As will become clear in future posts, there are two problems that we have to deal with when trying to come up with a good system for submitting sites to web directories.  The first is determining which directories to submit to.  The second problem is determining how to submit to them.  For now, we are going to concentrate on the first problem. 

There are a number of lists out there about quality web directories which I want to analyze more closely.  I have collected a large number of these lists, including this list of lists of web directories (see towards the end of the post) which I just happened upon today.  The question now is what to do with this list.  Should I trust those lists with the best reputation, make a large, master list and be done with it?  Is there some criteria by which I can judge the directories on those lists.  Also, what about prioritizing the directories on this list.  What criteria should I use to judge a directory? 

These questions, and others like them, we will have to answer as we go along.  For now, I’m eager to get my feet wet and take a look at these lists and see more of what they are about.  

Info Vilesilencer.com — home of the seo friendly free directory list

The first list that I want to take a look at is at Info.Vilesilencer.com.  I have known about this list for awhile now, but I have never actually taken a good, solid look at it.  Given that I have heard good things about it I thought that it was the best place to start.  As their byline states, Info Vilesilencer has put together a large list of what they claim are seo friendly directories.  As of today they state that they have 453 general, free web directories.  They also have a list of 52 new niche directories (with plan for more niche directories as time goes on) as well as a decent size list of recommended pay for inclusion directories.  You can download the entire list (or should I say lists) for free to an excel file at their website.

In addition, Info Vilesilencer has a blog which has useful information about directories as well as keeps people up-to-date about the Info Vilesilencer list of directories.  Info Vilesilencer is constantly updating their website directory list with old sites being removed and new ones being added every month.  They also have a 1000 member strong forum which is totally dedicated (as far as I can tell) to web directories.  In short, info vilesilencer seems serious about directories and thus they deserve a good, solid look. 

With that said, here are my initial observations about their list of web directories:

1. As of now this is the most serious attempt that I know of to maintain a large, practical list of seo friendly directories.  The seriousness with which they take web directories in and of itself instills confidence in their list, particularly since they seem to know a thing or two about seo.  It is reassuring that they are constantly applying their knowledge of seo to maintain a solid, useful list of website directories.
2. The web directories in the Info Vilesilencer list contain the following qualities:  A) They are free.  B) They offer non-reciprocal links.  C) The directories are crawlable and indexable by the search engines (thus “useful in boosting a sites ranking in the search engines”).  D)  They provide a direct, static link to one’s web site (”so that the search engines when they crawl will count that as a link to you, and thus increase your rankings in the SERPs”).  E) Directories which experience problems which are not fixed (including, it seems broken links) are removed from the list.
3. I recognize at least one of the people who has helped to build up this list, Phil C, from Search Engine Watch and think highly of his knowledge about SEO (I have also visited his site, blog, and forum and find each of them to be valuable resources).
4. They offer solid advice as to how to submit one’s website to web directories.
5. They submit their site (info.vilesilencer.com) to each of these directories and note which one’s added Info Vilesilencer to their directory and which one’s didn’t.  This is useful because these sites are “proven to accept site submissions”, whereas it is not clear if or when your site will be included in the other directories (Info Vilesilencer recommends that you add these other directories only after you have submitted your site to the “tried and true” directories in the list).
6. The list includes up-to-date PR rating of the top-level of the directory domain and also indicates whether or not registration is required in order to submit one’s site to the directory.

All in all, Info Vilesilencer looks like an excellent list.  Their combination of knowledge and expertise on the one hand and consistency and dedication on the other have produced what may very well be the definitive list of web directories.  Assuming, therefore, that an economical and efficient method of submitting one’s website to all of these directories exists then the only question which remains is the value of web directories in general.  But, assuming that web directories do have some value, then this list certainly needs to be consulted and considered. 

On that note, it is worth pointing out that as far as Info Vilesilencer is concerned, directories provide in and of themselves very little, if any, direct traffic.  Therefore, the whole value of web directories rests on the value of their back links.  And, of course, one of the main points of this series of blog posts is to try and determine whether or not web directories have any backlink value.  In the meantime, though, we have found at least one high quality list of web directories to take into consideration.

