Five Tips to Increase Directory Approval Rating

Even after the recent pagerank update caused many sites to have a decrease in their pagerank it is still very important to submit to directories. I am not saying to go out and submit to thousands of general directories, make sure that they are related to your websites niche. In my case I found a bunch of quality blog directories and submitted there. Of course some did not approve me for a number of reasons, but here are some tips that I used to increase the chance of getting in at some of the best directories. Keep in mind that paid directories to not guarantee free inclusion, sometimes even these will deny you if the terms are not followed. Always look for Deep Link Directories over the regular ones as these carry a far better SEO benefit even though the price is a little higher to get into them. Most Deep Link Directories are paid and have a fee to get listed in them.

Keep the Wording Simple

Most directories do not want a long drawn out title that looks like a sales pitch. Keep it simple and use the keywords that you are looking to boost in the rankings. For instance I was using SEO and Marketing Tips as my title. It was simple and straight to the point. When it comes to descriptions this it up to you. Most directories prefer longer descriptions, about 200-300 characters should do.

Follow The Rules

The Terms Of Service are very important, read them over become submitting your site. If the directory requires the website to be written in english and contain no adult or illegal content then be darn sure that your website complies. Otherwise you are just wasting time and if they allow these sites then the search engines are likely to hit you with a penalty for being listed with them. Even if not mentioned every directory wants to contain quality websites. Nobody wants ones that are on free templates, filled with spam, or made for adsense. Have a friend or family member review your site become submitting it, if they do not like it then a webmaster defiantly will not either.

Use The Correct E-Mail

Using the @yourwebsite.com for submitting to all directories will increase approval rates for a few reasons. It shows that you indeed are the owner of the website and builds a higher level of trust in your website with the directory owner. Without him talking to you it proves to him that you own the site and are not one of the spammers that are too often clogging the submissions to directories.

Submit A Limited Amount

Submitting to thousands of unrelated directories will do no help. You also will have a very tough time tracking which ones approved you and which ones did not. Submit to about 10-15 directories at first. Submitting to many at once may cause Google to penalize your websites search engine positions (SERPS). Nobody wants to end up getting hurt from submitting to directories.

Use Directory Lists and Services

These can be helpful and save time rather then finding them all by yourself and submitting for endless hours. Some may like submitting it themselves, using autofill you can submit to most directories in under a minute. With the services for a few dollars someone will submit to a large number of directories manually. Most of these services are poor quality and submitted to a large mass of directories which is not what you want. I have been experimenting with them and the results are not clear how helpful they are at this time. By subscribing to my feed you will have instant access to the list of best paid web directories and the best free web directories.

Posted in: Blog, Increase Traffic, Make Money Online, SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Web Directories | Date: November 27th, 2007 | Posted by: Derek | 1 Comment »