Are Web Directories still important?

Wed, Apr 21, 2010

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I just watched this video about web directories and thought it was very informative. Directories are what people used before search engines. Yahoo use to just be a web directory, you submitted links to it and if they got accepted they would show up in their search. Today directories hold a lot less value then they once did but still can be a way to get inbound links to your site and grow your page rank.

Here is a list of some of the most well trusted online web directories

  • Business.com – $299 per year for commercial listings.
  • Yahoo! Directory – $299 per year for commercial listings. Free for non-commercial listings.
  • BOTW – one time $299 fee 
  • JoeAnt – one time $40 fee
  • DMOZ – also referred to as the Open Directory Project or ODP. Free submission, but it may take a long time to get listed as it is run by volunteers.

After watching the video and and seeing the price tag on these directories it’s something I have decided I don’t want to put the time or money into. I’ve tried to get into DMOZ in the past and never succeeded. I just feel like your time is better spent trying to do link exchanges with other websites.

If I was listed in dmoz for the traffic measurement section (I just pulled up some random section to see) I would have one inbound link with a page rank of 5. Now a page rank of 5 isn’t bad at all but there are so many outgoing links on that page your link wouldn’t be valued that much.

The link exchanges I have are with great bloggers. They are constantly putting out more original content and my link is on every page of their site. That is so much more powerful then just being on one page of a directory with a long list of links. Also if you have a lot of websites you can start connecting all of them with link exchanges and all of your sites will grow together. I currently have two page ranks of 4, one for this site and one for www.shrednews.com.

threadsnotdead Are Web Directories still important?

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Thanks,
Jon Kruse

This post was written by:

- who has written 135 posts on How to start a Clothing Company.

Besides running this blog I also own two clothing companies, Mediocore Clothing and SHRED. I also run Double Dragon Studios with a partner and we do a lot of work for clothing companies making stores, blogs, and myspace layouts. Please send me an email if you have any questions, want to hire me for work, or just want to say thanks.

Contact the author

  • http://www.giantstrides.org.uk childrens footwear

    In the past Directories were a short cut to a bundle of backlinks that would help your rankings. Many Directories, especially free Directories, are nothing more than Made For Adsense sites and Spam ads.

  • http://www.bes.co.uk plumbing

    Web directories for me is still important, by here we can search links and make your site in rank. Thanks for sharing.

  • http://www.diolt.com Web Directory

    A lot of web site owners do not understand just how important directories are.  In fact, some web site owners actually question whether directories are actually an effective piece in their web site's overall marketing campaign.

  • jonkruse

    I just did question weather they were important. Do you want to add some more info on your views or did you just write that message so you would get a backlink to your site?

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