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So, you’ve done it: You’ve created your very own website, had it hosted by one of the best web hosts in the game, and you’ve fleshed it out with a world of wonderful content that your users are going to love. Furthermore, you’ve made the effort to ensure it’s a well-designed work of art, something your viewers will enjoy looking at and using. Even better, you’ve also search engine optimized every inch of the piece, making it a glittering example of search engine ready material that’s guaranteed to earn you or your business results. All in all, you’ve done a bang-up job with the project.
However, have you really considered all the options available to you? Have you really done everything in your power to ensure that your site is noticed and draws the sort of traffic that a leading blog, business, or eCommerce site needs? That all depends—on whether you’re making use of a web directory or not.
If you’ve never considered using a web directory before—or haven’t got even the foggiest what a web directory even is—then stick around. Allow us to be the first to walk you through what the technology does and how it can benefit your site and you. We’ll be holding nothing back, giving you the absolute rundown on the matter from the ground up. We’ll even be offering up a comprehensive list of our favorite web directories, including what requirements each site will need from you to get your site listed. All in all, we plan to take you on one, eye opening ride. So, without further ado, if you’re curious about web directories and what they can do for you today then head on down below the break. Our all-inclusive and full-span guide to web directories starts now!
If you’ve been dealing with websites or web hosting long, then you’re likely already aware of a few important technologies. The very first of these is web hosting itself. This is the means by which you get your data from your computer to the Internet, where your viewers and consumers can see it. We’ll spare the details, but there are a number of web hosting services and options, all of which are equally as good when it comes to web directories.
However, there’s another idea (or technology, depending on your viewpoint) that’s very important to have nailed down: Search engine optimization. You see, one of the primary goals you should be working toward if you are a web master (new or old) is to optimize your site for use with search engines. This is the only way to truly drive new and consumer-based traffic to your site, and if you’re not listed on such avenues as Google, Yahoo, DogPile, or Bing, you’re not very likely to succeed. So how does one improve search engine optimization?
There are a number of ways in which you can boost the search engine credibility of your site. You can change the URLs to be more precise, you can add metatags, and you can even work to increase the number of backlinks that lead to your content. However, all of this really pales in comparison to using a web directory.
We’ll talk more about the benefits of using a web directory in a second, but first and foremost we’ll need to simply list out what a web directory even is. Think about it this way:
Search engines like Google use computerized software trollers called “spiders” to gather information about your site. These robots go through the Internet byte by byte, sampling information like texts, pictures and links to figure out what each page of your site is about. Then, the spiders report all of this back to the Big G, which in turn ranks your content based on importance. For instance, if you perform a quick search for “Rick Santorum,” all of the posts that are returned by Google have been sorted based on relevance to your (very Republican) search term. This is the same for any search engine: Yahoo, Bing, etc.
A web directory on the other hand acts a bit differently. Rather than relying on digital robots to look through and sort your data, a web directory is most often organized and managed by hand. Yes, this means a single brave soul trolls through the Internet, categorizing your posts, website, and other data into meaningful search terms that others can look for using the web directory. It’s sort of like a phonebook (if you remember those) where all of the individuals in a location are categorized by a specific value—their last name. Only in a web directory, your site is lumped together under certain keywords, phrases, etc. that tip off the web directory’s users as to what your content is about. Make sense so far? Great!
We’d like to clarify the issue one more time by using a slightly more complex metaphor: When you organize files on your computer, you lump them together based on what they do, or what they’re used for. In exactly the same way, an individual who owns or runs a web directory will categorize, store, and label websites exactly as you might arrange data on your hard drive. The only difference is that this file pecking order can then be viewed by other users on the Internet, typically to find the sort of sites and pages they’re after.
A key element to keep in mind here is that a web directory will not find your site on your own, unless the owner just happens to scroll across your page or website. In fact, you will almost always have to submit your URL directly to the web directory for it to be categorized. Thankfully, this only has to be done once with most directories. Still, it’s an important distinction to keep in mind, as a web directory is not the same as a search engine in the slightest.
