WebSeoDesign Blog

Best of the Web 25% Off Deal

2007-08-01T15:38:00.000-04:00

First off, my apologies again for my lack of updates to my free directory reviews. I have been completely buried with client work. I know this is good for me, but it's not so good for you. The last person I hired to help me with my reviews didn't work out, but now I have someone great, so you should be seeing some updates in the near future.

Now to a good deal with a great directory:

SAVE 25% on All NEW Submissions and Sponsorship Advertising in the Best of the Web Directory and BOTW Blog Directory from now until the end of August.
When prompted, enter the following Promo Code: SIZZLE25
Be sure to enter the Promo Code: "SIZZLE25" during the sign up process and you will instantly save 25% on new directory submissions as well as sponsorship advertising products.
Get Started today and Save 25% on new:
Directory Submissions - Save on both the annually recurring and/or the one-time review fee.
Blog Directory Submissions - Save on the one-time review fee for blogs.
Monthly Sponsorship Ads - Discount the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads.
Blog Advertising - Discount the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads in the Blog Directory.
The promo code may be used multiple times for multiple products and services during the month of August. Remember - the code will expire on August 31, 2007 so be sure to take advantage of the 25% discount before it's too late!

martin

Best of the Web Offers 20% Discount for March

2007-03-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

Best of the Web directory, one of the most powerful paid directories, is offering 20% off all submissions and sponsored listings during March, 2007:

20% Off All NEW Submissions and Sponsorship Advertising in the BOTW and Blog Directories during the month of March.
When prompted, enter the following Promo Code to discount all rates by 20%:
Promo Code: 4LEAFCLOVER
Be sure to enter the Promo Code: "4LEAFCLOVER" during the sign up process and you will instantly save 20% on new directory submissions as well as sponsorship advertising products.
Get Started Today and Save 20% on new:
Directory Submissions - Save on both the annually recurring and/or the one-time review fee.
Blog Directory Submissions - Save on the one-time review fee for blogs.
Monthly Sponsorship Ads - Discount the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads.
Blog Advertising - Discount the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads in the Blog Directory.
The promo code may be used multiple times for multiple products and services during the month of March. Remember - the code will expire on March 31, 2007, so be sure to take advantage of the 20% discount before it's too late!

This is a good deal!

martin

SEO Friendly List Capped at 500 Directories

2007-02-28T09:05:00.000-05:00

First off, my apologies for my long absence! Client work has a way of intruding on my ability to work on my own site. Thanks for your patience and for all the suggestions and intel on the directories and their changes you have sent me.

I've enlisted the assistance of an associate to help me with maintaining my free directory reviews in order to keep my reviews up to date. So watch for a big update here shortly.

Now for the big news!

Dan, of the SEO Friendly List, has just released his largest list ever. It now contains 509 directories. In order to emphasize quality over quantity, Dan has capped the list at 500 directories. That means that in order for new directories to get on the list, an existing one needs to be dropped for failure to meet the SEO Friendly Guidelines. In the beginning, 10 directories need to be dropped before one can be added.

There has been a lot of list churn lately, where free directories:

go live
get on the SEO Friendly List
get some great visibility and lots of traffic/listings
then quickly turn paid to cash in
get dropped from the list
and then come back for re-inclusion when their listings and traffic drop off

This doesn't benefit you or the other folks trying to find directories through Dan's list and my site. It also makes maintaining Dan's list and my reviews very time consuming. In the past, I have tried to act as a filter and only review directories that seem pretty stable. Now Dan is adding his list's clout behind this effort by capping his list and forcing directories to maintain quality standards (and quit switching from free to paid and back to free) or get dropped from the list.

If you are too busy to submit your own sites to free directories and want to use a great submission service, remember to check out Dan's Info Vilesilencer Submission Service. He will hand submit your site to hundreds of free directories over a 3 month period for $349. For a limited time, if you mention that you heard about his service on webseodesign.com, Dan will give you a $15 USD discount. I use Dan's service with my own clients.

Thanks again for your patience during my absence!

martin

PR Updated 09-28-06 for Directory Listings

2006-11-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

First off, I apologize for the tardiness of this update. Client work has keep me so busy, I haven't been able to find the time to get this done. I'll try to update more often in the future.

