Web Directories - Quick Guide
Another confusing topic for many people is the difference between directories and search engines. Below is a quick explanation.
Directories
What is a directory?
A directory is a catagorised list of web sites. The sites listed within the directories are often reviewed by human beings. The web’s main “general” directories are DMOZ and Yahoo. Being listed in these directories within the right category(ies) is very important for the visibility of a web site.
What are specialist directories?
Specialist directories list web sites relevant for a particular sector. Thousands of these directories exist. It is very useful to get listed in a directory that is relevant to your business as the link to your site will improve your search engine results.
It is important to choose directories that:
1. Are well known within your industry. These are more often than not the on-line versions of well established magazines.
2. Are well indexed by the search engines for your key words. In effect you are going to try and ride on the back of their popularity in order to increase the visibility of your own site.
3. Attract a large number of visitors. Most professional sites that charge for advertising or directory listings have audited figures.
These are guidelines. Obviously if a directory is free and relevant to your business then you’ll list your site regardless of its visibility or statistics.
From a search engine optimisation (SEO) perspective you simply require a link from these sites to your own. In most cases a low cost directory listing will suffice. However, depending upon other business objectives you may wish to consider advertising on these sites. A word of warning though, do not expert such advertisements to bring more people to your site. Click through rates (CTR) vary between sites but the average CTR is now less that 1% (ie. less that 1% of people seeing the advert will click to visit the web site). However, if your objective is to raise brand awareness then on-line advertising can be useful.
Tags: dmoz, search engine optimisation, web directories, Web Marketing, yahoo