Directory Submissions
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Sure it seems that Directory links are having less and less Google juice. Deep more relevant categories often are not cached by the deep Google spiders. So what can you do to ensure that you are getting the most Google juice for your buck or if the directory is free, for your time?
Before paying for a link, I always check to make sure that the page I am submitting to is cached. That is I copy the url, paste it into the Google search bar. If the page has been visited by the Google spiders, it will show up in the SERP’s.(Search Engine Result page). You can either submit to a page that Google has not visited and build links to the page so that you encourage Google to visit the page, or you can find a page that has been cached already.
What you can do is click around the different related categories of the directory, and copy and paste into the desired category page urls into the Google search bar until you find a cached page, or you can check the whole site to see what pages are cached using site:url. This will show you all the pages that are cached by Google. For example, putting site:http://www.pixelheadonline.com into the Google search bar, I see that 1,430 pages are cached in Google. Then all I need to do is page through the results and find an appropriate cached category page to submit my site.
1 more link building tip
If I go to the next level down in the directory, such as Business, and copy that url, and put in site:http://www.pixelheadonline.com/Business/ I can see that 17 sub-pages are cached. Using this method allows you to find cached subcategory pages in relevant categories without having to page through unrelated results.
So that is my tip for link building this post. Got any other link building tips you would like to share?
Update:
Check for cache with the site:url and with out the site:url. I believe that using the site:url returns pages that have been visited by the Google Spider that does deep searches, which are done with less frequency. If paying for links, I want to make sure that the links are cached by regular spiders as well as deep searching spiders for more Google juice for the link.
see Google Cache Update post for more current discussion.
Written by Pixelhead on October 2nd, 2007 with 18
comments.
Read more articles on Directories and Directory Submissions and Internet Tools and Link Building and Marketing and Uncategorized.
Have you submitted a site to lots of directories lately? Go ahead go on over to DirectoryCritic,com and submit a site be it a favorite of yours or an ecommerce site. Go ahead I will wait.
Ok, your back. While you were out getting links, did you experience deja vu quite a lot. Directories can be easily created using a directory script, and often times the owners make little to no alterations to make the directory unique. As if it is not bad enough that the few templates are everywhere, the category database is everywhere as well.
Its not only me that sees this problem. In a DirectoryCritic Blog post Link Farm Clone Directories
says that characteristics of Clone Directories include:
- Loads of directories on the same IPs
- Directories that have obviously had no effort at all put into them (some don’t even have a template or don’t even have the logo changed - how hard is it?)
- Category clones (basically cloning a populated directory)
Directory Uniqueness
- What I look for in a good unique directory includes but not limited to changes to template if it is a popular template.
- Categories should also be edited, especially if the directory starts out using a category database.
- Add other features to the directory like articles, advertising opportunities, about us pages, contests, a directory blog, a directory forum, etc…
- Add text to the sub-pages as well as the home page. I have just started doing this to Pixelheadonline. Adding text can be as simple as adding a little paragraph of text to describe the category. It can also include the adding of articles.
Future of Directory Links
With all the clones out on the net, I believe that quality directories will become something that will be sought after. This will include directories that have not only a home page that is indexed in the search engines, but also has the majority of its sub-pages cached. When site owners start to have their site rankings hurt by using these bad linking neighborhoods, good directories will be in even higher demand.
Am I right? What do you think will happen to directories in the future? Will they go the way of the FFA (Free For All) pages?
Written by Pixelhead on July 9th, 2007 with 11
comments.
Read more articles on Blogging and Directories and Directory Submissions and Internet Tools and Marketing and Uncategorized and Web 2.0.
Before reading this, it is suggested that the previous articles on Link Building be read.
I hope that I have not given the impression that the process of building one way links to a site is done simply by using directories. Directories, however, are a very important tool that can be used to build one way links. I have never used a directory and expected massive amounts of traffic to be directed to my site. It would be nice, but the probability is against it.
The first three posts in the series dealt mainly with using General directories such as PixelHeadonline.com to build one way relevant links to your site. The next topic in this series, progresses toward the area of Niche Directories, which offer a way to build links to your site that have an even higher relevance.