On September 28, 2006, Google exported the latest Toolbar PageRank data. Today I have updated my free directory listings to reflect this new data. I have also update my paid directory reviews. This latest update had only a minor impact of the directories I have reviewed:

2 Directories had a PR increase (2 free)
111 Directories stayed the same (64 free; 20 Duds; & 27 Paid)
2 Directories lost PageRank (1 free & 1 Dud)
1 Free directory turned into a blog and therefore was dropped from the reviews

SEO Friendly List Updated 11/02/06

Dan from info.vilesilencer has updated his great SEO Friendly List again.

Arguably the largest update the list has ever undergone. The general list has
actually fallen to 453 despite the addition of over 80 new general
directories this month. There has been a lot of shuffling around of
directories into different niches, particularly because the general list was
becoming clogged with borderline directories.

If you are pressed for time and want a great way to submit to hundreds of free directories, check out Dan's free directory submission service. I now use it for all my new sites.

As always, I like to get feedback about the directories I review (you might even get a link for your efforts).

martin

SEO Friendly List Updated and IBL Updates

2006-09-22T14:15:00.000-04:00

Hello all,

I am sorry to keep saying "I'm sorry that I haven't been posting and updating as much I would like", but project work has been keeping me very busy. That at least is a pleasant problem.

Dan, of SEO Friendly List fame, has updated his list again on 09/15/06. This is his biggest update yet! Great work Dan!

I was able to update the Google and Yahoo! back link information (IBL Shown) for all the free directories last weekend. I still need to do that for the paid directory listings. Hopefully, I will get to that this weekend. I haven't bothered with the MSN back links as their data is in a state of flux due to the recent change to live.com. There a quite a few more free directories showing back links for my listings in Yahoo! and quite a few less with Google. I don't really pay much attention to the Google back links, since they deliberately show such a small portion.

That's it for now. Have a great weekend! ;-)

martin

Best of the Web to Raise Submission Fees

2006-08-21T14:44:00.000-04:00

I just returned from Search Engine Workshops' Ultra Advanced Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina where I learned some amazing things. Due to a non disclosure agreement attendees are required to sign, I can't tell you what I learned, but I can tell you it was amazing new information. I'll keep you posted when another one is scheduled. I strongly advise anyone that's serious about learning cutting edge SEO strategies to attend in the future.

I'm trying to catch up on my email and found a reminder from Best of the Web:

Best of the Web directory has notified users that they are going to raise their submission fees on September 1, 2006. They haven't said what the increased rates are going to be yet, but you can still list your sites or upgrade to the lifetime listing now and beat the increase. I just upgraded my listing from annual to lifetime.

Best of the Web is a paid directory, but it is one of only a handful that I really recommend you list your sites in.

martin

Want a Free Link? (a Rant about Free Directories Turning Paid)

2006-08-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

First off, I apologize again for being tardy in updating my reviews of the Free Directories. I have been wonderfully busy with client work! ;-)

There is another reason for my delay in updating. That is the amount of time and effort it takes to keep up with all these new free directories that start free and then turn paid. I understand the directory owner's motivation with this business model, but it sure makes a lot of work for me in trying to keep my reviews up to date. It also impacts the usefulness of my reviews for my visitors.

When I started the Free Directory Reviews in early 2005, I was just returning to the SEO/web development business and had lots of time. Now, that I have several great clients with lots of big projects, unfortunately the reviews tend to suffer. I try to dedicate part of one day a week to keeping the reviews current and adding to them. Now I find that it takes that amount of time just to check and move the free directories to paid after they switch their submission model. If it wasn't for Info Vilesilencer's great SEO Friendly List and the nice people who let me know of changes, my reviews would be even further behind.

So what can I do about this? Here's the part where you can get a free one way link:

If you find that a directory, I reviewed, has made a substantial change (free to paid or other important detail), let me know. If you are the first person to advise me of this change, I'll give you a link as a thank you. So far 4 people have given me a heads up on changes out of the goodness of their heart. Thanks Ari, Sid, Renk and Peter (your links are in the reviews).

Now that I am getting so busy with clients, I find I don't have the time to submit their sites to free directories, so I have started using Info Vilesilencer's great directory submission service. They will hand submit your site to all the directories in the SEO Friendly List for $349.00. That is a real deal and I recommend it to everyone.

This weeks updates:

I finally got the PageRank updated on the Paid Directories and moved 4 free directories to paid. I'll try to get some new free directories added soon, but I get pretty frustrated when I add them and a month later they turn paid. Getting in early is important to getting a free listing, so be sure to check the Newly Added section of Info Vilesilencer's SEO Friendly List. I'll try to keep up on directories that appear to want to continue to offer free listings.

martin

Free Directories Updated for 7-13-06 PR Export

2006-07-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to let you know I have updated the PageRank on all the Free Directories and Duds. I will update the Paid Directories shortly. I also will be updating the IBL (back links) shortly.

