While respectable search engine rankings can be achieved through free directory submissions alone there is also a place for using paid directory submissions during your search engine optimisation.
Benefits of paid directory submission
Paid submissions are added to directories faster
While reciprocal and free links from directories can take months to be added to the directory, paid links are generally added very quickly. When a directory accepts both types of links the paid submissions go straight to the front of the submission line to be checked.
Paid submissions are more reliable
Generally you will find that paid submissions are more reliable than free submissions. Many webmasters find that some free submissions are never included for a variety of different reasons. Paid submissions are generally much more reliable, but if you are worried try to email the owner of the directory to make sure it is still active and your link will be included.
Paid submissions are one way links
One Way links are links from other sites which link to you, but you do not link back to them. They tell the search engine that your website is so valuable or useful that other sites want to tell people about it. This factor makes one way links the most important factor of choosing paid submissions, most free directory listings require a reciprocal link and are not as powerful.
Some directories are paid submissions only
Some of the best directories only accept paid submissions. The yahoo directory is one of the most popular directories on the Internet and only accepts paid submissions and there are many more including the Microsoft Small Business Directory. Some argue that the fee keeps less significant sites out and improves the quality of the directory and in turn giving the link to your website higher quality. You will also find that some niche directories are paid inclusion only and you will need to decide how valuable a link is from a related website.
Featured Listing
Some sites allow both paid and free submissions in their directory. Sometimes a paid submission will be given priority in the directory listings or a featured listing, which may bring in a trickle of extra traffic to your site.
Being accepted
As most directory submissions are hand checked (by a real person) it pays to make sure your site meets all the criteria before trying to submit it. All directories have a set of specific submission guidelines you should try to read first, but if you follow these tips you won’t have too many problems:
· Don’t submit adult, gambling, piracy, online pharmacy and other questionable sites unless it is stated specifically that they are acceptable. There are plenty of specific directories for these markets.
· Don’t submit a site that is under construction or very new with little content.
· Don’t stuff your submission with keywords (more tips on this below)
How to create quality links in directories
The following advice relates to filling out directory submission forms
Category
This can actually be quite difficult, try to choose the best category to fit your website. It should be relevant to your content. If you just can’t choose ask someone else where they think your site belongs.
Title – Consider the anchor text
When you submit your site to a directory you will be asked for a website title, but before you simply write your website name you need to know a couple of things. Anchor text is what Google looks for when reading a link so you need to make sure your anchor text is one of the keywords you are targeting. Most directories use the title they ask you for as the anchor text so instead of writing your exact website title try using one of your keyword terms. For example if you have a website called firetrucks.com that you are trying to rank for the keyword “fire truck photos” then use this term as the title when submitting to directories instead of fire trucks.
Although remember you should never use the same anchor tag for every submission as this looks a little like a spamming tactic. Try and have a minimum of three keyword terms to use as anchor tags and use the 60/30/10 technique. That is 60% for your main keyword term, 30% for your next major keyword term and 10% for your other term/s.
Description
This is less important than the title and those search engines are still looking around, but if you make sure they are relevant to your website then you will not have any problems. Write your titles to explain what visitors will find when they visit your page and try to make them interesting not just a list of keywords!
Each directory allows different lengths for the description so try to have 3 or 4 different descriptions of varying lengths that you can alternate between. Keep these in a text file for quick copy and pasting.
Tags/Keywords
As long as these are relevant to your website then you will not have a problem. Try to write relevant tags and keywords that people will be searching.
The more thought you put into your title and description, the more powerful your link will be.
Things to avoid when submitting to directories
It is important to know that Google is wary of new pages, if it finds hundreds of new links pointing to your site in a few days you will be penalised because the links do not look natural. The best way to submit to directories is to keep a list and submit to about 2-5 directories each day until you have completed your list.
