A Link Directory by hafsoh

In different forums on the net, you see threads by different people asking different questions on directories such as: Are they still effective? Does it worth submitting to? Is submitting to it not a waste of time? etc. This inspired me to write this article probably you may share your opinion.

What Is A Web Directory?

From Wikipedia: A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. A web directory is not a search engine and does not display lists of web pages based on keywords; instead, it lists web sites by category and subcategory. The categorization is usually based on the whole web site rather than one page or a set of keywords, and sites are often limited to inclusion in only a few categories. Web directories often allow site owners to directly submit their site for inclusion, and have editors review submissions for fitness.


Directories are one of the good ways of getting related links and targeted traffic. They can help with anchor text and to rank certain key phrases and also provide backlinks. Directory submission is more beneficial for new sites that have no backlinks yet and pages that are trying to rank well for long tail keywords.
Directory submission used to be very important in the past, but now directory links worth so little mainly because directories themselves have little value, if you want to get high rank in top search engines you wont rely on only directory submission, you need to get more quality links.

Before submitting to a directory make sure you have keyword or phrase-rich text that accurately describes your website
because this text will be associated with your link. One thing you also have to be doing is to vary your Title and Description on all the directories to avoid duplicate content. Then check for the page rank of the page where your link would be placed, as the PR of the main page won't give your listing any benefit.
There are so many free and paid directories around today that someone needs to be very careful before investing money into them, or just wasting your time submitting to them.
Here are few criteria of a good web directory:

(i) The directory should be ranking in the SERP so that even if the links do not help boost your ranking they will be able drive direct traffic.

(ii) The directory should be maintained up-to-date, removing unwanted data and listed sites are in the proper category

(iii) Is the directory relevant to your site 'cos relevancy can drive decent value

(iv) The PR of the directory, at least it should be cached by Google and have some decent PR.

(v) The directory should contain Good Links because link to bad neighbourhood links should avoided.

(vi) Domain Age because older domains tend to have more trust from search engines, as we all know OLD IS GOLD!

Then Avoid Directories that :
- are not giving straight links that uses redirection

- crappy ones with crappy sites listed

- link farms that pose as directories


To me submitting to directories is still a good way to diversify your link profile, getting links from various IPs. I will continue to use directories as long as the directory provides backlink and a decent targeted traffic. There are good directories available for link building as well as for traffic, here is a list of free directories.