All of this is great, but it doesn’t answer one important question: Why would anyone actually want to use a web directory? To get to that, we’ll need to dive a bit deeper into how the technology can benefit you. So without further ado, jump on below to the next subsection for a full breakdown of the web directory plusses.
Above we listed all the ways in which a web directory works, as well as how it differs from the normal functions of a search engine. However, we neglected to mention any of the ways in which submitting your site to a web directory can benefit your traffic. We’ll be remedying this now, starting with:
Also above we talked a bit about the technology behind these popular search engines. There’s a reason we did that, and we promise we aren’t pulling on your ear for no reason. You see, those spiders we talked about earlier—though not used by the web directory itself—play a critical role in how a web directory can get your site a better place on popular search engines. We’ll explain it this way:
A spider bot that works for a site like Google trolls through a website to find important, categorical information. This data is typically a keyword list as pulled by the bot, or even a collection of the self-assigned tags as created by the site’s author. These bots will also use links form other categorized pages that link-back to the content. In other words, the more identifiers these bots have as to what the content actually is, the higher the likelihood that the bots will correctly identify the media. Make sense? Great! Let’s keep moving.
By listing your site on a directory, you allow another human being to look at your content, and then assign a moniker to the whole kit and caboodle. This means that your site is now logged away on a web directory under a specific heading that will always directly identify the nature of your site. This is supremely advantageous for search engine optimization, as now when the spider bots scroll through the web directory looking for information about new sites, they will find the subheading and categories that your site has been listed under. In a much speedier way than if your site were unlisted, you have now secured a prime spot on a popular search engine. And if you’re a veteran webmaster, then you know how sweet that sounds to the tech-enabled ear.
Another benefit is that most search engines regularly use web directories to find new sites. It’s easier for them, requires less of an investment, and typically returns better results. In other words, you’re not just helping yourself out when you list your site on a web directory, you’re also making it much, much easier for these spider bots to discover and list your data. Sounds like a win-win to us!
We talked a bit about this above, but we cannot stress this enough: When it comes to improving the search engine optimization of your site, nothing is better than having one-way links. Before diving into how a web directory improves the quality of these links in regards to your site, we feel we owe you a deeper explanation of what we mean in the first place. We’ll do it this way:
Those spider bots we keep talking about operate in very specific ways. We already mentioned how they will look for keywords and categories to work with, but there’s another way in which they behave that’s even more important. A spider bot, as it trolls along, will be searching for links to your pages. These could be links on your Facebook page, links posted by bloggers talking about your site, or any other number of possible locations. Either way, these bots collect these links, and then compare the data they receive on the pages that hold the links. To really nail this down, we’ll use a metaphor.
When you hear about a new band, you often hear about it through a friend. When this happens, you receive a link (a recommendation) to the band. However, you’re also receiving it from someone you either know quite well, or hardly know at all. Either way, you’re evaluating the “content” of that person, trying to determine what sort of music the band actually produces. In much the same way, a spider bot will “ask” a site for information about the links it includes. If there’s a context for the link being there (a blog post about your site, for instance) the spider bot will log this away. If the bot, like yourself with new bands, gets a lot of recommendations to the same content, will start to rank your page higher than normal. This is simple logic: If a lot of people are talking about the same thing, it’s likely more important than other content to most users. As such, Google will then list those pages or sites higher. It’s elementary, my dear Watson.
Now let’s talk about web directories in regards to all this mumbo jumbo. You see, a web directory acts as a massive repository of one-way links. When you list your site to a number of web directories, you’re creating hundreds of even thousands of locations where sites like Google can get a comprehensive list of keywords, phrases, etc. that ping directly back to your site or page. In other words, it’s like getting a whole boatload of recommendations for a single band—only you’ve created all the recommendations!
In this sense, there’s really nothing better than listing your site to a web directory for one-way link purposes. As any seasoned web master knows, creating these links is a monumental undertaking. After all, how do you get people to talking about your media? It’s nearly impossible, but by self-listing to a handful of web directories, you’ve already taken a massive step forward to garnering the sort of one-way link cred that your site will need.
