Mark Twain once said “The report of my death was an exaggeration”.\u00a0 He has been misquoted on that for years.\u00a0 Perhaps we could say the same about directory submissions.\u00a0 One can only speculate on how the death knell for directory submissions began to toll.\u00a0 Maybe an “expert” opined about it in a blog, then it spread like wildfire across the net until it was accepted as fact.\u00a0 Truth is, directory submissions still hold real value for SEO.\u00a0 You just have to be more careful about how you go about it.\u00a0 Let me offer some valuable advice for directory submission…don’t believe the hype!\u00a0 I’m going to provide you with some background, show you how to make it work, and then give you something to try…if you dare!<\/p>\n
Yahoo and DMOZ used to be all the rage.\u00a0 It was pretty much industry standard to submit to these two directories.\u00a0 A few problems arose.\u00a0 First of all, Yahoo costs roughly 300 bones to submit to.\u00a0 There is no guarantee with that 300 your site will actually get added to the directory unless you follow ALL of the rules.\u00a0 DMOZ is a completely different animal.\u00a0 It is free.\u00a0 However, they haven’t had nearly enough editors from the beginning and so it could take upwards of a year to get added to DMOZ, if you get added at all. Once this directory submission stuff started to yield search engine results, abuse ensued.\u00a0 Then Google and the other search engines started to penalize sites for being submitted to multiple low-quality directories.\u00a0 As a result, many people shied away from the practice. \u00a0 So it is clear to see why someone would think directory submission is dead.\u00a0 While submissions are very much still alive, you have to work it from the right angle to make it successful.<\/p>\n
So, the question becomes “How do I make submissions work for me?”\u00a0 One thing you want to do is find good quality directories.\u00a0 There are a lot of sites out there that are “here today, gone tomorrow”.\u00a0 To find the good ones, you should check their pagerank.\u00a0 A high page rank can nearly guarantee a reputable directory.\u00a0 Since the old saying goes you can’t get something for nothing, you may prefer to submit to the sites that require a nominal fee.\u00a0 Submitting to directories that are specifically for your niche will likely serve you better than generic ones.\u00a0\u00a0 You will also get better juice if your submissions are manual rather than automated.\u00a0 Finally, go with your gut.\u00a0 If the site gives you the heebie-jeebies, it is best to steer clear of it.\u00a0 All that being said, I have a challenge for you.<\/p>\n
It is clear that in spite of the history, if you submit your site to directories strategically, it can still benefit you greatly.\u00a0 Therefore, I have a challenge for you.\u00a0 It is only for new or obscure sites who need some help. \u00a0\u00a0 If you already have decent page ranking for your desired keywords, this would be a waste of your time.\u00a0 I have read on a few sites that submitting your website to 1000 directories can still <\/em>boost your page rank to a 2, 3, or even 4!\u00a0 So if you need some page rank, try it!\u00a0 It isn’t that expensive, and it could be worth big dollars in sales for you.\u00a0 Make sure that your site is submitted manually, and that you use slightly different anchor text and descriptions when submitting to many sites at one time.\u00a0 If it works, or if it doesn’t, come back here and let us know.\u00a0 Then we can share the good, bad, and ugly with your fellow webmasters out there.<\/p>\n