Directory Submissions Are a Great Way to Increase PR and SEO

Directory submissions are a great way to increase PR and SEO for your site, as well as getting a little traffic. The benefits are good, but if there are good benefits, there's always a downside. Simply, the process is tedious, tiring, and boring. You have to do the same thing over and over again, and you have to follow an order or plan to make sure you don't do the same directory twice (some can penalize you for that). The information directories require includes but is not limited to your name, email address, website, website name, description, and keywords (a lot of directories omit the keyword field).

Also, you need to make the decision of when (or for that matter, whether) to ascend to paid directories. Paid directories have higher PR value and will most of the time give you more traffic than free directories. There are instances when a free directory has more overall value than a paid one, so each paid directory should be evaluated thoroughly so you can confirm that you are not wasting money. Paid directories range from being just a few dollars for a listing, or going as high as fifteen or thirty dollars. The Yahoo directory costs three hundred dollars, and that's just for a speedy review; it does not guarantee that your site will be accepted.

There is another type of option for directories, other than free or paid. This option is called reciprocal, and can actually be combined with the other types of directories. With reciprocal directories, the user is required to give a link back to the directory in order for them to give you a link. It is very similar to link exchanging with a regular website, except it is a directory. There are very, very few directories that are exclusively reciprocal. Most directories either give you a better position if you have a reciprocal link (and sometimes they don't give you anything, they just ask nicely for a link bank), or require one and have the option for paid. In some cases, adding a reciprocal link reduces the price you would have pay for a link, but still gives you the same spot.

So far, the only directory submission type mentioned was manual, which is where you go through every directory and type in everything yourself. The alternatives are automated and partially automated. Partially automated is where you go to each directory yourself but click a button to fill in the information, and automated is where a machine does everything; goes to the directories and automatically submits the information. Some directories have taken measures to stop this by adding verification numbers. A downside to both alternatives is that you are forced to submit the same thing each time, which means there is no variety. While this is not that bad of a thing, variety will get you better search engine rankings because it looks more natural. The best route to take is using a combination of partially automated and manual, so that you can still go relatively fast while incorporating variety.