are they are attempting to sell onto the same audience. The SEO forums are chock full of folk who are/have built their own directories and the only real winners are these owners taking in money from advertising, paid submissions etc.

If you are going to submit to directories then take a really good look at the sites that it lists. If it's full of links to low value websites then its hardly going to pass any ranking boost and probably not worth the bother.

 

[PeterHoggan]

Some people forget that who you link to, sometimes referred to as hubscore, also forms part of a sites overall link profile and can have a dramatic impact on rankings and trust. You could, for example, create a set of articles that outline the services of official bodies like www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/ who offer invaluable advice to UK businesses that want export to, or set up shop in foreign territories.

There is little real benefit in all but a few directories anymore, however I have a list that contain hundreds of directories, some paid and some free which, I will post once I get into the office.

 

[Mike Lewis]

I might be wrong about this, but I am under the impression that if a site is listed in dmoz (ODP - Open Directory Project),the entry will be propagated to many other directories that use dmoz as their source.

I saw this with a site I set up a couple of years ago. I saw the site cropping up in all manner of directories -- some were industry-specific, others more general. But the only directory the client submitted to was dmoz.

Mike

 

[stuarty]

I might be wrong about this.

No you're wrong that you're wrong

Other SE's use the odp data but I can't remember which but this doesn't neccessarily mean a link boost.

Google extracts odp content to form its own description in serps if it can't find any relevant content within a web page (or a meta description).

 

[peteark]

To clear up a few issues

DMOZ

Submission is worthwhile although the strength of a link has diminished over the years, Google have even removed their recommendation of having a link in DMOZ and the Yahoo Directory from their Webmaster Guidelines.

It is not common knowledge that you can have 2 listings in DMOZ

1. Site relevant category
2. Geographical relevancy

Affiliate Directories

There are many directories that populate their listings from DMOZ, this number grows regularly as submissions are seen to be of good quality.

The Future for DMOZ

Due to unethical practices from editors and Google's change of stance towards the Open Directory it appears the directory will eventually sell out to BOTW.

Yahoo Directory

Panic hit this directory 6 months ago, when all inner pages temporary lost their Google pagerank maybe a warning shot from the big G...lol, quiet expensive for a listing when you cannot see the benefits. I have worked out a method of generating a listing via a back door method, don't ask...lol

Business.com

Similar situation here as with Yahoo, an expensive link with not much guarantee that it's helping.

Both Yahoo and Business.com deliver very little in terms of traffic, I generated approx 25 visitors from the pair in a 12 month period.

Worthwhile Paid Directories

My own recommendations are

Webotopia Business Directory

Directory and Search Engine JoeAnt.com

Webmaster Tools & SEO Tools

Ezilon UK & Ireland : Web Directory and Search Engine

Directory Dolphin - Business Web Directory

Today | KillerStartups.com

Without doubt £20 spent on a link with Today | KillerStartups.com is money well spent, I know you can submit for free, however paying is the best method, especially when you consider the size of the submission form.

Links From Other Sources

There are many metrics that can be used here, pageranking, relevancy, age of domain, links on a page, indexed, not indexed etc etc. The truth is it's very difficult to ascertain what's a good link and what isn't, even for the experts.

I spend 4-6 hours per day building links for my clients, the sites are ranking highly, so it would appear to be a worthwhile practise.

Conclusion

Professional link builders spend years building up a quality database, although they might give the odd snippet of information, they are not going to pass on the fruit of their hard labour to all and sundry, rightly so.

 

[PeterHoggan]

Sorry, we no longer have the list. The simple fact is its at least about a year since we did any directory submissions... a lot of work with very gain.

 

[stuarty]

The simple fact is its at least about a year since we did any directory submissions... a lot of work with very little gain.

Agreed! We're pretty much the same since we last did any directory submissions. It really is a lot of effort for very little gain.

 

[peteark]

Agreed! We're pretty much the same since we last did any directory submissions. It really is a lot of effort for very little gain.

Due to the way directories are built there will always be limited strength, In many regards they are like forums, there is limited strength which dilutes quickly and as the page falls back strength evaporates.