On another note, the control that you have over the listing of your site on a web directory can be particularly advantageous if you’re trying to get your site further up the Google ladder. Why is this? Keywords, my dear, keywords.
When a spider bot trolls through your site without your involvement, it’s the spider bot that determines what keywords apply to your website. Now, typically sites like Google will do this with a startling efficiency. However, we’ve had several sites that simply weren’t getting the right sort of keywords attached. The spider bots would mislabel them, and try as we might, we just couldn’t get them to appear anywhere on the ladder under the terms we desired.
The way a web directory can help with this is simple: When you submit your site to a directory, you are typically allowed to include a number of words that you feel apply to the site. Again, like recommending a band. When telling a friend about a new song, you may liken it to “death metal,” “hard rock,” or even “jazz.” No matter what words you use, they’re your words.
And best of all, as a web directory is being managed by a human being, this human will look over the words you’ve attached, and then determine which ones best describe your site. If you’ve accurately painted your own content, then all the keywords you’ve submitted will be used in the end result. This translates directly to better categorization, enhanced viewership, and more specific listings.
And as always, if you should decide to have your site listed by a number of web directories then you’ve only further bolstered the amount of targeted words that are attached to your media. In essence, it’s like being able to control your image from the ground up, allowing others to see your content as you’ve described it. Furthermore, if you do this right you’ll be one step closer to ensuring that only those consumers that you want to attract will be at your site. Again, it’s a no-brainer, win-win scenario where web directories are concerned.
The final benefit that we’re going to mention has largely only become a reality in recent years as talk-back software and technology has improved. What we mean by this is simple: With most web directories, especially ones in which webmasters pay for the right to list their sites, you’ll be compensated with a wealth of analytical information suites. These suites are designed to do one thing, and one thing only—keep you informed about the categories, keywords, reviews, and other various information the web directory has pooled about your content. In this way, you’re given a golden opportunity to micromanage the image of your site, as well as how it appears to popular search engines. We’ll explain this a bit better this way:
If you owned a restaurant, you could get a fairly accurate feel for how the consumer base feels about your food and services merely based on the sort of person that comes in often. Are your consumers mostly elderly, young and hip, or somewhere in between? Either way, you can look at the places where your consumers are coming from to get an idea. Additionally, you might also look at newspaper reviews, magazine write-ups, etc. to get a feel for how critiques view your restaurant.
In exactly the same way, a web directory can drastically increase the view you have on your website and its users. A web directory will often aggregate information about other sites that are linked back to your content, as well as user-submitted reviews that it might come across. With the right web directory, you’ll be granted access to all of this, including site traffic information, link clinks, etc. This is made possible by the fact that a web directory will often catalog the link history of a user that clicks on your URL. In this way, the site gathers data about those that visit your site, and then reports it all back to you. You can do much the same thing with your site proper, outside of a web directory, too. However, if you’re not getting any traffic in the first place, a web directory is a much better option.
So all in all, a web directory will allow you an unprecedented look at the kind of consumer your drawing, the traffic their coming from, and the number of hits you’re receiving. If you’re feeling a bit queasy about investing in a web directory this is a great way to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Benefits Summary:
To offer a quick summary, let’s review our primary points list.
1. Higher Listing on Search Engines
2. More One-way Traffic Links
3. Control Over Image Through Keywords
4. Better Quantitative Data
So there you have it! That’s the basic up and down on how a web directory works, as well as how it can benefit you and your site in the long run. All in all, it’s a fantastic way to get more traffic for your site, control the image you’re putting out, and even improve the search engine ranking of your media. However, up until now we have yet to actively discuss some of the places where you can list your site. You may be feeling a bit frustrated by this, which we completely understand. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list below of some of our favorite web directories, as well as what’s required of you to add your site to their URL pools. There’s no better place to look for a web directory, and if you stick to our suggestions like a cat to a tree, we can guarantee you’ll start to see real results quickly, and much more efficiently than you ever thought possible.
