The Complete Guide to Submit Your Link to a Web Directory

It seems like most people don’t really have a clear understanding of the differences between a web directory and a search engine.  The basic and fundamental difference between the two is in how they obtain information about and attach relevance to websites. 

A search engine will search the internet with an automated process using spiders or robot crawlers to follow links and index the sites they find.  Search engines attach relevance to sites based on the text they find within the sites they crawl and a few other factors.

Web directory listings are a much more manual process on the other hand, but the results are typically of higher quality.  In the case of web directories, site owners will submit their websites to the directory under categories that are suitable to the sites content. 

These submitted sites then go through a manual human review process by the editors of the directory to make sure the site is of quality and relevant to the category submitted to.  In some cases the editors may find a poor quality site that is rejected or they may find upon review that it really relates better to another niche category and relocate it there.

Basically it boils down to quality and how website information is obtained and categorized.  While a search engine may return results to a query quicker than a manual search through a directory, the results of a search engine query can be of a lower quality than the directory listings. 

The sites listed in a quality directory will have been reviewed by humans for quality of content and relevance to the topic.  The results from a search engine are web sites indexed by automated spiders and in many cases contain spam or just don’t have the content that you were looking for.  How many times have you gone through all the sites returned by a search engine only to have to search again with a different phrase because you did not find what you wanted?

What is the importance of a Web Directory?

A web directory plays many important roles on the internet that relate to search engines and internet traffic.  Let’s cover a couple and start with the roles they play for search engines.

Like we just discussed quality web directories contain web sites that have been reviewed by humans for quality and content relevant to its category.  Search engines look to web directories as a trusted resource to help them establish the relevance and quality of any given site.  When search engines develop a trust factor with a quality directory it will bring its voracious appetite for crawling content to the directory frequently to find and index the quality resources it finds there.  The search engine can then easily categorize and rank the value of the sites there as it trusts that human directory editors have already reviewed it.

These links from trusted web directories then help your website to rank higher in search engine results for relevant searches and improve the quality of the search engine results for internet traffic. 

Another way web directories are important to the internet is as a destination for visitors to find quality resources.

As we already discussed the human reviewed resources in a quality directory are more trusted than spiders which are driven by software and code.  The search engines themselves value trusted directories for the resources they list knowing they have been reviewed by humans.  It is only natural that people who are in a hurry to actually find the resource they are seeking would turn to a quality directory to find it.  This search traffic results in direct traffic for the resources listed within the directory.

Links from a quality web directory that is trusted by the search engines will not only bring you targeted traffic through direct links it will also let the search engines know that your site has been reviewed by human editors is quality and has content relevant to the niche.  This will help to increase your ranking in search engine results for queries related to your niche.

What are the SEO Benefits of Directory Submissions?

There are few big benefits that we will cover and the first one is obvious.  It gives you a one-way link as a doorway to your web site.  Not just any old link though a quality link from a human reviewed directory which search engines value to help them rank search results.

Your link from a directory will contain anchor text that will further assist search engines in categorizing the content of your web site and help you to rank higher for queries related to that content.

Plus directories will send you traffic that is targeted to the products, services and content offered on your website.

So the reason you should submit to quality web directories is to accumulate valuable, trusted one-way links to your website that will build the credibility of your site in the eyes of visitors and search engines and increase your online exposure.

Getting your Site Ready to Submit to Directories

Now that we have explained the relationship of web directories and search engines, the importance of web directories and a few of the primary benefits what should be done to get ready to submit your web site?

The main thing to remember now is that quality, trusted directories are reviewed by humans and what you need to do is convince the editor that your site deserves to be listed.  To do that here are a few things you should check prior to submitting your site for review and consideration.

Your site should be easy to navigate through in order to find any important pages.  If you have navigation that is unclear or confusing the editor may never see it and not be able to give a thorough evaluation of your site.  This could cause your site to be declined when it might have been included.

You should have a fast loading site.  The editor that reviews your site may have dozens to review and a page that takes ages to load will not be looked on favorably by the editor or traffic in general.  Check your sites loading speeds prior to submitting to make sure there are no problems with it loading properly.

Visitors to your website should be able to immediately identify what your site is about.  A visitor should not need to read through paragraphs of text just to figure out what your trying to convey with your site.  If you make it clear and get to the point your customers, client and the editor also will appreciate it.

A web directory will have many categories to which you can submit your web site.  In some cases it may seem like there are a couple that it could fit into, just make sure to choose the category that you feel most relevant to the topic of your site.  Take a little time to search through the categories offered until you find the category you feel is right.

Read the guidelines offered on the submissions page and do your best to follow them.  Plus some additional tips can be found in the post Directory Submission Tips.

If you have a quality site and follow these guidelines you site will stand a much better chance of being accepted.