Directories are a nightmare to optimise, juice is diluted with each link added, most are poorly coded. Directory owners tend to work on one aspect, that is to increase their homepage PR as Breeze states you see them hanging out round the forums.

I do build links via directories but not as much as I used to, on average I would say, 1 day in a 2 week period.

That said I do own a directory myself it's currently being worked on to give as much benefit as possible to each submission

 

[Gordon N]

I have worked out a method of generating a listing via a back door method,

So what colour's your hat then?

 

[peteark]

Pure white, just a simple matter of understanding the directory setup, on the net not everything is how it seems

 

[PeterHoggan]

lol, white hat backdoor seo techniques whatever next ... ethical black hat spam!

 

[peteark]

If I expained you would go

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh cool, thanks for the tip

It is neither white, black or any shade of grey you care to mention

 

[PeterHoggan]

I guess you are just teasing and will eventually explain the technique?

 

[Garden Furniture Scotland]

Hi

I am really enjoying the discussion here. It is such a complex topic - and so crucial to get it right! I was listed quite highly in Google about two years ago (on page 1) then dropped like a stone for no apparent reason. I am slowly building back up again and am on page 2 now ... (at least i was last time I looked).

Anyone know of a really good SEO site where I can find easy to implement ideas to keep my naturally occusing listing high?

Also, any comments on my website would be gratefully received. I do it all myself and thought it is a lot of work, I don't really want to farm it out (though possibly I should).

 

[peteark]

Hi Gillian

What you should be doing
Webmaster guidelines - Webmasters/Site owners Help

As for your site

The problem lies with the constuction of the site and the lack of content, the other problems are just small technical tweaks and keyword related.

The site looks good and I imagine it would convert via PPC

 

[Adventurelife]

Hi

I am really enjoying the discussion here. It is such a complex topic - and so crucial to get it right! I was listed quite highly in Google about two years ago (on page 1) then dropped like a stone for no apparent reason. I am slowly building back up again and am on page 2 now ... (at least i was last time I looked).

Anyone know of a really good SEO site where I can find easy to implement ideas to keep my naturally occusing listing high?

Also, any comments on my website would be gratefully received. I do it all myself and thought it is a lot of work, I don't really want to farm it out (though possibly I should).

Gillian

As with everything in business there are a hundred ways to skin a cat.

I take it you want to sell more product?

If so you sholud invest in working with a good internet marketing agency. You can still learn and contribute but they will help you a huge amount reach your business objectives.

Peter

 

[Garden Furniture Scotland]

Hi

I certainly want to sell more products ... but I want to do it without spending the earth. Is that a false eceonomy? What have people's experience been with using internet marketing agencies?

I have looked at some of the paid directories - but $199.99 does seem rather expensive for one link. Could it possibly be worth it?

Any more information or advice on the topic would be gratefully received.

Of course, the daily temperature seems to have as much impact on my online sales as any SEO activity no matter what colour the hat! Anyone got any good ideas for controlling the weather?

 

[Adventurelife]

Hi

I certainly want to sell more products ... but I want to do it without spending the earth. Is that a false eceonomy? What have people's experience been with using internet marketing agencies?

I have looked at some of the paid directories - but $199.99 does seem rather expensive for one link. Could it possibly be worth it?

Any more information or advice on the topic would be gratefully received.

Of course, the daily temperature seems to have as much impact on my online sales as any SEO activity no matter what colour the hat! Anyone got any good ideas for controlling the weather?

Gillian

Only you will know the profitbility of your business and how much that profit will increase on the back of sales.

That allows you to judge how much you should be spending in order to get a return on your investment.

The simple rule is if your products have a proven market and yours do, being found at the top of the search engines is going to drive you business. It is a long journey but one virtually every businesses needs to do if they are serious about getting profitable growth.

There are good people on here who could help you a lot , but you will need to help them by having a clear understanding of your business and what you want to achieve and make sure they understand what you want.

The internet is a very powerful tool for your business those who do not maximise it are missing out a lot.

Places like this forum allow potential clients like you to avoid the SEO/SEM snake pit that gets the industry a bad name

 

[peteark]

Gillian if you want it badly you will get there, you just need determination a good work ethic and patience, 2 or 3 years studying and tweaking your site, you will see the benefits.