Objectives of Directory Submission

Webmasters submit their sites to directories with three main objectives:

• Get permanent one-way links to their sites,

• Get links from high-PR sources and

• Get interested visitors looking for the kind of info their site provides.

Let us look at the significance and practicalities of these objectives.

One-way Links from Directories

The whole thing started with Google. Webmasters are eager to get top positions in Google search results because that brings them highest traffic. So they began to seek out things that "please" Google. And found the value of links.

Google considers a link from Site A to Site B as a vote in favor or Site B, indicating that Site B contains good content. And it would also seem that if Site B includes a return-link to Site A, the weight of the original vote goes down. It is believed widely that Google looks unfavorably on reciprocal links.

One-way links could come automatically if your site has super-value content. If your site contains info that adds value to other sites (or is exceptionally cool), the latter might insert links pointing to your site. However, this is a tall order that few webmasters could hope to execute.

The major remaining alternatives for getting one-ways links are two.

• Write articles with an author byline that includes a link to your site, or

• Get your site listed in a directory.

Writing articles was not easy. Nor could everyone write good articles. So most webmasters went after directories.

Suddenly, a new business came into existence, the business of publishing directories. However, many of these new directories were shoddy works. Quite a few were just link farms for exchanging links among themselves, irrespective of the relevance of such links.

Google began to penalize listings in such directories. In fact, it had a favorite directory, DMOZ, a listing in which carried high weight in Google’s ranking algorithm.

Soon, webmasters began to flock to DMOZ. DMOZ being a directory compiled by unpaid volunteers, there was soon a serious shortage of editors to review the innumerable submissions. DMOZ has now become notorious for the delay in reviewing sites. Years could pass before your site is reviewed if ever.

Worse, DMOZ has also become a very corruption-prone setup. Webmasters were willing to do anything to get into DMOZ. DMOZ decision-makers for one reason or another does not seem to welcome new editors who could have reduced the workload.

Editors have no obligation to review sites in the order of submission. So, if you could influence a DMOZ editor, you could get your site reviewed quicker.

It would be a surprise if many editors and webmasters did not exploit this situation to their advantage. And reports do indicate that malpractices are prevalent in DMOZ.

So what do you do in such a situation?

You search out directories with good Page Ranks. That brings us to the second objective of directory submission.

Get Links from High-PR Directories

We mentioned earlier that Google considers a link from Site A to Site B as indicative of Site B’s value. However, not all links are equal in weight. A link from a high-PR site (a site with a high Google Page Rank) carries more weight.

If a directory has high PR, it would mean that Google has assessed that directory and found it a worthy source of info. A link to your site from such a directory could not but carry some weight.

If the link is from a highly relevant category (considering your site’s topic) the weight would be even more.

Get Targeted Traffic from Directories

Some directories, like the Yahoo directory, are quite popular and used by Web surfers to find information they seek. A listing in such directories could bring many visitors and that too visitors specifically interested in the topic of your site.

A Yahoo listing could bring both Google ranking improvement as well as traffic. However, a Yahoo listing does not come cheap. They charge $300 just to review your site, with no guarantee of inclusion. And if your site is accepted, you have to pay $300 annually to keep it there.

In addition to Yahoo, there are specialized directories like Business.com that could bring targeted traffic to your site. Find out directories that specialize in your niche and assess their popularity. You might find at least one or two excellent sources of traffic.

Good Directories Do Not Accept All Submissions

If a directory accepted all sites that were submitted, it would soon begin to include many junk sites. As a result, it would cease to be a good source of worthwhile info. And Google might withdraw any PR it has been assigned.

So, at least for remaining in the good books of Google, most directories have some criteria for including sites in their index. This is particularly true of specialized directories restricted to niche themes.

Unless you meet the criteria for inclusion, your site could be rejected. This could happen even if you had paid money for a quicker review of your site.

So what are the typical criteria?

The first one is that your site must contain something of value to Web surfers. These surfers are mainly seeking information or entertainment. So directories look to see whether your site offers some value in these forms.

Secondly, directories prefer sites with "substantial" content. They prefer a site with 20 or more pages of valuable content to one with just one page, even if that page has value.

There could also be restrictions on the themes – no adult sites, no hate content, no copyright violations and so on.

Do take time to understand the criteria and ensure that your site meets these.

And Finally, Go for Manual Directory Submission

Another key issue is the mode of submission. As elaborated in another article on manual directory submission, directories have come to hate automated submissions that dump huge volumes of useless junk before their editors. Manual submission of your site by hand has a much higher chance of being reviewed and accepted.