Quick stats on this update:

9 Free Directories lost PageRank
2 Free Directories gained PageRank
The rest stayed the same

Also:

3 Free Directories moved to Duds
1 Free Directory returned to the regular listings

There is also some other activity in the Duds. Check it out if you are interested.

Sorry again for being away so much.

martin

Google PageRank and Backlink Export on 07/13/06

2006-07-14T10:13:00.000-04:00

If you follow this sort of thing:

From Search Engine Roundtable:
Hey folks, there is a Google PageRank update taking place right now. Which ones of you can now say you gained a little extension to your green bar? What I like seeing is that there is less overall buzz about the PageRank update then we have seen in the past. This is a good thing.

A good source of historical data on Google Updates in general, is SeoCompany.ca’s PageRank History page. Bob doesn’t this latest one listed yet.

I just checked and see that Google’s backlink count has changed too.

I will be updating my free directory reviews this weekend.

martin

Sorry I Haven't Been Around Much

2006-07-12T07:51:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I have been quite busy with a large project deadline. The end is in sight, so I will be updating my reviews and posting shortly.

One important note is Dan has released another update of the SEO Friendly List and he's broke the 400 directory mark with this update.

Thanks for your patience! ;-)

martin

New Directories Reviewed and SEO Friendly List Updated

2006-05-28T19:45:00.000-04:00

Just a few quick updates:

I reviewed 5 new free directories for my Free Directory Listing Reviews. More to come soon.

Dan has just updated his SEO Friendly List again (atta boy Dan!). 90 new general directories and 19 niche directories are added.

Also, Dan has merged with SEO Garage, to form a directory submission service under the info.vilesilencer banner. He now offers a few different options for affordable directory submission to free directories on his great list. I have contracted with him to submit a client's new site. So far, I am very pleased with the results and his professionalism.

Bob Mutch of seocompany.ca (one of the resources I use to develop my reviews) has just built an interesting "inbound link quality" tool and has a FireFox extension with the same functionality, too. I haven't had time to really test out his underlying methodology, but it seems like another useful metric in trying to find quality directories and sites.

That's it for now. As always, I like to hear from you!

martin

Free Directory Reviews Updated

2006-05-21T21:03:00.000-04:00

I just reviewed all the Free Web Directories' review information and updated most of it. I still have a few things to spot check, but all in all, everything is pretty much up to date. I have moved 3 directories to the paid directories area and 3 to duds. I also added 2 new free directories.

I will try to add several more free directories in the coming week.

martin

Directory Reviews Updated Again

2006-05-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

I'm running out of unique titles for these update posts!! ;-)

Happy Mother's Day!

I finally got around to updating my Directory Reviews to reflect the 04/04/06 Google PageRank export (update). The changes weren't as great this time, since I did the previous update late (on 04/01 - 03/06). I suspect I got some of the 04/04/06 updates in the previous one. Oh well, this Toolbar PageRank info is at least 3 - 6 months anyway...so no biggie!

Here's the stats for this time:

Free Directory Listings:

2 Free Directories increased in PageRank
4 Free Directories decreased in PageRank
1 Free Directory got booted to Duds (Active Directory)
1 Free Directory returned from Duds (Geeks on Steriods)
Of the Duds, 5 increased PR and 1 decreased (Duds aren't included in the first two stats above)

Paid Directory Listings:

2 Paid Directories increased in PageRank
6 Paid Directories decreased in PageRank

There are now 90 Free Directories (including 17 duds), plus 18 paid directories. I took a few directories out recently and forgot to document them properly.

I'm trying to find the time with Aerik, my great programming partner, to get these directory submission reviews cleaned up and automated a bit, but client work does pay the bills, so that comes first (the old plumber and the leaky faucet bit comes to mind...).

I still need to incorporate the lasted data from Dan's recent update of his SEO Friendly List and find some new directories to review.

Thanks for being patient and loyal visitors.

martin

SEO Friendly List Updates

2006-05-04T09:23:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been updating my free web directories reviews much lately. I 've had just too much client work (that's a pleasant problem), but I will work on them this weekend.

In the meantime, the ever diligent Dan, creator of the original SEO Friendly List, released another update on April 29th. I can't praise and thank Dan and his folks enough for their continuing efforts to keep their lists up to date. It is a lot of work! ;-) He is changing to monthly updates, since there is just too many changes to compile on a bi-weekly basis.

