Directory Methods for Ranking Links

I frequently see questions asked about the ways in which directories sort their listings.  There are several methods and I will cover the most popular in this post with some of the pro’s and con’s for each.  Feel free to leave a comment if you think of anything that was not touched on.

Page Rank - This is the most popular method of ranking listings within a directory.  It basically relies on leaving a third party to rank the sites for you.  As a directory owner I can see benefits and negatives to using this method.  

• Pro’s
  • Leave the sorting of the sites to someone else - in this case Google.
  • Newer listings have the opportunity to move up in the order as they gain additional page rank from Google.
  • Sites that are more established by Google’s ranking system are easier to find.
  • Page rank itself is based on a widespread internet popularity contest.
• Con’s
  • Sorting order of the sites may not match how useful the directory traffic finds the resource.
  • Other major directories such as Yahoo rank sites by number of hits.
  • Many directories never update their internal page rank when Google does leaving you with the same value you had when you were originally listed.
  • You’re leaving the listing order in the hands of a third party, in this case Google.
  • Sometimes the most relevant sites do not have the highest page rank as can be seen when you do a Google search.
  • Toolbar page rank is only updated every 3 or 4 months. That means that the page rank used for a means of sorting the listings is nearly always out of date.
  • How do you rank sites with the same page rank?

Date Added - This option will sort the order of the listings purely based on the date of inclusion in the directory.  It rewards the sites that have been there the longest, but there are some negatives.  Sites change over time and may not be well maintained putting less quality sites in a higher position.  High quality sites can also be new sites that gain popularity quickly and this option would not allow them a more visible spot.

• Pro’s
  • It rewards the clients that have been with you the longest.
  • It can also reward the newest listings depending on how you have it set up.
• v Con’s
  • A high quality resource could easily get lost deep in the directory.
  • The newest or oldest listings may get locked into the best or worst listing positions.
  • Site quality can change over time and place a less relevant site in a higher position.

Alphabetical - This is an easy method to use and just places sites alphabetically.  It makes sites easy to find if you know their name, but if you are surfing for popular sites it can be frustrating.

• Pro’s
  • If you do not want to bother with ranking sites at all this is a good choice.
  • Site owners cannot claim that they are being positioned out of place.
  • It is a method of sorting that most people are accustomed to.
• Con’s
  • Site relevance, quality and popularity play no part in the rankings.
  • Visitors searching a directory for a resource often do not know the name of the site they are looking for making alphabetical sort order useless.

Hits -

• Pro’s
  • Gives the submitter incentives for writing quality descriptions when submitting to procure clicks.
  • This is the way top directories such as Yahoo use to determine listing order.
• Con’s
  • Sites that have been there longer have accumulated more hits.
  • There is a possibility of manipulation.

Method used on the Authority Directory

When I was determining the method to be used for sorting links on the Authority Directory, sorting by date added just did not make sense for me.  There were just too many significant negatives to that method.  Sites can change over time and the method for sorting links should have the flexibility to adjust based on those changes.

Using alphabetical listing sounded like a good option at first until you really think about it.  There are many quality sites that don’t start with a letter at the beginning of the alphabet.  Did I really want to place a site like Yahoo at the bottom of any list?

Hits were the next area I looked at and I really like the idea of sorting by hits with a few safeguards in place to guard against manipulation.  By doing some custom programming you can inhibit the manipulation and any benefits derived from it. 

Page rank was next and though it does have some substantial negatives.  After all Google itself does not rank search results by page rank.  Do any search in Google and check the sites in the results for page rank and you will find that the number one position may very well have a page rank significantly less than the number 5 position.

In the end we decided to use number of hits to determine rankings of listings with some custom programming to avoid the ability to others to manipulate the rankings of sites as much as possible. 

The the Site of the Day Mod allows newer sites additional exposure on our high traffic front page to accumulate additional hits and rank it where our visitors determine it should be. 

If concerned about placement of your listing there is always the featured links option to have your sites listed at the top of a category immediately.