eBusinessmap

Since last episode talked about paid directories and this episode will talk about free directories I thought this excerpt from Matt Cutt’s blog was interesting. Even though he talks about reporting paid links most of the time he does provide this gem of knowledge regarding directories:

Q: Hey, as long as we’re talking about directories, can you talk about the role of directories, some of whom charge for a reviewer to evaluate them?

A: I’ll try to give a few rules of thumb to think about when looking at a directory. When considering submitting to a directory, I’d ask questions like:
- Does the directory reject urls? If every url passes a review, the directory gets closer to just a list of links or a free-for-all link site.
- What is the quality of urls in the directory? Suppose a site rejects 25% of submissions, but the urls that are accepted/listed are still quite low-quality or spammy. That doesn’t speak well to the quality of the directory.
- If there is a fee, what’s the purpose of the fee? For a high-quality directory, the fee is primarily for the time/effort for someone to do a genuine evaluation of a url or site.

Matt Cutts “joined Google as a software engineer in January 2000. He’s currently the head of Google’s Webspam team.” In other words, he’s the one in charge of natural search rankings at Google. He adjusts the alogorith to filter out “spammers” or people that are trying to take advantage of Google.

With that as an intro let’s talk about the next two ways to build backlinks.

STEP 3: Free Directories
It’s important to remember the role of directories in internet history. Back in the ’90’s directories were much more useful. Search Engines weren’t very advanced and the web was still relatively new. Directories were a way for to collect the best websites in one place. But today directories are on their way out. Links from directories aren’t as useful as they used to be. That’s not to say they aren’t important and you’d be wasting your time, it’s just important to know how they are viewed in the current environment.

With that said, you can find a big list of free directories here: http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly.php . I found their Excel download very helpful. Click here to get the Excel file.

These are some of the top general topic directories:
DMOZ 8
Cyber Find 6
Info-Listings 6
Jayde 6
Campusti 5
CANLinks 5
Clarib 5
Classifieds 1000 5
Domaining 5
Free Website Directory 5
Illumirate 5
My Green Corner 5
Prolink Directory 5
Search Sight 5
So Much 5
Submission 4 U 5
Turnpike 5

If you choose only one directory choose DMOZ. It’s rumored to be corrupt now(Shoemoney was recently extorted by an editor) but you can at least submit your site. If you’re lucky you won’t get a corrupt editor and your site will be included! This is a good starter list to get your site some backlinks.

Good Luck,

Matthew Ryan

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