Article Summary – Benefits of submitting to a web directory and tips for making the perfect submission

The perfect question to be branded as a newbie at any webmaster forums

How does submitting to web directories help my sites ?

One cannot blame them as this was exactly the thought that came to my mind when I submitted my link to the first free web directory at V7N.

Now times have changed and being in constant touch with web directories and issues (thanks to Info Vilesilencer an DP), I am now in a position to answer that question myself. :-)

This question is time and again asked across webmaster forums and so i decided to write this article explaining the benefits of submitting to a free web directory and the points to keep in mind for making the perfect submission.

Defining a web directory:

A web directory is technically a bookmark site where weblinks are categorized under various topics. It is like an online yellow pages where a visitor tends to looks for a website as per his topic of requirement.

Think of yourself as looking for a plumber in the yellow pages, wherein, you locate the topic of your requirement (in these case plumbers) in the index and flip through the pages to find the contact of the resource. In the case of a web directory, it happens online with the use of mouse clicks.

Web Directory as defined in the wiki ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_directory

There are many web directories which offer free inclusion, wherein, one can submit their site, and have editors review these submissions for possible inclusion in their directory index.

If you are a marketing and a big budget guy, you may argue that submitting to free web directories would be a pointless activity and may also try to equate it as a loss of time and effort.

I would disagree as I do believe that there are still many quality free web directory that can increase the link popularity of your website that would in turn benefit your SERPs.

Traffic coming from these free web directories would be minimum, but traffic is the byproduct of your submission to these directories.

When I say a byproduct, I would mean that as and when these directories approve your links in their index, each addition of your website link would increase your backlink count which would in turn help you raise your keyword ranking, helping you bring the best targeted traffic for free via the Search Engines.

Mind you, traffic otherwise can be very expensive.

Web directories are also capable of passing pagerank to the listings in their indexes.

In this matter, always ensure that the directory to which you are submitting your site is SEO Friendly.

A SEO friendly directory is one that does not use redirected link or the nofollow attribute in the linking code. These tags and method are used to prevent the SE’s from crawling a link and due to which these links are not counted a legit backlink, rendering it useless.

Note: however if a web directory provided you with much exposure in the form of traffic, I would suggest submitting to these directory even if it is not SEO friendly.

Now, if you agree that submitting to free web directories can be useful, you might want to go hunting for a list of them.

Thanks to a few people you need not waste your time looking for free web directories.

These are the lists that i use:

* http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly.php ~ with an excel download

* http://www.directorycritic.com/free-directory-list.html

For a list of the best paid directories you can use the Strongest Directories List created by Aviva

~ Preparing for the perfect submission :

Note : If you read this carefully I can guarantee that you would not have to worry about getting approve in a web directory, unless of course you own a porno, MFA, under construction or a zero/no content site.

Submitting to a directory can be useless if the submission details are not tweaked to the optimum.

Overlooking a minor detail can increase your rejection rate, making your submission pointless and a complete waste of time.

The basic details that one needs to enter in a web directory inclusion/ submission request form are:

1. Anchor text/ Title text (most important)

2. Website url:

3. Description:

4. Name of the submitter :

5. E-mail

One can also find a few extra fields namely

1. Meta Description

2 Keywords:

Now I would explain the procedure of formatting the submission data and a few pointer to be keep in mind for effective preparing the same.

Step 1: Choosing a category

The first step in submitting to a directory is to choose the most appropriate category.

When choosing a category, always drill down to the most appropriate category and do not submit to the top categories if more specific one are available.

The exposure may me more but generally the top categories would be reserved for paid submissions and free web directory owners would have mentioned that in their submission guidelines.

However, in case a directory has limited categories one cannot help submitting to the top categories.

So if i were to submit my directory blog, i would choose:

Index >> Web Directories » >> Directory Resources and not the top category Index >> Web Directories »

Step 2 : Choosing an optimized Anchor Text

The anchor/title text is the most important part of the submission as the anchor text determines how the search engines interprets the content of your web site.

More about the anchor text: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_text

In brief, if you use the keywords “Directory Blog” as the anchor text for the web directory submission , the search engine with read it as your content description and the next time some searched for “directory blog” in the Search Engines, there is a fine possibility that your link would feature in the top results.

It is always better to have keywords in your anchor text but do not over do it and submit with a title like this “Cars, Used Cars, Buy new cays” for a car classified site.

This is a form of anchor text spamming and is a case of instant rejection no matter how good the actual website may be.

Ideally one should restrict the use of anchor text to a maximum of 5 words.

Note ~ Research the best anchor text for your website before starting the submission, it is a one time investment.

For directories that do not place any restriction on the use of anchor text, I would ideally submit directorytrials.com with the anchor text “Directory Blog“; and in case of directories like Dmoz that make it mandatory to include the official title of the website, it would make more sense if I would use the anchor text as “Directory Trials“.

p.s.I would hook up a article which explains the procedure of selecting an Anchor Text, as soon as I find a good one.

