Google recommends submitting your website to directories. Below is a screenshot from a very old Google’s blog post. This suggestion is from 2009 blog post but still valid for the current algorithms.
Google decides the quality of a directory by considering the following factors:
- Do they have a sound editorial system in place?
Check if the directory you’re considering to submit your website has a sound editorial system in place. Do they accept payment? Is yes, will they allow all websites which are ready to pay? If they accept all websites who are ready to pay then it’s not worth submitting your website in that directory. Bottom-line is, check your neighborhood; if the directory links to too many spammy websites then you should definitely avoid these sites.
- Do they have a relevant category for your website?
Make sure that there is a relevant category for your business in the directory. There is no point in submitting your web design company in a finance focused directory website. Relevancy is the key here. Do go around and submit your website to all the irrelevant directories. Never select an agency which has a link building chart which says, Month 1: 100 directory listing, Month 2: 100 directories… etc. Believe me, it’s definitely not worth it.
- Are they a fly-by-night directory?
Avoid directories which bought a high PR (or high domain authority) domain and convert it into a paid directory to milk some cash out of it. Check for their existence; ask questions like how long they are in business? Or use a website history archive site to check the previous versions of their site.
Though submitting your website in high quality directories will not boost your ranking overnight and you should not see this as the only link building opportunity. Try other off page optimizations to improve the ranking of your website. Don’t go with a readymade set of directories to submit your website, do proper research and build a custom list of directories to submit your website.
If you need any help with the research feel free to ask us and we can help you. Let us know the best directory sites which you would trust to submit your website in the comment section.