One final note:  if you feel that 453+ directories is too much for you to handle, you may want to consider Info Vilesilencer’s web site directory submission service.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have already conducted a great deal of research on the topic of web directories (research that I hope to share with you throughout this series).  I found the verdict online to be somewhat mixed about the value of submitting one’s site to smaller web directories.  Some people talk about decent amounts of traffic, others about trickles of traffic.  Although, if memory serves me well the quality of the traffic seemed to be good.  Still, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t worthwhile or valuable, just that the amount of resources one should spend on them may be limited.  But that works well, limited resources for limited value.  Be that as it may, I figured I’d share some of the more worthwhile sources I found online that discuss this issue.  Here they are:

• Mr. Ploppy’s Monday Tool List - Volume XXVI - Directory Tools
• http://littleamerica.us/blog/category/directories/ (there are a number of interesting posts about directories on this site.  You can find them at this link.  Take a look around, they are worth reading!).
• Do you get traffic from directory submissions? (at Webmaster World.com )
• Web Directories (Webmaster World.com) 
• Directories: Is it worth the time? (at Webmaster World.com)
• http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum17/2687.htm
• http://www.webmasterworld.com/directories/3046251.htm
• http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?s=a1141c2f9b239deeee69dbc9529fb2d4&showtopic=26907
• http://www.seobook.com/archives/001583.shtml
• http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=6642
• http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/30575-1-10.htm
• http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=23260

While you take a look at these links, I’ll get to work on the next installment of The Web Directories Experiment. 

I have been doing a good deal of research lately into web directories and it is time to put that research into practice.  My question is what is the value of submitting one’s site to web directories.  Note, I am not referring to the 10 - 20 largest web directories (such as Yahoo, DMOZ and business.com), but rather the myriad number of smaller, less known web directories.  Do these directories send targeted traffic in and of themselves?  Do they help with search engine rankings?  And, supposing that the answer to either of these questions is yes, do they help enough to be worth the time and/or money involved in submitting one’s site to these directories? 

As such, I want to run a little experiment to try and determine the value of submitting one’s site to these web directories.  I haven’t yet figured out exactly how I will be running this experiment, I have merely made the decision to test the value of submitting one’s website to large numbers of web directories.  Furthermore, as you can see, I have decided to make this a bit of a “public” experiment.  I’m open to ideas and suggestions as to how to best go about determining this.  At the same time I plan to share my own thoughts about how to best run this experiment. 

My goal is to have this experiment be a running thread on SEMBasics until I come up with some sort of answer.  I figure that in addition to finding out an answer to our initial question (or questions), it is also worthwhile learning how one attempts to find out information one doesn’t know.  Given that the web is a rather dynamic place, it is an important to know how to figure out questions such as these.  With that said, let the great web directories experiment begin…

Articles in this series:

• Initial (pre Web directories experiment) findings
• Finding a good list of web directories

Submitasite.com has a great post with some quality link building ideas.  It’s called Always Get New Links “AGNL” - 7 Tips For Success and I recommend reading it.  Here are a few of my favorite ideas from his article:

1. “At this point we all know that Link Building is the latest and greatest with the search engines and that without link popularity it’s nearly impossible to rank on the first page for competitive keyword phrases.  With that said, most companies fail to take advantage of some of the best link opportunities out there. Put on your link building thinking cap, and start getting links in everything you do.”

   I like this point because it emphasizes thinking and thinking often and thinking differently.  In other words, link building is not just about reading the latest and greatest best practices, but rather it’s about noticing all the different linking possibilities that exists.  Put otherwise, link awareness is an essential element of successful link building.  You have to train your self to notice linking possibilities whenever and wherever they show up.

2. “All established businesses have partners…In our partnership discussions we made it a point to see that these firms [i.e., their partners] linked to our website as part of the terms of the partnership. If you are going to help sell someone else’s product, or engage in some type of joint venture, make sure you get a link out of it.“

   This is just a great idea.  This is one step beyond making a link request, almost like a link demand.  Leverage those partnership and insist (in a nice way) on a link as part of the deal.

3. “Do you run an e-commerce website? Or are you a service provider for a large manufacturer? If so, make sure you are listed in the dealer directory. If you have a good relationship with the manufacturer of your product make sure you are listed in the “Authorized Reseller” section of their website.
   Now here’s a great tip: often these dealer directories and authorized reseller sections are database driven, and frequently these inner “search” pages cannot be accessed by the search engines, which means you won’t get link credit. Luckily, there is a way around that. On your partner’s website, perform a search matching your listing’s criteria. Once you’ve confirmed the search that pulls your site up on the page, simply copy/paste the URL of this search. Now, somewhere on your website give this URL a link (and no you can’t hide the link!). Most likely the search engines will be able to spider the link on your website, follow it to the search result page on your partner’s site, and shazam! you get link credit!”

   Another really clever idea.  It’s almost creating a link out of think (or virtual) air.  The point is, the second that you know that you are in someone’s database, you should realize that there is a link potential there.  It’s just a matter of figuring out how to get that link.  Again, this all stems from making oneself aware of link possibilities. 

There are some other really clever ideas in this post, such as how to get links out of local radio, television stations, and banner ads, but you’ll have to read the post to find out what they are.  Enjoy!