Step 3 : Entering the website url

Note: Some directories may need that you do not include the http:// in the url and just submit as www.yoursite.com, incase nothing is mentioned you should submit the url in the format http://www.yoursite.com

Always submit the homepage of your website and donot submit individual pages, however, in some directories you will find the option of submitting deeplinks (indiviual pages of a website).

For such directories, submit the most revelant and the best content pages for inclusion consideration.

Also, do not capitalize the words in your url as http://www.MYSITE.com or http://www.MySite.com, it is seen as another form of spam by web directory owners.

Some directories alsi offer deeplink submissions; e.g

Step 4 : Writing a description

In my opinion the use of the description is over hyped up and I see no point in spamming this aspect of a web directory submission. Filling your description field with keywords is in now way going to help your SERPs and if you plan to get traffic form a directory search features (people using the search feature of a web directory), well that highly arguable.

Example of a spammy description for a free stuff site :

A free stuff site with freebies, free coupons, free wallpapers, free samples, free web hosting, free this and that and on and on….. (how does this help, I am clueless)

This is a classic example of a spammy description that most free web directory owners encounter everyday. Just one look and its rejected.

An ideal description should keep the following points in mind:

1. A description should briefly talk about the most important content of the website with adequate use of keywords.

2. Do not use incorrect grammar and unnecessary capitalization of the first letter of each word.

3. An ideal description should be anywhere between 150-200 characters. However, some directories would only approve a maximum of 75 characters or a minimum of 500 characters.

4. Do not use first person language in the description, words like I, we , us, me should be avoided. Lets your website content speak for itself.

5. Avoid promotional language like “we are the best”.

6. Do not included the url in the description or try to use html codes in the description.

Once you format a description based on these recommendations, your chances of approval would greatly increase.

An ideal description for a free stuff site (with optimum use of keywords) would be as such:

- A free stuff bookmark site with links to all the freebies and free deals available on the internet, categorized under various topics of interest.

More examples:

A short description – A free stuff bookmark site with clickable access to free deals.

A long description – A free stuff bookmark site with links to all the freebies and free deals available on the internet, categorized under various topics of interest. The site provided clickable access to free deals and the best offers available, with a regularly updated database of free stuff links

Step 5 : Entering your name

Ideally enter your full name and avoid forum ids or nicknames.

Step 6: Entering a contact e-mail

People may think twice when it comes to submitting their primary e-mail for the purpose of directory submission and I totally agree with that.

There are some directory owners among us who use the submitters e-mail to promote spam and we can’t do anything about it, as identifying such directories would be a very difficult task if not impossible.

So the only alternative left is to use a free e-mail. However, I would not recommend that.

In my opinion an email that matches the domain name would get you more approvals.

Before you jump to a conclusion, let me explain why I said that.

Never use your primary e-mail but instead make one only for the purpose of directory submissions. With my hosting I get 500 free -email, so making a new one would not be that difficult.

This small detail can increase your approval rates by 3-5% or may be more.

This is because a free web directory owner would generally be trying to sell a service or a product via his approval mails. So if he is sure that the mail would be reaching his primary customer, he would think twice before rejecting a submission for an ignorable detail.

Personally, I have been successful in promoting my directory submission service very effectively via the approval mails send out from my free web directories everyday.

It’s just a psychology thing that definitely affects me and probably other directory owners as well, while we review submissions to our web directories.

P.s.If you are a website owner using a third party directory submission service, this is one way you can keep a check on their submission activities.

Other fields in a submission form:

While submitting to web directories there may be some other non mandatory fields as well, namely “Meta description” and “Keywords”

- Meta Description

Some scripts support an individual detail page example: http://www.linksholder.com/detail/link-205.html

The content added in the Meta description field goes into making the Description on these detail pages.

- Keywords

This field solves your problem of description spamming as you can spam this field with all your keywords.

As far as i know, these keywords (more popularly known as tags) are used to assist the search feature within the web directory.

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So that’s just about it.

Following these rules would ensure that you achieve a near 100% acceptance in the submitted free web directories.

Hope this was helpful to all those who read it.

Myth: Free web directories are useless

Fact: Proper submission to multiple free web directories can easily bump your Google PR to 3 or a 4 and also provide you with a base for achieving the exclusive PR 6 / 7

On a personal note, I have experienced improvement in the SERPs for primary keywords for my clients as well as for myself after a batch of free web directory submission.

Spend a few hours and trust me its going to be worth it.

Website promotion could never have been easier. :-)

Download the Video : Teaching you how to submit your websites to directories nice and quick

Thanks to http://www.zenithdesign.net/ for the video contribution.