The benefit of One-Way links from Web Directories

There are so many rules that search engines follow to determine which site gets ranked number one for certain search words and so on and so forth. However, one of these criteria includes links so that is something you should focus on if you are interested in increasing your traffic and rankings with the search engines.

You may not know how to go about getting one way links to your website, but it really is pretty easy. All you need to do is start listing your website in different web directories and before long you will have plenty of links pointing back to your website. This is really important and something you want to focus on because if you do not have links to your site then getting ranked high in the search engines will be difficult.

Why Do you Need Links for the Search Engines?

Nobody knows for sure exactly what formula the many search engines use to rank websites, but it is known that links to your website make up a big percentage of where your website is ranked. Obviously, the higher your website is ranked in the search engines the more visitors will click on your site and the more traffic you will have. Because of this the success of your website just might depend on how many links you have pointing back to your site on the Internet. Think of it as a popularity contest and the website with the most links is the most popular and wins a high ranking in the search engines as a result. So, the higher your site ranks in the search engines the more visitors your site will receive and the more money you will make! One way links and search engines rankings have a great cause and effect relationship so you should get started today.

Web directories are one of the best way to get the needed one way links to your website and they offer many benefits to your site other than helping your site get a high ranking with the search engines. Also, web directories all you to submit your site to a category and then a human edits your site information in order to approve it for the directory. Many people use directories to find information and websites as opposed to search engines, so when you use a web directory or web directories for linking purposes you will also be able to attract traffic due to the individuals who visit the directory looking for website.

When you use website directories to list your website or even websites you will quickly realize an increase in your sites rankings with the search engines as well as increased traffic due to this as well as traffic from the directory. GO ahead and increase your business and website traffic and start listing your site with the many web directories today!

What is a Web Directory

A web directory in it's simplest form can be thought of as a human indexed search engine. Humans can visit a directory website and make resource suggestions through an online form. A human editor will review the suggestion and add it to the directory provided it meets the submission guidelines for the directory.

General vs Niche Directories

There are two major types of web directories on the internet, general and niche. A general web directory will have it's resources sorted into a large number of categories covering a wide range of topics. Niche web directories tend to focus on one subject with resources sorted into a smaller number of highly related categories.

Purpose of Web Directories

The major purpose of a web directory is to provide directory users with a categorized list of high quality websites from a chosen field or industry. With the advent of search engines as the preferred method for finding internet resources the importance of directories as information provider's has diminished. But, as search engine technology and the field of search engine optimization have evolved, a new use for web directories has materialized.

Directories and Link Popularity

Current search engine ranking algorithms place a huge importance on back links to a website as an indicator of it's importance on the internet (known as link popularity). Search engine's value links to websites from web directories because these directories have human editors. Having your website listed in a respected web directory is an indicator to the search engines that your website has met a certain standard for quality and is a site worth linking to.

Search engine's also tend to serve up category pages from trusted web directories near the top of their search results so having your website listed in as many high quality web directories as you can should be part of any website marketing plan, especially when your website is new.

Getting your website listed in a web directory is also an excellent way to build high quality, search engine friendly back links to your website and gain targeted web traffic from both directory users and the boost to your search engine rankings from the increased link popularity of your website.

Please note, it is worth taking the time to carefully review a directory prior to making a submission. Not all directories are search engine friendly or provide traffic to their listings so it is up to the submitter to gather as much information about the web directory submission guidelines, linking structure and reputation prior to submitting a resource for inclusion.

What is a Web Directory?

Do you have a website and are looking for more traffic? If so you don’t have to despair trying to figure out how you will direct traffic to your site because there is a tried and true way to increase your traffic in no time! The best method to get more traffic is with one way links. You may have heard of reciprocal links in the past, but that requires you to host a link on your site as well. With one way links there is a link to your site, but you don’t have to host a link as well! You might be wondering how you can possibly get other sites to host a link to your site without you having to host a link back, but fortunately it is not only possible but really easy with web directories!

One Way Links and Web Directories

Website directories are simply directories that focus on compiling links to other websites and then categorizing them. There are thousands of web directories on the Web that will allow you as a website owner to submit your website information and link to have included in the web directory. Then, a human will review the submission to approve it for the web directory. Then, your site will have a new one way link in the web directory that will help you reach more people and ultimately get more traffic. Since there are so many web directories you can spend a lot of time submitting your information in order to receive those important one way links. Or else you could hire someone to do it for you. Amazingly, there are many online companies that focus on submitting your link to website directories and since they already know the web directories and how to go about the process they can do it fast and cheap!

Since there are so many directories out there and you want as many links as possible then this might be the best bet for you. Trying to link your site with all of the web directories on the web will take a lot of your time and you won’t be able to focus on other projects or business. Of course, if you have a lot of free time then you can visit all of the web directories you want to submit your website to get a one way link. That is completely up to you, just know there are companies that offer this service for a very reasonable rate.

Some of the most famous web directories are Yahoo! Directory, Open Directory Project, as well as LookSmart, so you will want to start with these. Of course, there are plenty of other web directories to choose from and you might need to do a little online research to figure out which ones are best. Just remember, if you want more traffic for your website start placing some one way links to your site in web directories and watch the visitors come.

