Like I mentioned in Proper Keyword Usage for SEO, many search engine optimization techniques have become obsolete. Getting incoming links to your website has not. These links are one of the key ways that search engines like Google decide whether your website is important and relevant.
Writing Great Website Content is probably the best way to generate incoming links. People will want to link to your wonderful wisdom and send your rankings skyrocketing. However, writing wonderful wisdom that everyone wants to link to is not that easy. Getting listed in directories is easy, and there are plenty of benefits to doing just that.
Benefits of Directories
1. Incoming Links – As I mentioned above, getting listed in a directory generates an incoming link to your website, one of the keys to search engine optimization. It is especially helpful if this is a one-way link (vs swapping links) and it is from a contextually relevant page, in other words, one related to the topic of your website.
2. Direct Traffic – There are people that use directories to find a website on a specific topic. These people might actually reach your website through that listing.
3. Brand Awareness – Even if the people searching through the directory don’t visit your website at the time, seeing your name in the directory will increase brand awareness. After they see your name in a few places, they’ll be more likely to visit your site.
4. Search Engine Indexing – People used to submit their new website to search engines. Now, search engines discover websites by crawling other websites and following links. In order to be found, your website has to have links pointing to it, and a directory is a quick way to accomplish that.
5. Control – Since you’re the one submitting the listing, you get to control what directories you submit to and how you write the listing. Make an effort to choose the best category for your website, and choose good keywords when writing your listing.
6. Cost – Many directories are free, and the ones that aren’t are often worth the price. If they weren’t, who’d sign up?
Directories to Get Listed In
Here are some of the major directories that your business should be listed in:
- Google Business
- Bing Places for Business
- Yelp
- Yahoo Local
- TripAdvisor
- Yellow Pages
- White Pages
- Super Pages
- Angie’s List
- Citysearch
- Local.com
- Foursquare
- Hotfrog
- Manta
- DexKnows
- BBB (Better Business Bureau)
- Merchant Circle
Smaller Directories
There are also countless smaller directories that may be worthwhile, including local directories, specific to your area, and niche directories, specific to your industry or website topic. If you’re in Whatcom County, Washington, we manage a local directory at http://bellinghamweb.net, and we are currently working on a niche directory at http://holistichealingnetwork.net.
It’s wise to keep a list of directories you’re in, so you can update them with new information in the future.