Google Updates?

I don't usually report on Google fluctuations here, since that information is available in many other places, but there appears to be some more "Post Big Daddy" changes under way right now. One of the common reports are loss of previously indexed pages. I have seen this with a few clients and on my site also. I just lost about 75% of my indexed pages.... more on that later.

martin

Mod_rewite Redirects All Site Pages To One

2006-04-23T14:08:00.000-04:00

I had an interesting challenge the other day. One of my non-profit clients had to close their site, wanted to tell the visitors why they were closing and suggest that visitors support another non-profit site. This was due to an internal situation and not related to my volunteer SEO efforts. The site had decent traffic, especially to some speciality interior sections. So the trick was to redirect all the site's pages to a special explanation page.

I tried several mod_rewrite rules, but they all had some problems. Most of the solutions caused an infinite loop. Then I called my great programming partner Aerik for assistance. He helped me customize a mod_rewrite rule that redirected every page in the site (regardless of their file extension) to the special explanation page.

Then I encounter a problem with the special page, when it lost the stylesheet and images, because they were redirected too. I added a few more exclude rules (! means not) for css, jpg and gif files. That did the trick.

Here's the code to redirect all site pages to one with mod_rewrite:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index-special\.php$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^(.*)\.css$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^(.*)\.jpg$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^(.*)\.gif$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/index-special.php [L,NC,R=301]

Don't forget to check your redirects with a http header checker to make sure they are doing what you want them to do.

I've been really busy with a couple of large client projects recently, but I have posted a few updates to my free web directory reviews.

Martin Preece on eMarketing Talk Show

2006-04-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

I was interviewed last night on eMarketing Talk Show about free and paid directories. It was really fun and if I may say so myself, it was a really good show. Thanks to Cindy Turrietta and Todd Sarouhan for having me on their show and for making me feel comfortable.

If you didn't get a chance to tune in live, you can go to the eMarketing Talk Show page from my show and download or play the segments. We covered all the things you need to know to benefit from listing in free web directories and some things about paid directories too!

Another PageRank Export:

Google started another toolbar PageRank export (update) on 04/04/06 to allegedly show PR in a Big Daddy world (7th question down). This means that my reviews need to be updated again. I wonder how much of the turbulence I was seeing with some sites on some datacenters was left over from the last PR export and how much was the start of this one??!!?? Boy oh boy, I hate keeping track of PageRank!

I will spot check some listings to see what's going on. Then I will update my free directory reviews accordingly. I'll keep you posted.

As always, I want to hear from you. Thanks again to everyone that has been sending my feedback on their own experiences with the directories I review and bringing new ones to my attention.

martin

Directory Reviews Updated and Much More

2006-04-03T15:06:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week of playing catch up since I returned from the Search Engine Workshop in Las Vegas. I'm going to write more on my workshop experience later, but I have to tell you that it was incredible!

I finally gave up waiting on the Google datacenters to all agree after the 02/18/06 PageRank export, so I went ahead and updated my reviews on my Free Directories and the Paid Directories, to reflect the PR changes. I also updated a lot of other information in the reviews.

My reviewed directories fared pretty well in this last PR export. Here are the results:

Free Directory Listings:

17 Free Directories increased in PageRank
8 Free Directories decreased in PageRank
2 Free Directories got booted to Duds (Add Link Directory and San24!)
Of the Duds, 2 increased PR and 2 decreased (Duds aren't included in the first two stats above)

Paid Directory Listings:

2 Paid Directories increased in PageRank
6 Paid Directories decreased in PageRank

There are currently 97 Free Directories (including 17 in Duds) and 17 Paid Directories reviewed for a total of 114.

I was happy to see that several of the new PR0 directories, I have added lately, fared well in this PR export. I goes to show that getting a free listing when a directory is new can be a good investment of your time for the future. I still need to update the back links and double check to make sure that none of the free ones have switched to paid recently.

SEO Friendly List Updated:

Dan has updated his great SEO Friendly List again on 03/29/06 and boy do I appreciate all the work he puts into these updates. His list is much bigger than my reviewed list, so it's all the more work for him. Thanks Dan!!

I'm getting interviewed on eMarketing Talk Show:

I am doing an interview about Free and Paid Directories on eMarketing Talk Show this coming Friday, April 7, 2006 at 4:00 PM PDT, 7:00 PM EDT, and Midnight UK (BST). Tune in and listen to what I have to say. If you miss it, it's available as a podcast after the show. Thanks to Cindy Turrietta for inviting me on the show.

