A web directory is similar to the yellow pages offline. The goal is to archive business or services in a format that is easy to navigate and a resource for a consumer. A great example of this is the Yahoo directory. Linking from directories is one of the oldest methods of getting traffic and inbound links to your website. In order for a directory to help your site ranking you must know your dos and don’ts prior to submissions. First take some time and review the directory; is it quality, what’s the directories page rank? Look at some of the directories inbound links; are they from quality sites and how many are there? Also does the directory itself spider well and rank in search engines?

If you have read our articles on ethical linking than you will have an understanding on how to evaluate website. A directory is a website and should be evaluated the same way.  For example if a directory doesn’t have sufficient content then it can appear to be a link farm to search engines. A strong directory consists of quality unique coding, and the listings should have unique descriptions. Some of the more powerful directories are niche or local directories. Like some of the web design directories out there, they have content describing the different kinds of design like, graphic, logo and print and they also contain designers who have submitted their business profile with good content. So as a helpful tool we have listed some recommended directories to start. For other directories, we say again, always remember to analyze before you submit.

www.botw.org
www.dmoz.org
www.dir.yahoo.com
www.anywho.com