What are Niche Directories?
Niche directories like general directories, are broken down into categories, however, unlike general directories, the categories all pertain to a certain niche market, such as real estate. What is your niche? More than likely, if you have any competition in your niche, there will be niche directories for your site to submit your site. Sadly, many of these tend to be reciprocal linking directories, which really don’t help us with building one way links.
Three-Way Linking Anyone?
However, do try three way linking with these reciprocal sites, that is see if they will give you a link if you give them a link to another site that you may have access to such as a directory or a blog with a similar topic. Some sites will allow three way linking some won’t…it does not hurt to ask. (Please drop me a comment and let me know if you like or dislike three way linking)
What sort of Niche has Potential for a Good Niche Directory?
Niche Markets that have a good amount of focused traffic have the ability to be good Niche Directories. I don’t believe there is a niche out there that a directory does not or can not be made. For example, a site I work with sells corn stoves( a stove that burns shelled dry corn for home heating purposes). Talk about a niche market, and there is a Corn Stove Niche Directory, for this market.
One of the most interesting niche directories I have come across, that Lizzie Bean introduced me to, is an Industrial Niche directory. The interesting thing about this directory is that all of the sub-categories have their own unique url, and not a sub domain page.
My point of using these two niche directory examples is that any niche can be a good niche market for a directory. If there is interest, then a niche directory should be able to exist for that market.
What makes a Good Niche Directory?
A good niche directory I feel should have many of the same characteristics as a good general directory to include:
- Not built in frames.
- Does not use “No Follow tags“.
- Edited for quality to insure submission guidelines are met.
- Set submission guidelines.
- Three to four submission methods to such as reciprocal, free, express, premium etc.
- Unique look, or at least attempt to alter the design template if a popular template is being utilized. The Corn Stove Niche directory uses the same template as Pixelheadonline.com(we have altered ours a bit).
- Insure that any page with a premium listing has back links to it.
- Never utilize redirects.
- Make contact information available somewhere on the site.
- Check to make sure that all links on the site work(do this regularly).
- Don’t make submission procedures too difficult or too easy. Validation codes need not be a mystery.
I can go on and list many more things that make up good directories, but it would probably be better if you want to find some that I give you a list. If you see one that you think belongs here drop me a comment and I will stop by and evaluate it. I may also break the list down in the future into sub-categories of different niche directory markets.
My Short Niche Directory list.
This will be another post, as I there are so many out there, but for two great resources on these visit directorycritic’s list of and http://info.vilesilencer.com/
Written by Pixelhead on March 23rd, 2007 with 11
comments.
Read more articles on Directories and Directory Submissions and Link Building and Marketing and Uncategorized.
Link building is an integral part of my job as an SEO Technician(one of my many jobs), and the ability to do it correctly is a skill that is can be easily learned, but does take quite a lot of time to do correctly. There are many resources readily available on the Internet about this very topic. So any knowledge that I may have is already out there. So in a series of posts, I shall, with the help of Lizzie Bean, give instructions on the proper way to conduct manual link building, as opposed to using an automated link building program that submits your site to numerous other sites, such as directories, blogs, FFA pages, and link farms automatically.
Manual Link building does take time, but it is well worth the effort. Web masters or site owners should be weary of Link building deals which promise 100’s of links for a package deal. Often times these link packages will submit your site to numerous directories, using one or two variations of the link text or anchor text(the words that when clicked on take you to another site, page, or location on the same page)as well as limited site descriptions. Anyway the worst thing that can happen is your site is it gets banned or dropped to oblivion in the SERP’s, so enough with the warnings here is….
Link Building Part 1
by Lizzie Bean,PixelHead
Link building instructions
The purpose of link building (obtaining links that point to a website) is to increase search engine rankings for specific keyword phrases. You should get links in directories that link to yours or your client’s sites using a variety of keyword phrases that the client wants to rank for in Google as the anchor text of the link.
Definitions:
Directories – websites that are organized by categories. Each category has links to websites that are relevant to the subject of the category.