That's it for now. I have to get some client work done, but as always, I really appreciate any feedback you have to offer (especially if a reviewed directory changes their submission policies).

martin

Search Engine Workshop Las Vegas

2006-03-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

I am going to Las Vegas, this week, to attend my first on-site Search Engine Workshop, taught by Robin Nobles and John Alexander. I can hardly wait to learn more from these fine folks! Robin and John are the best!

As some of you may know, I received my initial training in "WebPositioning" (as SEO was called back then) in 1998 from Robin via her original online course. In 2004, I took both the basic and advanced SEO/SEM courses offered at Online Web Training and was re-certified. Since then, I have kept my skills up to date by participating and studying at their Workshop Resource Center. After building relationships with the great folks at the WRC, I have become a chat moderator for their beginning chats and also I am now their webmaster.

There are many industry experts associated with the SEW/WRC operations and whenever I have an SEO/SEM question, I can usually find an answer from them or in the extensive reference and course material. I highly recommend their training to anyone that wants to learn real facts, based on research rather than just some theories.

Jerry West will be there too. He will be teaching several sessions and sharing his tested research with the students. For those of you that aren't familiar with Jerry, he is the author of the SEO Revolution Newsletter. This is a great newsletter where Jerry shares the results of his solid research, which is based on real testing on multiple test sites. When Jerry tells you something, he can back it up with facts!

I will finally get to meet several people associated with the WRC, that I have been working with online for ages. I'm looking forward to hearing Dave Barry, of Computer Concierge, speak about CSS and database sites. I'll be meeting up with Robert Wright, the SEO Expert behind MrWebGuru and affiliate and SEM genius, Ginette Degner. With this much talent in one place, I'm sure I will learn a lot.

I'll give you a report after the workshop.

Odds and Ends:

I am still seeing a lot of PR fluxing between Google's datacenters, so I am going to hold off another week before I update my free directories review data. I have made a few minor review data updates today and moved one directory from free to paid directories.

A special thanks goes out to Kevin Heun, internet marketing consultant and WRC member, for his feedback on some directory changes.

That's it for today. I have to get packed.

As always, I like to hear from you and appreciate your feedback and updates on my free directory reviews. Many eyes are needed to keep this data up to date!

martin

Using mod_rewrite to Exclude https When Redirecting

2006-03-05T10:08:00.000-05:00

I previously posted that I encountered a problem using mod_rewrite with https. The examples I had posted redirected the https links, and thus broke a shopping cart.

Well, after looking for a solution in several places, I found the Doriat mod_rewrite forum. What a great place! I posted my problem in their mod_rewrite request forum and Richard, one of their knowledgeable members, worked with me to create a solution. Thanks Richard!! ;-)

I have added this mod_rewrite excluding https solution to my .htaccess and mod_rewrite page. It is important to test your mod_rewrite rules to make sure they do what you intended and nothing else. Also, some servers are configured differently and there are several different ways to use mod_rewrite.

Other updates:

In regards to the recent PageRank update, it still has not stabilized across all the datacenters. Therefore, I am waiting until it does to update my free directory reviews.

A special thank you goes out to Ari, of WSI Internet Consultants, for catching a change on the submittal form at Allthewebsites Directory that indicated that a reciprocal link was now required. Also thanks to Dan of the SEO Friendly List for clarifying that is just a change in language and you can submit without filling in the reciprocal link field.

In order to keep my reviews up to date, it is really helpful to get feedback from you. So please keep it coming.

I will try and add a few new directories later today.

martin

PageRank Export and New SEO Friendly List Released

2006-02-26T14:51:00.000-05:00

Google is the process of "exporting" the latest toolbar PR data and Dan just released an updated SEO Friendly List. Since the PageRank "export" is still ongoing, I am going to wait a few days before I update my data on free directories.

Remember that the toolbar "export" is just that. It's a snapshot of the PR at some point in the past. Bob Mutch, of SeoCompany, is the first person I knew that started calling these toolbar updates "exports. Matt Cutts, of Google, also explains what's an update. Google is thought to update back links and PageRank in real time, so these "exports" don't really change anything, but they can be an indicator of which direction a site is going on link pop and PR.

I added a couple of new free web directories from Dan's latest list. Most of the new directories are PR0, so I'll have to check them out a bit more to see if they have potential.

