The Homework Blog

Getting listings In Directories

Most webmasters are aware that building relevant links to your site is of key importance in getting decent rankings on search engines. Inbound links can help in SEO, Google Page Rank, and of course real visitors to your site as they follow those links. With this in mind, the question is, how to get good quality links, and are they worth paying for?Clearly it is preferable to get links without the need to reciprocate. And one good source of links can be from directories. One of the best known directories is the DMOZ Open Directory Project. With a PR8 it is obviously highly regarded by users and search engines alike. Most Webmaster would love their sites to be in this directory. But, getting listed can be a long drawn out affair, and some sites never get listed at all. Much seems to depend on how much competition from other sites in your niche there is. Another good thing about DMOZ is that it is free. The editors are mostly unpaid, and should be impartial when reviewing submitted sites. The Open Directory powers the core directory services for some of the most popular search engines, including AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, and others.Another popular directory is Yahoo’s, (not to be confused with their search engine). Again, at a PR8, the Yahoo directory is sought after for its “Dofollow” links. Unlike the Open Directory, there is a charge of $299 for their reviewing of your site, and that is non-refundable, even if your site is rejected. Also, that $299 is payable each year, not just a one-off payment. Non-commercial sites are supposed to be able to be listed at no charge, but getting listed for free can take years, if ever. Ironically, Google doesn’t approve of paid-for links, yet somehow it overlooks the fact that Yahoo charges for theirs. Of course Yahoo doesn’t say the $299 is for the link, it’s the cost for their time spent in reviewing it. Whether having your site in the Yahoo directory is value for money is of course subjective. Although it may help your rankings, any increase in visitors that comes from being listed is open to much debate.