Web Directories in Brief

Web Directories in Brief:

* What is web directories?
Web directories is organize of websites which serve as a catalog of links sorted by relevant category topics.In the earlier days, when search engines weren’t as popular, directories served as the main method of finding relevant sites. But nowadays, search engines like Google and Yahoo have taken over and serve as the main medium that connects users with what they’re looking for.

* Type of Web Directories:
There are several kinds of directories as below:
• General Directory - Free Directory, Paid Directory, Reciprocal Directory
• Niche Directory
• Deep Links Directory

Web directories offer links for free, for a fee or in exchange for a link (Reciprocal links).There are general directories which categorize websites based on their core focus. Some directories concentrate only on specific fields and list only the related websites called Niche Directories. Some Directories allow inner page submittion know as Deep link directories.Many directories are free and do not charge for review and listing, while a few allow only paid submissions.

* why should you need of submit site to web directories?
There are a few answers as belows:
• To get your website indexed
• Targeting specific keywords / phrases
• To get one way links -> Improvement in Search Engine Rankings And increase the link popularity of your site.
• Traffic (not such a benefit with most directories)


* What is an SEO-Friendly Directory?
A Directory have a quality which is easily or better way to “read” or “detect” by search engines. When submitting your site to a web directory, you’d want to make sure whether the link you get from the directory would be counted by the search engines. There are quite a few directories that give out links which are not counted by the search engines, i.e. they are not seo-friendly links.

* what would make a directory seo-friendly?
There are a few things a directory needs to do to ensure its seo-friendly:
• There shouldn’t be a META no follow or no index tag on the link pages
• The links shouldn’t have a ‘rel=nofollow’ tag on them
• The links shouldn’t be javascript-generated
• The url of the links page contains too many parameters
• The links shouldn’t be re-directed


* The difference between a Link Farm and a Web Directory:
A link farm is mere collection of links which are not categorized under relevant topics. Anyone and everyone can submit their links and there is little or no editorial review of these links. In essence, these links have been built for the sole purpose of manipulating the search engines and not designed for the end user. One can identify a link farm from its link pages, where there are hundreds of links on one page and all of them linking to out sites of various topics. There is basically no meaningful purpose or intention behind the links on the page.

A web directory, on the other hand, is not only a collection of links but the links have been categorized under relevant topics and sites are listed only after they undergo editorial review. Directories are useful to the user in that if a user wanted to find a site under a particular topic, it would be easy to go to the appropriate category and choose from the selection of links. All links in a web directory are well-categorized and meaningfully sorted out. Not every link that is submitted to a directory will necessarily be listed as there is always some kind of supervision over the links allowed in a directory. Having a link on a web directory is more value by search engine compare to having a link on a link farm.so,It’s advisable to avoid having links on the "Free For All”(FFA) Links pages.

* The Fact About Web Directories Links Effects Site Ranking: Search engines gives value to Web Directories Links and those link effect site ranking is fact as belows proof:

This is referenced from Google’s Guidelines for Webmasters:
When your site is ready completely:Have other related sites link to yours.
Source: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

This is referenced from Yahoo’s guidelines Keep up a correspondence with webmasters and other content providers and build wealthy linkages between connected pages.
Source: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/ranking/ranking-02.html

Another quote from Google’s about Seo-friendly directory Suggest (submit) your site to related directories such as the Open Directory assignment and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.
Source: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

Thus, Guidelines of Google tell that you must submit your site to appropriate directories. What makes a directory related to your site? For that,Let's take one example,If you had a website that sold T-cloth, you would have your website listed in a category like “Shopping –> Clothing” or something similar.