The Internet has changed drastically since the days when directories ruled and search engines were just starting to emerge. At that time, Google was still unheard of and websites wanting to be “searchable” by the public had to get listed on major directories so that they will be accessible to the public. Back then, DMOZ.org was the directory that rocked.
Of course, today, no one really uses DMOZ or directories in general, at least as a gateway for search. With the word Google now both a noun and verb, it is obvious that Google IS the place to start on the web if you’re looking for information and don’t really know exactly where to look. But just because no one uses directory submission sites to start their info search does not mean that these sites don’t have their place in your business’ internet marketing strategy. If you want to grow your website’s traffic you need to place well in search engine results, which means implementing sound SEO (search engine optimization) strategies.
Link building is one of the most important aspects, if not the THE most important aspect, of any SEO campaign. Though Google and other search engines may claim that the quality and usefulness of your content is the most important aspect, it seems that other than page authority, links may still be the single most important factor affecting search engine rankings.
To get as many inbound links that will pass on significant “link juice” to your site is not an easy task though. Though spreading link love by linking to fellow bloggers is a nice idea, the fact is that most blogs that would link to you won’t be authoritative enough to really affect your rankings that much. You will need A LOT of different blogs to link to you for their links to make a difference. Unless you get lucky enough to have a really popular blog to somehow link to your blog, you’ll need to double your efforts in finding blogs and sites that will be willing to post a link to yours.
Because of the difficulty in link building campaigns these days, going old school by submitting links to really old and reputable directory submission sites makes sense. The reason for this is that these sites usually have a pretty good page authority, which means that links from them can carry more weight. If you go for this strategy though, make sure that you only sign up with good directories because there are many out there that are already flagged as link farms. Note too that doing this alone won’t ensure your business’ site’s success, but with link building campaigns every valuable link counts!
Author Bio:
Andrew Ewing is a professional blogger that shares tips and advice about franchising topics. He writes for FranchiseExpo.com, a leading franchise directory.Â