Also SEOGarage, a directory submission service, merged with Dan's info.vilesilencer. Dan reports in his latest update email:

SEO Garage has merged with Info Vilesilencer as of this update, so that the submission service now runs directly from the site. SEO Garage will fulfil [sic] its existing commitments and all new submissions will run under Info Vilesilencer. http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=submission.php

Although I haven't used this service myself, I have heard a few good reports from others that have used it. I am thinking about trying it out with another site soon.

That's it for now.

martin

Google Toolbar Problem With Some Free Directory Interior Pages

2006-02-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

As I posted previously about in Free Directories with Interior PageRank?, some free directories show decent PR on their home page, but show PR0 on interior pages. After discussing this situation with the folks at Dan's SEO Friendly Free Forums, it was determined that this is mostly not true. It appears that the Google Toolbar's little green PR indicator shows false information with some directories.

When we checked some of the PR0 interior pages with online PR tools, like SeoChat's Future PageRank Tool, most of the interior pages show some PR. This may be due to query strings in the directories URI's, but I'm not sure. I have updated all the free directories that show interior PR (at least two levels deep - my test criteria) that previously didn't on the toolbar.

This took a while, so I am behind in adding new directories, but I did add one free web directory and I will try to add some more later today.

As always, your feedback really helps, so comment below, email me by clicking on my name or via the contact us form.

martin

PS. There should be a new update of Dan's SEO Friendly List out shortly.

Looking for Feedback on Free Directories

2006-02-12T19:26:00.000-05:00

As I try to quantify the value of Free Directories, I have been adding information to my reviews to help with your directory submission process.

I could use some help! If you submit to a directory that I have reviewed and find something I have stated is no longer true, please let me know, so I can update my reviews. I try to regularly submit client sites to these directories, to keep the information current, but as my "day job" workload increases, it's more difficult to revisit the directories and update my reviews. Any help from you folks is greatly appreciated. A few people have contacted me to give me a "heads up" on changes or problems and I thank you for doing so.

You can contact me via email, by clicking on my name below, through the comments to a blog post or via my contact form.

I have added one new directory listing this week and updated many others, including several back link updates.

I'm still looking for quality directories to review, so please keep sending me your findings.

I also added another example to my .htaccess and redirects page to redirect an individual page to another.

martin

Still Looking For Some Good Free Directories

2006-02-05T11:32:00.000-05:00

I spent over three hours yesterday trying to find some good free directories to review and I barely found two. If anyone knows of a good free directory, that I don't already list, please let me know.

Here is my definition of a good free directory:

Has home page PR and also PR on interior pages at least two levels deep
Uses static links and internal linking that passes PR down to your listing page
Has a reasonable submission review time frame
I will review directories that require a link back, if they have something decent to offer the submitter (premium placement, fast review time, etc.)

I'm also interested in niche directories that meet the basic requirements above.

I have updated some of the back link information, so that's pretty much to date.

Thanks to the people that have sent me recommendations and keep them coming!

martin

Problem Using mod_rewrite Rules With HTTPS

2006-01-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to let you know of a problem I just encountered using my mod_rewrite examples with https pages/scripts.

When you use my .htaccess mod_rewrite examples, these rewrite rules will redirect the https address to http and will probably prevent your secure functions from executing properly.

I am researching how to change the RewriteCond to exclude https from this rewrite. I will add this information as soon as I find it and test it.

martin

Update 03/05/06: I have found a solution to this problem. See "Using mod_rewrite to Exclude https When Redirecting" and "mod_rewrite excluding https".

Free Directories With Interior PageRank?

2006-01-22T13:54:00.000-05:00

I keep getting asked about the value of submitting to free directories. As I have said before it all depends on which ones you submit to. There are good ones and bad ones and some in between. What I strive to provide here is information to help you make an informed decision to maximize your SEO time.

To further assist you with this task, I am adding an indication of whether a directory shows PageRank on their interior pages. If you remember, I culled some free directory listings and moved them to Duds, for directories that used redirects to link to interior pages. Now I am highlighting the ones that show PageRank 1 or greater on their interior pages, at least two levels deep. Some directories still don't show PR on deep category pages (where your listing will probably appear), but if they at least have some interior PR they should gain it deeper in time.

I have indicated directories that meet my test with a green background in the home page PageRank box. Now you can tell, at a glance, which ones to target first.

Dan, the creator of the great SEO Friendly List, which I use as my primary resource, issued another update on 01/11/06. He also gave me a nice write up at info.vilesilencer.com (fifth paragraph). Thanks Dan!! ;-)

Well, I better get back to updating the free directory submission reviews.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions and/or feedback, by commenting below or emailing me by clicking on my name or via the contact us form on the site.

martin