Anchor text – this is the text that is linked. When submitting sites to directories – the Title that is submitted is usually the anchor text for the link.
Submitting a site – the process of filling out the form on a directory that allows the editors of the directory to review the site being submitted to the directory. To submit a site you will need to find a “Submit Site”, “Add URL” or a similar link/button.
Page Rank (PR) – this is a rating system that Google uses to determine the link popularity of a website. PR ranges from 1 – 10. The higher the PR on a site – the better. To see the PR – you must install the Google toolbar. PixelHead recommends downloading Firefox with the Google toolbar, which can be done by clicking on the icon in the left side bar. PixelHead gets 1 dollar for every sign up. If you have never used Firefox, give it a try, many unique features make it a great resource, all while being much less prone to viruses than Explorer.
SERP- search engine results page.
SEO- Search Engine Optimization deals with making a site so that it will rank well in the SERP’s. Broken down into two basic parts- on page optimization and off page optimization(link building)
SEM-Search Engine Marketing deals with a variety of methods to get your site out there using the search engines via natural search and paid search.
Stop Words-Words that the Search Engines(Google) ignores. Read this Search Engine Watch post about Stop Words for more info about them, and here is a nice list of Stop words.
What you will need to get started:
1. a list of keyword phrases that you want your site to rank for(future post)
2. a list of description text that will correspond to each keyword phrase
3. a list of sub-pages of the site that each keyword phrase can link to WHEN sub-pages are allowed for submissions.
4. a list of directories to submit your site(Google “directory list”) or visit these two resources below.
A great directory resource, DirectoryCritic has an ever growing list of directories. Voting on directories by those who submit allows for the better directories to place higher on the list, which kind of makes it a web 2.0 site for directory owners/submitters.
Another great site for link building resources is Info Vilesilencer, which to quote the DirectoryCritic, is “The original SEO friendly directory list. Dan has played a key role in the SEO directory revolution and the development of the “search engine friendly” directory standards that we all use today”. And according to the Info.Vilesilencer blog, the biggest update to the sites directory list was just made.
To be continued…Part 2 coming up.
Written by Pixelhead on February 21st, 2007 with 5
comments.
Read more articles on Directories and Directory Submissions and Google and Internet Tools and Marketing and Mybloglog.com and SEM and SEO and Uncategorized and Web 2.0.
A free directory of great quality, Pegasusdirectory.com, that I first found via the Directory Critic where Pegasusdirectory has a rating that I truly envy, but is very deserving. Pegasus Directory not only has many quality sites in its very broad category base, but it also has many additional features that make it a directory owner’s directory of choice. Today I just noticed their new pixel page that has an unbelievably low cost for a pixel page. I signed up Pixelhead for a nice one up on the top left corner. The pixel page also has a Pixel list page with it that lists all the sites that are buying links, with a link to the site, the number of pixels, and the number of hits to each page.
The site also has some other features to include a pixel page blog, a new forum which I just joined, not that my comments are very insightful, especially at 11pm at night when I should be sleeping in my nice toasty warm bed watch Law and Order, but I digress. I also noticed the Myspace tweaks page, and briefly browsed through, and will have to hit it up to tweak my lame Myspace page out just a little bit. Maybe then I will get more than 5 contacts.lol
Anyway, PegasusDirectory.com is a really cool site with lots of features that you should definitely take the time to visit. I added them to my del.icio.us page, and suggest anyone who reads this does as well.
Written by Pixelhead on December 14th, 2006 with 6
comments.
Read more articles on Blogging and Directories and Directory Submissions and Site Reviews.
Free submissions to the directory have ended…we made regular submissions a low price of 2 dollars per regular listing, 1 dollar for reciprocal links (we prefer to have three way links) We decided to end the free submissions and to put a price on the listings because we have gotten way to many free submissions, and it is taking way too long to accept submissions in a timely manner while checking each submission to make sure it is a quality site.
All sites that have submitted up to this time will be processed as time permits.
Written by Pixelhead on November 15th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Directories and Directory Submissions and Pixelhead Updates.
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