Benifit of a directory listing.

A big topic going around right now is the power of a web directory. I quess the main question everyone wants to know is, what is the benifit of being listed in a web directory? A directory listing can have alot of value if the directory is set up in a fashion which would benifit both itself and the sites listed inside of them. But in order to understand how valuable a directory listing can be for your site you need to do a little research on the directory first. Yeah I know that takes time, but it is worth if you plan to invest money in a directory listing.

Here are a few things I look for when deciding if it is worth it to submit to a certain directory.

Is the directory 100% seo friendly.

Alot of directories claim to be seo friendly just because they have direct links pointing to the sites listed in them, or because they optimized the homepage. However, imo this does not make a directory 100% seo friendly. There are other factors to consider when saying a directory is seo friendly.

For example:

Are all category pages optimized for the title tag.

Are all category pages optimized for the description tag.

Are all category pages optimized for the keywords tag.

These are the 3 most important, there are other factors to consider as well, such as page names, h1 tags, alt tags etc. The directories that have their sites set up in this fashion will provide the most benift to the sites listed in them. Sure it is nice if the pr is good on all pages, but pr is not the main factor when it comes to serps. I believe that directories that have their pages fully optimized are alot more valuable then directories that just have a high pr. The reason I say this is because if I have a site related to say gift baskets but I am listed on a page that only says gifts, then sure my link is somewhat relevent and could provide good serps, but being listed on a page that has gift baskets in the meta title, description, keywords and h1 and may be a little content, is going to be alot more powerful because the page that I am listed on is 100% relevant to what my site offers. Google can not over look links like this, they want links from relevant sites or pages.

Remember if you want to rank on the search engines you need relevant links, and directories can provide relevant links but only if the owner takes the time to make sure that the categories are relevant to the site listed in them. I have put together a list on index-it.net of my top 10 100% seo friendly directories which you can view here seo friendly directories.