Directory Listings

[jamesray50]

How important is it to get listed in directories if you have registered your site on the major search engines? One of them, I don't remember which one, also included several directories and I received emails where I had to confirm my registration. But, they have also included in the email that for a price they can include my website in a lot more directories. I don't use directories when I search for things, I use search engines. Why would I pay to get listed in directories?

BTW - what is the Trackback at the bottom of these messages? And should I add tags to my messages? I guess you can tell I am new to internet marketing.

[greenoak]

im wondering the same thing..i would just google my search....i dont use directories.[or rss feeds]..but i guess if it pushes up your websites seo that would be a reason... does it do that?

[jamesray50]

I just checked out your business and the difference between yours and mine are that you are a brick and mortar store that has been around a lot longer than the internet, so you already have a client base. I have just started my business and I work from home, no B & M store front. When I registed on the search engines they said it would take several weeks to pick up my site.

[Business Attorney]

I am no SEO expert by any means but from what I have seen on this and other forums is that general directories, particularly the free link directories that the submission services would list your site in, have very little value. The search engines do value links, in general, but the reason that they value links is their belief that incoming links validate the website as useful. But not all links are equal. A general directory that takes all - or virtually all - submissions obviously does not carry the same weight for a user that a link from an article on nytimes.com or cnn.com.

The search engines figured this out a long time ago and have created algorithms that give various weights to various factors. They won't tell you how much weight a particular factor has, but the consensus seems to be that submitting to directories, other than a few respected niche directories, probably is not a good investment. Unless the directory is full of spammy websites (which many free directories are), the links probably do carry at least some very small amount of weight, just not enough to be worth the trouble.

One other thing to keep in mind: many people believe that putting your link in a large number of places all at once is viewed by the search engines as an attempt to game the system and can cause your site to be penalized. Whether or not the search engines actually penalize a site, the search engines are clearly smart enough to tell the difference between natural growth in incoming links and a surge due toSEO activities. Even if they do not penalize your website in the SERPs, I think it is common sense that they would at least devalue such bulk links, which would make links from general directories worth even less than they already are.

[Patrysha]

You'll want to be in the directories that make sense for you and your business. For instance, in my town any business would want to be on the local free directories (one by a local magazine and the other by the gov't) and then if they are in the phone book they'd also have a yellow pages listing and if they are a chamber member then there'd be another directory there to take advantage of. If you were targeting a specific market with your bookkeeping say coaches (just as an example) then you'd look at getting into directories that target coaches. If you had a business that was more geared towards tourists then you'd want to make sure you were on trip planning directories and the like.

As for registering on the search engines. As far as I understood that has largely been a waste of time and effort for some time, by getting out there and creating content and sharing your link the search engines find you fairly quickly...

[jamesray50]

Thanks for your replies. The other thing I don't understand about SEO and link building is, do I have to do SEO on every page of my website? And what are inbound links? I have read the definition, but still don't quite understand what they are or how I get them. I don't have a blog on my website. Nor do I plan on having one. I do have an article page which can be subscribed to. But, I am not a writer and don't pretend to be. I cannot write articles and submit them to article directories to get inbound links. That is my understanding of inbound links. Am I wrong?

[Business Attorney]

First, you probably do want to do SEO and link building on many of your pages, but not all. For example, there is no reason to direct people to your privacy policy page. In fact, it is often recommended to make internal links to such places as "nofollow" links to avoid allocating your link "juice" to those pages which do not contribute directly to the goals you have set for your website.

You generally should do SEO and link building for your different pages because different pages will contain different key words. For example, according to Google Analytics, during the past 30 days alone, the visitors to my LLC website used more than 10,000 different search terms to find my site. I think that every page on my website other than the disclaimer page (which is nofollowed) was a landing page for at least one search, and 95 percent of the people landed on a page OTHER THAN my home page. Some of those searches may have happened without SEO, but it certainly would have been much less.

SEO is a lot more than getting inbound links. It is organizing your pages, it is the text, it is the title, it is your description meta tag (even if it doesn't weigh in the algorithm for the SERPs, it is often what people read in the SERPs to decide whether to visit your page), it is the headings, it is the navigation and other internal links, and so on...

As for your question about what are inbound links:

Inbound links are any links TO your website FROM any other website.
Outbound links are links FROM your website TO any other website (like your "Links" page).
Internal links are links from one page of your website to another page of your website. These may be navigational links like the ones in your left sidebar or footer, or they may be links within the text like the link to your "Services" page on your home page.

[greenoak]

very helpful info.....
and on the directories , i think i will keep going for organic growth/someone said that here/links and directories that make real sense and come naturally....
ann

[vangogh]

James this subject isn't one that can be answered in a single forum thread, but I'll try to offer some thoughts. David has already given some great advice.

First an inbound link is a link that leads to a page. If I have a web page and it links to a web page on your site that link is an inbound link for your web page since clicking the link leads someone to your page. That same link is an outbound link on my web page since it leads out of my page. Basically any time a website links to a page on your site that link will be an inbound link from the perspective of your site.

Links are important in regards to seo because search engines use links as a signal for which sites to rank. This is an oversimplification, but the general idea is to see a link as a vote or recommendation. If more people vote for or recommend something that something wins. There's a lot more to links in regards to how they affect search rank, but it's a place to start.

There's another reason for links that have nothing to do with search engines. They're marketing or advertising the same way a commercial on tv is. If a website you visit links to my site you might click the link and visit my site. Every time a link points to a page on your site it's another opportunity or another avenue leading to your site.

Directories come in potentially for both of the above reasons. If a real person is browsing a directory and that directly has a link to your site it's possible that person visits your site. Even if a real person doesn't visit search engines can see that the directory is "casting a vote" for your site. However many directories exist for the sole purpose of creating links and search engines realize many aren't honest votes or recommendations. Search engines are smart enough to not count that link in a way that helps your page rank.

The end result is that directories can be a way to build links that point into your site, however the majority of directories aren't going to help much. Few people seem to actually use directories any more and search engines aren't going to count just any old link. I think it makes sense to find some directories specifically about the topic of your site and submit to them. At the same time I wouldn't get carried away with it. Don't obsess over it or feel like you need those links at any cost. I wouldn't submit to a directory that required me to link back to it for example.