Sadly, we can’t just start name dropping without any kind of regard to the various forms of web directories that are floating around the Internet. We could, but if you’re on a quest to submit your sites to the best possible web directories—ones that are guaranteed to pull the sort of traffic and consumers you’re after—it just wouldn’t be very beneficial. Thankfully, the number of items we have to discuss is fairly short, so we’ll get straight to it!
There are essentially four types of web directory worth mentioning. Granted, there are about a thousand unique niche directories that we could mention, but we’ll spare you the details. First off the bat, though we need to talk about:
These directories are the most prolific, and nine times out of ten when you find a web directory on the Internet, this is the sort that you’ll be looking at. What is a general web directory? Good question, though to be honest, it’s already in the title.
Web directories, because they’re owned by people and managed by humans, will sometimes take the form of a specific market, or certain niche. We’ll talk more about those in just a second, but it’s important to know that a general directory is the exact opposite: It doesn’t cater to any specific form of user, nor to any certain market that you might be after. Rather, it catalogs and categorizes sites and pages from all around the Internet, regardless of the subject matter. In this sense, they’re a great place to start submitting your pages. These sites usually enjoy a broad readership, and as they amass information on a wealth of topics, they’re quite frequently trolled by heavyweight search engines. And though the directory itself is typically more general, this doesn’t mean your site will be without the keywords you need and desire. You can expect the best possible lumping and labeling, regardless of the broad nature of the web directory itself.
But what if you want to go in a different direction? What if you could customize the viewers that will be looking at your site, not to mention attach yet another reference point to your one-way links that search engines can use to absolutely nail the sort of content you’re offering? For that you’ll need:
Ah, yes, the niche directory! These are a little less frequent, and potentially harder to find. However, they can be truly beneficial if you’re trying to target a specific group of people. For instance, if you’re catering to the adult market, you can find quite a few niche markets that compile and categorize sites that are only of an adult nature. On a less racy note, perhaps you only want to draw Australian traffic for your Oz-based site. A niche web directory is the way to go for either. But how exactly does a niche web directory work, and what is it?
To explain, we’ll need to go back to the band metaphor we were using earlier. Let’s say you have a friend with dyed hair, a ton of tattoos, and a lot of piercings. Typically, this person only likes really dark metal. If they give you a band recommendation, you know that it will be in the genres that that person likes. Furthermore, another advantage is that you know that the band will likely be quite good for the genre, as this person who is a bit of a connoisseur likes them.
A niche web directory behaves in exactly the same way. By labeling itself a web directory for Australians, the Adult Market, Sweden, Golfing, etc. that web directory has created a niche of content with which it works. In the same way that your friend only suggests black metal bands to you, so will a niche web directory only suggest items that fall within the target category.
Search engines will eat this up, as it’s yet another layer of information for the spider bots to use to categorize your data. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, having a one-way link for a niche web directory will likely give you a bit more cred with the bots, as it’s one layer deeper than a general. All in all, it’s very important to list to both varieties, but using a niche market can be a fantastic way to drive traffic.
Yes, the name really does say it all. There are quite a few free web directories floating around, many of which we’ll list here in just a seconds. However, the concept behind all of them is exactly as it sounds. You can submit a URL to these sites without having to worry about compensating the web directory. They handle all of the categorization and labeling for free, without a single dime crossing across your desk.
How is this possible, you might be asking? And with good reason, too! After all, Grandpa always said nothing in life is free. In some cases, he’s actually right. You see, depending on the free web directory, you may need to actually post what is called a reciprocal link on your site. This is a simple link that points back to the web directory itself. In a sense, it’s like giving a little and getting a little. The web directory will host your information, categorize it, and then offer it up to spider bots. In return, you simply include a one-way link on your own site that gives a slight boost to the web directory itself. The opposite of this is called a non-reciprocating web directory: And it’s exactly what you think it is. You have no need to post a link on your site proper, saving you some extra pain.
Another web directory problem that you may encounter is called a no follow. The idea behind this is simple and quite aggravating: The link your web directory hosts will be attached to a coded no follow code, which means that search engines will not treat the link with any weight. Obviously, this does you no good. The general rule of thumb is to avoid these kinds of web directories if SEO is your main goal. If you have a good reason to submit to one, however, then go for it. Publicity is publicity, after all!
