Directories used to serve as the main method in finding relevant sites before search engines like Google and Yahoo took over. Many people don't use directories anymore to find websites, which is why you won't get a lot of traffic from directories that you submit to. Directories however, have become an important part in SEO and are very useful in obtaining backlinks to your website, which in turn can help you improve your websites ranking in the search engine results. They can be a great way to get your websites indexed into the major search engines if your website is new or have the search engines favour your website if you target your keyword and phrases propertly in the directories.
Should I submit manually myself or pay someone else to submit for me?It doesn't really matter if you submit to the directories yourself or if you pay someone else to do it for you, as long as it's done properly. You should be careful who you're paying to submit for you however, as some of these businesses don't know what they are doing and will submit to directories incorrectly as all directories are different in how they work and what kind of information you must submit. Paying $5 - $10 for 500 directory submissions for example is a very low price to pay and you'll end up getting what you pay for. Many of these people actually use automated submitters even if they don't admit to it, which automated submissions are not very accurate and could get your website banned altogether from the directories that they submit your site to. Also, if you're always paying different people to submit for you, then there's a high chance that these people are going to have some of the same directories and by submitting your website twice to the same directory could get your URL banned from the directory forever. PL Backlinker prevents the user from submitting twice to a directory. By doing manual submissions yourself, you're able to ensure that quality is being accomplished and that you are submitting your website information correctly. It's much better to take the time and do the submissions propertly the first time yourself, then to have to try and go back and fix what's been submitted incorrectly by someone else, as usually you only get one chance to submit correctly with a directory. There are some people you can pay that do a great job in submitting, but just be aware of who you choose.
Some things to keep in mind while submitting to directories to ensure that your website has a higher chance of being accepted:
Many directories are humanly edited, which means that another human actually visits every website that is submitted to them to determine if they should include it into the directory. This is also the reason why it can take a very long time before your website is included in the directory and why you won't see the results immediately upon submission.
1. NEVER submit a site that is under construction. Make sure that your entire website is working properly before submitting.
2. No mirror sites. These are sites that contain the same content but are on different URL's.
3. NEVER submit the same website twice. Many directories will ban your URL if you do this and that's why it's always important to keep track of where you submit.
4. Make sure your website looks professional. Websites that look cheap or look like they could possibly be a scam will more than likely not be accepted.
5. NEVER submit a website that redirects.
6. Submit the main url and not trailing directories. (Example: www.mywebsite.com NOT www.mywebsite.com/services/)
7. ALWAYS try to submit to the correct category for the topic of your website.
8. NEVER submit a website that has illegal content.
9. ALWAYS make sure that your information that you submit is complete. Don't submit your information if the description or title gets cut off due to max character restrictions in the form. This is a big reason why automated submissions don't work and most directory owners will think that you used an automated submitter and ban your URL.
10. ALWAYS make sure that you take the time and effort to submit correctly the first time, as you might not get a second opportunity to submit again due to your URL being banned.
What is PR?This is what the websites page ranks in the Google search engine. A webpages PR can rank from as low as 0 to as high as 10. A webpage with a PR 10 means that the website is well placed in the search engine and will more than likely show up as one of the first listings for it's keywords in a search result. Everybody aims to get a PR 10 for their website and having a link on a website with a good PR will most definitely increase your own websites PR in the search engines. This is why submitting to directories is a great way for you to increase your backlinks in order to raise your websites PR.
Should I only submit to directories with a high PR?No. The PR for a website can change and if you submit to a directory with a PR 0, that directory may one day have a PR of perhaps 5. As soon as a directory gets a high PR, everybody wants to submit to that directory, which means that there'll probably be a lot more rejections because the owner can now be picky in which websites to include. They may also remove the FREE submission option and start making people pay, but if you've already submitted to the directory when it had a low PR and when nobody wanted to submit to that directory, then your link should still be in that directory and you can enjoy all the benefits of having a link on a website with a high PR without spending any money. Directories can also lose PR over time as well and perhaps go from a PR 5 straight to a PR 2 or even lower. It all depends on the kind of websites the directories are including into their database and also the search engines and whether they change their ranking algorithm, in which case they do every so often.
When will I start seeing results from submitting to directories?Every directory is different in how they include links. Some directories will take 24 hours to 2 weeks for your link to be included whereas others may take up to 3 - 6 months. It all depends on the directory and who maintains it. You also won't start seeing results immediately in the search engines because the search engines can also take up to several months to update their database before you can actually see the backlink results. Sometimes it can be as high as 6 - 8 months or even a year before you start seeing the real results from your directory submission campaigns. You shouldn't expect to see results immediately upon submissions to the directories and should always keep submitting to different directories even when you don't see many results. Keep in mind that not every directory will accept your website either, depending on the quality of your site.
Should I try to submit to as many directories ASAP?Yes, of course, but there are literally thousands of excellent directories on the internet for you to submit to. The more quality directories that you can submit your website to, the better for you in gaining backlinks for your site and they'll give your website better exposure in the search engines. You really don't need to try and submit to all of the directories as that would be pretty much impossible considering the amount of directories that are on the internet, but submitting to 30 - 50 directories each day is a good campaign and a good goal to set. The results aren't going to show up immediately anyways, so you might as well take your time and make sure that you are targeting your keywords in your title and description and submitting the information correctly. If you put the time and effort into your campaigns, then you will surely get some excellent results. Also you want your link building to look natural otherwise, search engines might take notice and give your website an infraction, so it's not important to try and submit to as many directories all at once as soon as you can. It's all about quality, not quantity, so just make sure your website is 100% ready and that you're submitting to the right category in the directories and submitting the information correctly, otherwise you're just wasting your time and efforts.
Can I use any tool to manage my Directory Submission?There are hundreds of such tool actually. A semi automatic site submission tool called
KnowboForm, can keep track of submissions to directories (and many other systems of submission also). It has many features to help make directory submissions easier and quicker for the webmaster. It's the most affordable way to ensure that you're submitting properly to the directories and to prevent your website from being banned and given a bad reputation. You're able to update the directory URL database in the program by adding as many directory URL's as you want as there's no limit. It can also help you to ensure that there'll be no duplicate URL's so that you don't submit to the same directory twice (if that directory doesn't accept multiple submissions of the same url, however many directories do accept). You're also able to keep track of which directories you've successfully submitted to, if you've already submitted your link and how many days ago that you did. You also have the ability to skip the directory URL's that you've already submitted to in order to save you time and prevent you from submitting again. You can even know what PR ( and many other site performance matrices ) the link has before you submit so that you can be picky in which directories you would like to submit your website to. The
KnowboForm is very easy to use and will save you time and money.