If you’ve read my article on Getting a High Organic Search Engine Rank, you know that getting other websites to link to you is extremely important if you are looking to get a high rank in search engines. One way to get links is to submit your site to various web directories.

Web directories are sites that contain a bunch of categorized links. To be included in the directory, usually you have to do the following steps:

1. Browse to the category that you want to be listed under (and is relevant to your website).
2. Fill out a form that tells the directory editor about your page including it’s title, url, and a brief description.
3. Wait a few days to several months for an editor to approve (or reject) your listing.

Submitting your site to directories is often a time consuming process because in most cases, you have to do it manually. That means spending time analyzing which would be the best category and subcategory for your website, filling out all the form requirements, and sometimes even verifying your submission. Many directories now send you a confirmation email that requires you to click on a link before they’ll accept your website. And it can take months for someone to approve it.

What Kinds of Directories Are There?
There are a number of different kinds of directories out there, but generally, they fall into these three categories:

• Free Directories - They don’t cost anything to submit to and don’t require a link back to their directory. The Open Directory, the directory that Google uses, is an example.
• Reciprocal Link Directories - They are free but require that you add a link from your website to their directory
• Paid Directories - They have either a one time or annual inclusion fee to list your site. The Yahoo! Directory is an example of this.

Which Directories Should I Submit My Site To?
Not all web directories are good candidates for your link campaign. In fact, most probably aren’t. There are a lot of directories out there that are basically the equivalent of link farms and should be avoided at all cost.

You want to pick directories that:

1. Have a PageRank of at least 5 - Check at CheckPageRank.com
2. Have high traffic - Check at MetricsMarket.com or Alexa.com

Your top priority should be getting listed in the Open Directory, which will probably take months to get approved. After that, if there are specialty directories (focused on a specific industry or topic), go with those. I also recommend the directories at FreeWebSubmission.com, which are all in the top 100,000 sites according to Alexa.com. Personally, I haven’t found it worth it to pay for directory listings or submit to sites that require reciprocal links in most cases. That said, if you find one that’s relevant to your topic and meets the criteria above, you should consider it.

In conclusion, submitting your website to directories can be a good link building strategy in conjunction with other efforts. The best links will always be on sites with lots of content that is relevant to your website, but getting into certain web directories can also help your rank.

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