Search Engine Marketing

Web Directories That You Shouldn’t Forget

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Pretty much everyone that does search engine marketing has heard about DMOZ, BOTW, and the Yahoo directory. There are thousands of similar directories too.

You may have your website listed in some of the better ones, you may have been rejected by others, and you might also be missing some.

Here are a few that you should try submitting to if you haven’t already.

Web Design Galleries

There are tons of websites that showcase the best designed Flash and CSS websites on the web. Don’t forget about Drupal, Symphony, Wordpress etc.

There are also lots of general web design blogs and websites so if you have a great looking design you should contact those sites too. It could mean a lot of links.

Business Card Directories

Another one to look at is business cards. If you have a great business card, like Paul Allen’s card from American Psycho, you could use it to get links from business card galleries.

There are even banner ad galleries too and pretty much anything to do with design or software. Jot down a quick list of the different types of software, CMS, and products you used and go chase the fanboys for those types of products. You’ll find links!

State, Country, & City-specific Directories

The best thing about city directories is that only people in your city can get in. If your competitor doesn’t live in your city then they wont be able to get those links.

There are lots of places to find location specific directories:

Web-directories.ws – regional directories
ISEdb.com – regional directories

You can also just search: “‘Your City’ web directory” or similar queries and it should return some nice results for you.

Don’t be afraid to spend a few dollars either. Many of the local and regional directories are free or under $10 so it should be worth your time.

Niche Specific Directories

There are lots of niche directories out there. You might have to do a bit of digging but you should be able to find a stack of them for your niche.

Sometimes you just need to query Google. For example, if I have a Mustang website, I would query “Mustang Web Directories” or “Mustang Websites” and it would return sites like this: http://www.mustang-power.com/mustangpower/directory/mustang-sites.htm or this: http://www.autossquare.com/Ford_Mustang.html – both of these sites might link out to another Mustang website.

Try compiling the list first then contacting or submitting to the directories. Otherwise you might get sidetracked.

There are directories and lists of websites for almost any niche… you just need to find them first!

Image Credit: Nickporjr

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18 comments

used tires August 4, 2010 - 2:19 am
Hey Gary, great post post, you are right we shouldn't forget about directories, in fact I would still argue that with the relevant directory submissions, you can still capitalize alot on it for your website, and gain a little extra link juice for your website! They might not work as good as they use to, but they still work. Till then, Jean
Car Rental August 4, 2010 - 3:40 am
Thanks ZK. As I can see some .org directories. it will be helpful for SEO to get links from .org.
Blueberry Fruit Juice August 4, 2010 - 1:03 pm
All these directories are really awesome. Link from such directories play the major role during search engine calculation. This is a really excellent read for me. Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw. Thanks for posting this useful article.
Laptop Briefcases August 4, 2010 - 3:07 pm
Yes directory submissions can still help build quality links that produce traffic and help search engine rankings. There are a lot of junk directories though. So some are obviously going to help a lot more than others. By the way, nice to see a fellow Vancouverite guest posting on here.
Start Getting Website Traffic August 4, 2010 - 3:55 pm
Thanks, interesting article, here's a few general directories from Wikipedia * AboutUs.org * Ansearch * Best of the Web Directory * JoeAnt * Open Directory Project (aka DMoz or ODP) * Starting Point Directory * World Wide Web Virtual Library (VLIB) * Yahoo! Directory
Mathew Day August 4, 2010 - 5:14 pm
Web directories can be effective for building links and getting more traffic. You provided us a great list of web directories, very helpful.
Lee Ka Hoong August 4, 2010 - 9:53 pm
I used to add my micro niche sites into some directories, I outsourced it for 1000 directories submission, but I didn't see they work, in term of ranking even the competition for the keyword is low. Perhaps the relevancy of the directory may affect too. Thanks for sharing the list. Regards, Lee
Property Marbella August 4, 2010 - 11:56 pm
Hi Gary And don´t forget one of the most important thing with many catalogs who really can give you good link juice back: When you are in a catalog – go back after a couple of days and click on your link – do that some time and your link goes up on the Top 10 list which many catalogs have – there is the really link juice, often is the list on the homepage or just one under it.
Tej Kohli August 5, 2010 - 12:30 am
I also use Web directories for listing first to our website , I had many times to get listed my website in Dmoz but unsuccessful
ter August 5, 2010 - 4:23 am
Thanks for this site. This will help me a lot in promoting my website. I learned fro this site on how I can promote my site on the web for free.
Bidet August 5, 2010 - 11:20 am
These are all great directories, thanks for sharing them. They are usually forgotten but they can provide great exposure and promotion to your site.
evan schulte August 6, 2010 - 10:54 am
Wow I never thought to submit to State and local I rarely do business unless it's online so I didn't think to go in that direction.
Dan Lew August 7, 2010 - 1:40 am
Nice one, yeah I also have had good links from submitting to css style design sites, and local directories!s
Tej Kohli August 9, 2010 - 5:15 am
Thanks for this useful information it will really help me a lot in promoting my website!
Software Development Company August 11, 2010 - 3:27 am
Regional and niche specific directories are really helpful so, don't forget it.
Dany Event Planning August 11, 2010 - 5:30 am
I have sent my web page to a couple of web directories. Now I need to update the title and description of my web page, but I cannot find a way to do it on these web directories. Is there anyone having an idea?
san antonio internet marketing August 12, 2010 - 11:14 am
I have already saved this page, this directories must be remembered. Thanks a many for sharing this list they are gonna be very useful.
James Martell@ Affiliate Marketing Podcast September 10, 2010 - 6:17 pm
Excellent list ...and let's not forget about the podcast directories. They are an excellent source of traffic and a great way to build exposure for your brand and products and services. If you submit your RSS feed to a couple dozen good podcasting directories. They automatically update each time a new show is added — giving you added exposure — and do follow and no follow links. If you submit your podcast to 25 podcast directories -- good ones -- such as blubrry.com every time you add a new podcast to your site a new page is developed on each of the podcast directories giving you an additional 25 pages dedicated to spreading your message. If I may I will use my podcast as an example. This is just one of the podcast directories my podcast automatically updates each time I do a new show: http://www.blubrry.com/affiliate_buzz_podcast/ In addition if the show is good it will naturally attach great links. James
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