Otherwise, the advice is to submit your site to as many of these free web directories as you possibly can. They’re free after all, and aside from the time that you spend submitting your links, there’s no other requirement on your end. However, you may not have the full control you desire over the keywords attached to your media. For that you’ll need:
Again, the name pretty much says it all. In comparison to a free directory, which allows you to post your URLs for free, a paid directory requires a small fee to categorize your stuff. Typically this fee is quite small, but on the flip side, we’ve also seen sites that charge an arm and a leg to have your content listed—looking at you, Yahoo!. So with that in mind, why would anyone want to use such a service?
As we mentioned earlier, because you’ve paid for the listing your site will enjoy, in return the web directory will often give you much more precise control over the keywords and listing information attached to your posts. You’ll also likely receive a lot more tracking information, which you can use to weigh the breadth and scope of your readership. This may or may not be worth it to you, but if your own a budget our advice is this: Submit your site to as many free sites as you can find, especially niche offerings. From there, your site will greatly benefit from having a paid listing, but you don’t have to spend a fortune on every single site that’s currently alive on the Web. Rather, pick one or two of our favorite venues below, and then make sure the content you’ve posted there is pristine. It’s really that simple, and if you don’t experience a surge in new traffic, we’d be very surprised indeed.
Here it is at last! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Yes, we’ll now be spilling the guts on the web directories that we favor most, including the category that they fall into, as well as a bit of information about each. If you’re looking for a solid listing of web directories to use to advance the search engine optimization of your site, there’s really no better place to look than right below your digital feet. So without any further ado, we’re going to kick straight into the proceedings, starting with our favorite and top free web directories!
1. The Open Directory Project:
This is really the largest web directory we’ll be covering today. Why is that? Largely because it’s been around for one incredibly long time, is completely human owned and operated, and comes with enough links to choke a horse. There are a lot of benefits to submitting your site to the Open Directory Project, but there are also a few downsides.
On the sunny side, most major search engines troll through the Open Directory Project with some frequency. This translates to better search engine results for you, and at no cost. It’s also free to submit, which is always a boon for the low budget. On the downside, it often takes weeks and weeks for your site to appear on the site. We could make a Canadian health care joke, but instead we’ll just move onto the next web directory.
2. WorldSite Index:
This is another big freebie, though one with fewer caveats than Open Directory Project. It’s not quite as good, not quite as bit, and not quite as user-friendly to submit to as our previous favorite. Still, it’s easily one of the most prestigious, well-used, and most-trolled examples of a web directory currently out there on the Net. And, of course, it’s completely free to use. You can expect to see your site listed here somewhat quicker than with the ODP, but at the same time, you’re not likely to get quite as many results as with the latter. Either way, go ahead and submit here. We’ve done it, and others have too. You’ve got nothing to lose!
1. Yahoo! Directory:
If you haven’t heard about the Yahoo! Directory, then we’d be more than willing to bet this is your first real encounter hearing about web directories. You see, this bad boy has been in existence since way back in 1994. During that time they’ve cataloged just about every site known to man—that’s sent in a submission, anyway.
Prices on getting your site listed here vary, but for the most part you can expect to spend upwards of two hundred bucks per year. If you’re running a rather large business, that may not be a problem. For everyone else, that’s a steep sum for what amounts to a link on a page. Still, you’ll obviously get access to the Yahoo! search engine, as well as a well-categorized link on a very reputable site. If that’s worth it to you, there is no better paid web directory out there.
2. Business.com
This is another gorilla that’s been in the business far longer than we’d like to admit we remember. Obviously they tend to cater to the business crowd, which is a boon for most. Pricing is slightly cheaper than Yahoo!, but you won’t be getting the same access to one of the world’s largest search engines. Still, the site is trolled frequently, and if you’re looking for a commerce-oriented web directory to satisfy your needs, what better option is there? It’s our second pick as far as paid web directories, and it’s a rock-solid one.