Directories Post Big Daddy

Unless you are a webmaster or attentive to the developments in SEO there is a very real chance you do not know of “Big Daddy”, but Big Daddy definitely knows about you –or at least your website. Google’s latest update is impacting directories all over the world. Described by Google as not a mere algorithm, but a ‘major infrastructure update’, Big Daddy (satirically referred to on some bulletin boards as ‘Big Brother) seems to be an oddly appropriate name for a Google update which sent the SEO and web development world into total uproar over the ranking and indexing of their directories post Big Daddy; that is if one considers the explosion of webmaster bulletin board activity on that topic since the updates implementation. So intense and rapid was the discourse come mid-March that Google engineer and self-appointed webmaster liaison, Matt Cutt, advised Google to set up a team to address the ‘supplemental’ problem faced, for no clear reason.

For this to make much sense for us less specialized folk, some rudimentary knowledge the Google search machine is required. At its most basic, Google serves an indexing and categorizing function so that when people search for something, certain algorithms have already determined (are always determining) where they will take the viewer to look. This indexing is performed by the Googlebot 2.1 and the Mozilla Bot, both of which ‘crawl’ directories while applying content-analyzing algorithms to web content and code. These algorithms determine, among other things, which directories go into the main index (which is where you want to be) and which into the supplemental index, referred to in webmaster jargon as ‘Supplemental Hell’ since not only does it exclude its contents from searches, but is notoriously difficult to escape once thrown in.

The functionality of a special corner for inactive websites, spam sites, and other nuisances extant on the web is clear. The current problem and essential source of confusion, however, is that active, original, and non-spam directories, post Big Daddy, are being cast into the supplemental flames for no apparent reason. As one of the many people to comment in response to Matt Cutt’s ‘Gone Supplemental’ blog post of March 22, 2006, “Our site has been redesigned…If I do a search…most url’s are from our old site marked as supplemental results. Google is hardly indexing our new site…” And the problem was not limited to just one directory here or there, but thousands around the world, as the following comment, one of many, indicates. “I have a site with 4 sub domains including www. All of them have active content…all of them are supp and I do not see any return at all nor is google heavily crawling them. We are talking about 300k+ pages in the supp index for some reason.”

If it has not occurred to you to do so yet, it may be a good idea to see where sit your directories post Big Daddy. To see if you are directories are affected, simply paste the URL as a Google search. If the page comes up as missing it has fallen from main index grace. If this is the case with your directories post Big Daddy the first thing you will want to do is look for any code or content which might cause the bots to reject the page.

Any number of things from spam (or what the bots code as spam), hidden text, and copied or ‘scraped’ content (closely paraphrased with the same keywords) can push a directory into Supplemental Hell. Depending in the use and complexity of your directories, the services of an SEO expert or organization might come in handy to take a look at your directories post Big Daddy. While some webmasters are reporting a return to normal, others are still faced with difficulties regarding their directories post Big Daddy. While Big Daddy is drawing attention to the need for more and better communication between Google, the web design world, and users, it may be some time yet before all the kinks are worked out and fluid channels of communication for problems like these are in place. For now the best one can do is pay close attention to the indexing of their directories post Big Daddy.

Choosing The Right Directory

When you're looking for the right directory to list in or to use for research, it can be a nightmare. Everyone thinks of Yahoo!, of course, but there are quite literally thousands of other directories out there, many specialized, others not. How can you tell the difference?

By being educated on what you're looking for. When you're looking for the right directories to list in, use the following guidelines.

1. Everyone lists in free directories. Why not? You can list in as many as you want, and you're not losing anything by doing so. Free directories include Yahoo! and Dmoz, as well as hundreds of others who either use their own listings or license listings from Yahoo! and Dmoz. You shouldn't stop here, though, especially if you're running a commercial website.

2. The more directories you're listed in, the more inbound links to your website you've got. And the more inbound links your website has, the higher the search engines will rank your page. Make sure when you create your directory listing to use your keywords in the text; in some search engines, this will help your ranking as well.

3. Some of the free directories are not being listed well by Google and other standard search engines. This is not because of some nefarious competitive advantage, but because the free directories often look like search engine spam or because they don't optimize their sites well. The paid directories are careful to watch for this; after all, the more hits they get, the more they can charge for their services.

4. After listing in all the free directories – which you should, as it costs you nothing but a little time – you should start listing in the better paid directories. Even though you have to pay to get in them, they give you an edge that the free ones don't. For one thing, they're more exclusive, and customers won't be looking at your competitors as much. For another, as noted above, the directory will probably place higher in a search engine. And they tend to be specialized. If you sell medical equipment, listing in a medical equipment directory will almost certainly be a worthwhile investment.

5. If you list in really good and specific directories with proven traffic from customers you want to draw, you're investing your money in the right place. A few good quality links will draw the perfect customers for your business. Finding the right directory is hard, but search for directories that specialize in your industry and in industries that cross into yours; for instance, if you provide medical equipment, don't overlook listings for scientific and laboratory equipment.

6. The next generation of directories is here now. With sites like MSN's Small Business Directory, targeted searching for exactly what you want is easier than ever before. In addition, many of the newer directories offer you additional small business tools, more information, specialized content for your industry, and many other services. You'll only find these with paid directories.