Directory Links
Unlike the earlier days of the World Wide Web, search engine submissions seem rapidly to be losing out in favor of other kinds of submissions for the aid of webmasters and internet marketers. Such other kinds of submissions that have displaced the search engine submissions are the directory submissions, which may wither be in the form of general submissions or niche submissions.
By carefully deciding in which of the directories available should the owner of a website enter the name of his site, great benefits can be reaped. The following enumerates some of the advantages that entries in such directories have:
- Many directories do not requite reciprocal links to their site as is the case with some search engines. This feature goes a great way in the popularity of the site owner’s URL.
- Directories are fast becoming popular among users. The owner of a website, thus, has a great chance of receiving some of the traffic that these directories receive, for free!
- Cost effectiveness of directory submissions is perhaps the greatest benefit. It is, however, time consuming, for which a professional may be hired at an equally low cost.
- By varying the title description often to include keywords and catch phrases, a better ranking for those phrases can be obtained, which will eventually help in optimal use of the search engines.
- Entries to directories are a quick way to get indexed if the website is relatively new. This takes only a few days as opposed to the weeks or even months it takes for sites to get indexed by engines like Yahoo, or Google or MSN.
- The standing of the link in the directory only increases with the passage of time. Since these links to directories are permanent, as the website grows older, it stands a greater chance to be recognized by more and more search engines.
Benefits, as seen above, are numerous. However, to exploit this facility provided to owners of websites, the following tips should be kept in mind:
- A record must be maintained of the names of the directories to which entries have been submitted. Keeping a track of this will prevent re-submission to the same directory in the future.
- Submitting to several directories at once is never a good idea. Instead, it is advisable to let a more natural link building happen over time.
- Using programmes like TypeItIn, website information including titles, description, keywords, URL, email etc, can be prepared, and form filling process can be speeded up.
- In order to bring in more targeted traffic to the website, linking to niche directories may be a good option. Today, there are directories available for every kind of niche including gourmet food, weddings, science, crafts, etc.
- Keeping a close watch on Page rank, available, for example, with Google’s free toolbar, may help the owner to determine whether it has been worth submitting entries to directories.