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WEB DIRECTORIES
Directories play an important role in aiding a site's web
visibility. Crawler-based search engines will, upon finding
your site on a directory, or series of directories, consider
these directories as one-way links. This will then add importance
to your site's relevance in the "eyes" of these
search engines and will most likely increase the chances of
your site being added to their listings.
Relevant reciprocal link exchanges are given some importance
by search engines but the most valued links, those which are
most likely to boost a sites rankings in the major SES are
one-way links - sites that accept your link without requiring
a reciprocal link from you. These links are highly regarded
due to the reasoning that other sites must hold your site
in high enough esteem that having your link on their site
is acceptable without an exchange requirement. Consequently,
the more one-way links, the better!
Few, if any, sites today will agree to a one-way link favoring
your site. The only way to achieve this is thru submitting
to web directories.
Web directories and search engines have made a conscious
effort to exclude bulk submitters. You've seen the ads - "We
submit to 1,500 search engines and directories for $10.00,
etc." For this reason, many directories require your
registration and possibly entering a security code. Practically
all of these directories require you provide an email address.
Although hot mail or gmail is usually accepted, some directories
will require an email corresponding to your domain name and
will allow you to submit your site only after verification
so it is best to establish an email specifically for web submissions.
Remember, quality directory editors see SEO companies and Webmasters
as spamming pests who dump on them high amount of sites without
any considerations and regards for Guidelines thus they normally
reject or even blacklist submitted sites. Take your time, maybe
5 minutes or less per day and submit your site yourself to 2-3
directories to make sure it listed and not "thank you incompetent
SEO or webmaster" blacklisted
An important consideration in submitting is to be sure the
directory has a page rank of no less than three. Four or more
is better - the reason being that the big search engines like
Google and Yahoo will attach more relevance to the link if
the directory is well rated. In fact, submitting to a directory
with a low or no page rank can - if done frequently - lower
your own site's page rank
Since directories are search engines edited by humans, detailed
preparation must be made by the site owner or webmaster prior
to submission. Be sure to offer a concise description of the
sites offering, staying within the word allowance limits of
the directories. In addition, the description should not include
such self-promotional terms as "the best", "the
largest" or "best prices". Directory editors
consider this marketing hype and will undoubtably reject the
submission.
Regarding cost, many directories offer the option of free
as well as paid submissions. Many older directories with a
large database may no longer accept free submissions - although
some still allow freebies despite their size. Newer directories
almost always allow free submissions in order to more quickly
increase their database. The larger these directories grow,
the more their importance on the web becomes and the more
likely they are to charge for submission.
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