SEO Friendly Directories

Getting your web site listed on directories can be good for search engine optimization (SEO), while increasing direct traffic at the same time. However, not all directories are SEO friendly. When you need to determine if a site can be used for this purpose, please refer to the following SEO Friendly Directory Checklist:

- Do the directory’s links go directly to web sites? Look at one of the categories and see if (point at a link while looking at the status bar) the links go to a redirection/tracking page or directly to the sites they refer to. Directories with direct links are SEO friendly, as search engines can easily identify these links and their destination.

- Does the directory have a Google PageRank level of at least one? You can check this by entering its URL in a web site like checkpr.org. Directories with no/zero PageRank are either too new/obscure to affect SEO, or have been penalized by Google for allowing too much “link spam”. Be careful not to use “FFA” link sites or directories full of miscategorized pages.

- Are web site names used as the titles (anchor text) for links? It is more SEO friendly when directories use the title (or other relevant words) in the text of their links, rather than using a URL, an image, or a generic phrase like “Click Here”. However, gaining links with less desirable anchor text still benefits SEO efforts, just not as much.

- Does the directory not require a reciprocal link? Some directories demand a reciprocal link in return for approval, while others make it optional or don’t ask for it. It is better to gain listings on directories that don’t require reciprocal linking; generally, one-way inbound links to your web site provide greater SEO benefits.

- Is it possible for search engine “spiders” (a.k.a. “robots”) to navigate/crawl the directory and find your link? The majority of directories are search spider friendly. However, if the site can only be navigated using animated/javascript menus (and there is no alternative method like a Site Map), this could be a problem.

There are far too many SEO friendly directories to list here, but they include Yahoo! Directory, URLdirectory.org, DMOZ.org, WebWorldIndex.com, and FreeWebsiteDirectory.com. It is especially important to be listed on DMOZ.org; not only does DMOZ/ODP have an impact upon SEO, but it also provides some of the results for many small search engines.