How A Reputable Web Directory Can Boost Traffic & SEO

Maybe your marketing agency has mentioned web directories. Maybe you've even submitted a URL to one. But even if you've never so much as heard the words, you can benefit from what an online directory has to offer. In this HUB, we'll cover everything about online directories: what they are, how they work, and (most importantly) what benefits they can give you and how to use them most efficiently.

When you submit your webpage URL to the right web directory, you'll get click throughs from the web directory itself. These click throughs come from visitors going to your website, learning about your company, and browsing your products and services. But more than that, a web directory adds backlinks, links from outside pages to a page that is part of your website. Backlinks are one of the factors that search engines use to determine search rankings: the more backlinks to your site, the higher your page lands in the rankings. Read on to learn how these benefits work, and how you can harness them for your website.

Think of a web directory as a telephone directory, but on the internet. In a telephone directory, you look up a specific service or good that you want, and you'll see the names of different individuals and companies that provide that good or service. You are then free to select the one you want, and the contact information is available immediately. Call them up, and you're on your way.

A web directory does almost the exact same thing. It provides many different subheadings just like a phone book, but instead of a phone number, it gives you a web address. Click the link provided, and you'll be directed to the webpage, where whatever you're looking for is available directly. It's a great, straightforward way to find what you're looking for fast.

It can also be an easy way to evaluate the merits of different websites. If two companies are offering the same product, it can be hard to compare them side by side and determine which is best. In addition, the two companies are unlikely to provide any kind of cross linking - you wouldn't be able to find one through a link from the other. But with a web directory there is no guesswork. You know both of them exist, and that both of them present viable options. It's up to you to decide which is the best, based on the details of what you're looking for.

However, not all web directories are created equal. There are two main types of directories. The first is a free directory, where submissions may take months or years to make it past the screening process (provided that they are ever looked at and seriously screened at all). All too often, free directories make it a practice to accept every submission they receive, and become so backlogged that they can't manage all the links that they receive. They hardly have time to make sure that the links lead to a valid web address, let alone that the information, goods, or services provided by that website are useful.

The second type is a paid directory, like Goongee, where submitted links are approved almost instantaneously. Once you fill out the form and submit your website, you should receive almost immediate feedback about the eligibility of your link. Although it is rare for a paid directory to turn down a good link, be sure that your chosen directory has a full refund policy if your link is not added to the directory.

Paid directories are typically more selective than free directories. The best web directories are hand edited, with each website specially screened to make sure it is relevant, interesting, and well written. If your website is a good representation of your business, it is almost certain that a paid directory will accept it and your link will be added. If a good paid directory turns down your website, you might consider updating it, or possibly making it a better professional face for your company. Particularly with hand edited directories, you are getting feedback from a real human - consider it carefully before you choose to disregard it.

Once your link is approved, it should be added to the directory immediately. With paid directories, this is almost always true. With free directories, the wait to have your link added to the directory can be even longer than the wait for approval. It can be an exhausting process, and in the meantime you're missing out on all the benefits that a web directory provides. With a paid directory, the process is hassle free, and you get everything a web directory offers in a matter of days. With a free directory, you might not see any payoff for weeks or months.

Backlinks are one of the key elements of a strong SEO presence. Why? Because backlinks, inbound links from other sites that lead traffic back to your site, are one of the major elements relied upon by search engines to determine rankings. The more backlinks you have leading to your page, the more value a search engine assigns to your website, and the higher you are in the rankings.

But not all web directories have the same effect on search engine rankings. The more selective a web directory is, the more weight the search engines will assign to it. Typically, the free directories are the least selective, and therefore the search engines tend to give them the least rankings consideration.

Paid directories are more particular about the links they accept, leading to an overall higher quality web directory. When you list your website with a high quality, paid web directory, your website will get an automatic boost in search engine rankings. When used properly, a web directory can be a crucial element of your search engine optimization strategy. Remember, you may only get a handful of new readers each month coming from the directory, but you could get 10 times that number from the boost you'll have in the search engine optimization rankings.

Search engine optimization isn't the only benefit a web directory offers. Just as a listing in a phone book helps bring new clients to businesses, when you submit a URL to a web directory, it can help funnel new traffic to your website. Anyone who looks at your link on another website and then decides to follow that link to your page is called a "click through" because they are clicking to your website through a link on another page. Web directories add traffic to your webpage, boosting readership.

When you have more people visiting your site, you can expect revenue to go up. Web directories do a particularly good job of generating readers with a predetermined interest in what's on your web page - because the listings they offer are classified under general subheadings, the readers know a bit about what they're going to find before they visit. The web directory will direct interested readers to your site in addition to exposing curious visitors.

When you submit your URL to a web directory, you will be asked to fill out a short form. Depending on the quality of the web directory, you may be able to write a short paragraph describing your website. Never underestimate the power of this short paragraph! Even though it may seem like a throwaway blurb, this bit of writing is often the first thing potential visitors see about your website, apart from your name. Take the time to write something representative and interesting, something that really entices the average reader to click through and see your site.

Well, it depends on which type of directory you pick. If you choose a free directory, then you're going to wait weeks or months before you see your website added to the directory. Until your link is added, you can't get any new visitors from the directory, nor can you reap the search engine optimization benefits that come with backlinks that web directories provide. Even after your link is finally added, you won't see dramatic SEO results: search engines give less weight to free directories, so your ranking is unlikely to get much higher from a free directory listing alone.

But a paid directory, like Goongee, is a very different story. When you submit to a paid directory, you'll get a response back in less than 48 hours. The best directories will be hand edited and allow you to post a short paragraph about your website, providing an even greater attraction to viewers who are considering visiting your page. Essentially, the directory gives you a miniature advertisement - if you use it wisely, you'll get great results.

But apart from the benefits of click throughs, the more selective paid directories have more weight with top search engines like Google. The engines know that paid directories can be more selective, and so the search engines trust those directories to weed out the bad or irrelevant links. Those that remain are ranked more highly in the search results because the engine trusts the good directories to list the best.

If you use it to its full advantage, a paid directory is absolutely worth the expense. A free directory, on the other hand, almost always ends up being more trouble and hassle than it's worth. Never underestimate the power of a web directory for creating click throughs and building backlinks - no matter what your business or industry, it's always worth looking into a directory listing.