Key Features to Submit Your Site to the Web Directories

Web directories are effectively an online catalog of links which are split into specific categories or topics. A well thought out listing on one of the better quality directories can offer several benefits to the site owner. Here are four of the main points to consider:

Helps to get a website indexed

The main search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo) are constantly sending spiders or crawlers to search for the latest web pages appearing online. If you have just launched a new site and want to attract the attention of the search engines, then a quite effective and easy way of doing this is by adding your link to the ideal category on several of the web directories. Search engines frequent the directories multiple times a day as the sites are generally updated on a very regular basis.

Improve search engine rankings

Most online directories offer a home page or deep-linking one-way link which is beneficial for any search engine optimization (SEO) promotion. The search engines often look at the quality and number of incoming links to a site when determining its ranking position in the search results, so the directories are certain to help boost rankings in a SEO campaign. Also, if you are submitting your site to several web directories, it helps to look for one-way links as these are seen as more valuable than the reciprocal links (exchanging links with another site).

Target specific keyword phrases

When submitting your site to a web directory you have the opportunity to offer a descriptive title and description. When it comes to completing this important information, you can use a key phrase that you are targeting in a marketing campaign. This makes for a very easy way of acquiring quality links. It isn't always a simple process of acquiring the right links to a web page which target a particular keyword and the directories serve as a highly effective medium for gaining such links.

Most Web directories are free to use

Considering the wide range of benefits that might be gained from using the web directories, it is pleasing to know that there are many quality directories that can be submitted to free of charge. It can benefit to submit your site to as many of the high quality SEO friendly directories as you see fit. In searching for the right directories, it can also benefit if you use the ones that are human-edited as you can be certain that the directory is of high standing.

Web Directories: How Can They Help

A web directory is essentially a long list of websites that have been split into specific categories, which is based on the topic of the site. A webmaster submits their site to the directory for inclusion, and will either be instantly approved or manually reviewed to determine whether a website is approved or rejected. The human-edited directories are often of a higher quality due to the submissions being rigorously monitored. A directory might be either general, whereby it accepts submissions from all site categories or niche specific, meaning it only accepts website on a particular topic. Popular niche specific directories include those targeting the finance, health, shopping or pet industries.

Site visitors benefit from the web directories as many of the high-quality ones are seen as a one-stop place to read up on the latest information, news, articles, and individual sites. Feature dependent, a web directory might come with several interactive features, such as the ability to vote for the best sites, which means site visitors can instantly access the more popular sites.

Whereas, the site owner or webmaster often takes advantage of the web directories due to their ability to acquire a high-quality home page or deep link, which is highly effective for getting a newly launched website indexed. If a directory is high trafficked, then the site owner has the potential to enjoy a quick influx of traffic which certainly helps when promoting a particular service or product.

If a webmaster is looking to submit a website to the directories, than there are two main choices, either the paid or free directories.

A free directory is often seen as a quick and easy method for acquiring a number of quality back links. There are many good quality general and niche directories, which are entirely free of charge. It is often a case of searching out the directories which seem to be active and offer a quick approval process. Sometimes, a site might get listed on the free directories within one or two days, while at other times it might be necessary to wait a month or more. A guaranteed approval process can only be seen with the paid directories.

A paid directory is often of a higher standard and comes with a much faster approval service. Many of these directories come with a high daily traffic and pages with high PageRank. Much less congested than the free directories, a successfully approved listing often results in a site getting listed on a high PageRank page. Some paid directories might even charge just to check a site for inclusion, which is essentially a fee for conducting the reviewing process. Whether a paid directory is used will be dependent on a webmasters particular budget and marketing strategy.

Overall, the web directories offer a wide-range of benefits for the webmaster and surfer alike. Whatever type of web directory is chosen, it is important that it is of high standing, while also being user-friendly, complete, and active.