Search Marketing Blog
Directory Submissions . . . Your Neighborhood Matters
A well-recognized tactic to ensure that your online presence is rapidly found by the greatest number of individuals in your target audience is submitting your site to numerous Web directories. While not a requirement for getting your site rapidly indexed, submitting to directories can greatly benefit the success of your strategy. However, not all directories are created equal. Thus, it is imperative that you perform research to determine the value of each directory as it pertains to your specific site.
Long gone are the days (or maybe I just wish they were long gone!) when every other e-mail I receive is from an obscure submission vendor claiming to be able to get my site prominently positioned in “tens-of-thousands of directories”. The reasons why this ploy has fallen-out of favor is that a ‘shot-gun’ strategy to directory submission will more than likely accomplish very little (in terms of improving your site’s position within the major engines for relevant search queries).
In fact, submitting your site to poor directories may actually hinder your site enhancement efforts. If your site ends-up residing in a ‘bad neighborhood’, it can negatively impact your Natural search rankings. Directories that have been recently created, or poorly maintained, may lack significant in-bound links, and may possess very little search authority. These types of directories, often times populated by automated submission applications, can be detrimental to your SEO campaign.
Good online ‘neighborhoods’ are established directories that offer something different, and provide substantial value to search users. Links back from these good neighborhood directories boost your performance within relevant organic search listings.
Much like the process you go through when purchasing a house, one of the most important factors when submitting your site to Web directories is to ensure that you choose the best neighborhood.
The following list contains important criteria to consider when selecting online directories:
1. Relevance of directory, and its verticals, to your company, brands, products, and services,
2. Number and authority of relevant in-bound links,
3. Length of time that the directory has existed,
4. Crawl frequency – how often the major engines index listings, and is the sub-page indexed?,
5. Automated submission versus human-edited submission (which typically improves editorial quality),
6. Type of links in the directory (direct versus re-direct),
7. Perceived search authority – do the major engines prominently rank the directory in their index?,
8. Reputation (online and word-of-mouth recommendations).
In summary, it’s better to be selective with your directory submissions, than to fall for the antiquated scheme of automated submissions into “tens-of-thousands of directories”. Performing a little research can ensure that your site resides in the right neighborhood. Ultimately, this will improve your performance within the engines.
