Home | Internet | Seo
Search engine optimization companies know the advantages that listing clients in major directories can bring. Link building through directory submission has been one of the mainstays of the Search Engine Optimization business for years, but today there is increased doubt over the future of this once highly effective form of optimization. First, a brief history of web time- From the dawn of time (the early 90’s in web terms), listing in directories was a great way to get visitors to your website. Directories like Yahoo prospered and could charge high fees for companies to list with them. The web grew, directories grew, websites grew and everything was perfect. Then the world changed - The search engine was born! Search engines conquered the web, and SEO was born. It may interest you to know that the first recorded mention of the term SEO was in a message posted on Usnet on July 26th 1997. It is highly ironic that whilst the search engine was destroying the directory, the SEO community would breathe new life into the concept. The missing part of the puzzle was Google. Google hit the web in 1998 and introduced the idea of Page Rank. Most people think that Page Rank refers to the rank of a page, which is an reasonable misconception. According to Google it is actually named after one of its founders - Larry Page. The idea of Page Rank (where a site improves its position in Google by getting links from other sites) soon became very popular. Many other search engines incorporated the idea into their methods. SEOs had previously concentrated on using ‘on page’ keyword optimization techniques. They needed to adapt quickly to the new Page Rank idea and get inbound links for their clients. There were loads of methods for getting inbound links, from link-exchanges, to blogging, to link buying. One of the simplest and quickest methods was to list their clients in directories. SEOs and directories walked hand in hand into a glowing future. It’s a bit manipulative isn’t it? The web should be natural said Google. These SEO companies are listing customers in directories for unnatural reasons. Some of these directories have hardly any human visitors but have large amounts of companies listed. Even worse, people are paying to get listed in these directories. It’s not natural usage. We are being manipulated said Google, and we must stop it! So this is what they did. September 1st 2005 Google Guy Matt Cutts stated in his blog “Google does consider buying text links for Page Rank purposes to be outside our quality guidelines” and “Google has a variety of algorithmic methods of detecting such links”. Nothing seemed to happen for a while, but then a few of the directories that offered paid links started having no visible Page Rank on their internal pages. This was even true of directories that had free links, but on the same page had paid featured listings. Bad news for those people who followed Google’s webmaster guidelines and got free links, worse for those who paid for them and ended up with nothing! As well as cracking down on paid links, search engines have also enhanced their detection of sites that link out to what are regarded as bad neighborhoods (low quality spam filled sites). Many of the directories that are not properly edited end up with low quality listings and as a result search engines discriminate against them. Since the birth of search engines the fortunes of SEO companies and directories have been solidly, inextricably linked, but if Google doesn’t like directories anymore, these back-links won’t be any good. It’s all not true. Google loves directories. In Google’s webmaster guidelines it says - when your site is ready: “Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.” Google still likes directories it just doesn’t like those that are poor quality listings and those that sell links. After all how can Google discriminate against directories when it has one on its site (Google Directory). How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Directory. The important thing with directory submissions is to maximize your efforts by listing your clients in the right directories. You need to list your clients websites in directories that are free of charge and high quality (human edited). A good place to start with directory submission is the Open Directory Project. This is the biggest directory to submit your clients’ websites to. This is not a quick strategy. Each section is human edited by volunteers and acceptance times vary dramatically. It has been know for sites in less popular categories to wait for a year or more to be accepted! Another large directory is Yahoo.com which will cost you $299 to list in. If you work in markets outside the US you can often get listed for free. Yahoo.co.uk is now free for UK companies in the majority of categories. Again there can be a long wait before submissions are put live. Don’t ignore the advantages of local directories. Listing in directories for your state or country can provide very positive benefits, both in terms of SEO and finding local customers such as the Canadian Regional Directory. Also consider regional niche directories that not only find local customers but also customers in particular fields. There are a couple of great web sites for finding appropriate directories such as Top Directories and Vilesilencer. The Top Directories site provides loads of useful information on directories including their Page Rank and the movement of page rank at the last update. There are also details on submission times, gathered from user feedback. Vilesilencer provides huge lists of categorized web directories including a useful download of directories in Excel spreadsheet format. Maximizing your effort by selecting the right directories should ensure that the time spent writing directory submissions adds the maximum benefit to your business. This is true not only in terms of human visits, but also with regard to SEO.
Article Source: http://www.article.directory4u.org
The authors is interests include directory development and Computeach
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
