More Free Directories Move to Duds

A little over 7 months ago, I submitted this website to AllTheWebSites and the idea for the Free Directory Listings reviews was born shortly thereafter. As I started to submit to free directories in the hopes of establishing some free links, I found that the available information on free directories was either quite outdated or very incomplete.

In the beginning, I was still trying to determine what type of content I would offer on my site and these reviews gave me the opportunity to link to directories in order to get listed, while creating some useful content (I didn't know much about free non-reciprocal links at the time). These reviews appear to provide useful, up to date information to webmasters, based on the number of emails I have received and the amount of repeat traffic those pages get.

I just completed a major house cleaning and update. I moved several free directories to my "Duds" category. Most of these had been delisted by Google back in July (and noted in the reviews updates at the time), but I wanted to give those directories time to see if this was another Google glitch or if this was here to stay. All but one continue to appear to be banned. I also moved a few directories that had not listed my site or client's sites in 6 months and do not show any evidence of recent submissions.

Here's some statistics: Of the original 15 directories I reviewed (page 1), 10 are still listed. 1 switched to a pay only model, 1 appears to not have been accepting submissions since 12/04, 1 went belly up and 2 were determined to not be SEO friendly because they utilize 302 redirects.

Of the next 15 (page 2), 9 are still listed. 4 switched to a pay only model and 2 were delisted by Google.

I think that gives you a good overview of what goes on with Free Directories. Most are good for listings, but you need to get in early, before they switch to pay only. Some are not so good and somehow get on the wrong side of Google. It is important to know which ones are which.

A quick commercial announcement: My web host of choice, Lunarpages, has just upgraded their hosting packages to give you more disk space, more bandwidth, additional free features and they will move your site from your old host for free. Plus they offer free domain name registration for as long as you host with them. They have the best support staff I have ever dealt with. If you are looking for a hosting company, these folks are the best. I currently host my site and 5 client sites with them (all on separate class C IP address blocks)!

As always, you may comment below or email me by clicking on my name.

martin

New Meta Search Tool From SeoBook

It's been a slow week on the Free Directory front. I added a few directories and got listed in a few more.

The coolest new tool I have seen this week is Authority Finder, a new meta search tool that is really useful in finding authority or hub sites. This is another in the series of open source, free tools developed by SeoBook (Thanks Aaron). The link above is to the instructions and the tool is located at MyriadSearch.com.

Since the number of queries is limited by using APIs, Aaron will be posting the source code as soon as he's done tweaking it. I will host a mirror version of the tool here, in my SEO Tool Chest. If you are a power user or just want some extra traffic, you can host a mirror site too. You do need to have a DOM XML enabled server. Remember to check out lunarpages (my great web host) if you want one the has DOM XML capability. Don't forget, lunarpages is offering free domain names for as long as you host with them.

That's it for now. Please feel free to comment below or email me by clicking on my name.

martin

Some Free Directories Allow Deep Linking

As you may know, having external inbound links pointing to your interior pages (Deep Linking) is an important part of a well rounded linking campaign. If you have all of your inbound links pointing to your home page, that doesn't look natural. If other sites were to link to your site on their own, they would probably link to a particular page that they thought was useful to their visitors. You need to imitate this behavior to try to appear natural.

Other than buying links, it is sometimes difficult to find sites that will deep link. Reciprocal link exchanges will usually deep link, but we believe that links obtained by swapping continue to be devalued or damped by the search engines.

When I first started submitting to free directories, I could not find many SEO friendly directories that accepted interior pages. I even found a web page that listed directories that accepted deep links, but most of them were either 302 redirects or were paid inclusion. As I continued to research directories for my free directory listings reviews, I got to be less concerned about being rejected and submitted interior pages when the guidelines did not specific forbid that practice. I was pleased when most of those submittals were accepted. I noted a few of the directories that accepted my deep link submission, but then I forgot to keep track of all the ones that did allow deep linking.

During a recent back link check with SeoElite, I noticed that there were several deep links listed. I decided that I should try and consistently note that information in all my reviews. I have added a column to the data table labeled "DL" = "Y" that denotes the directories which have accepted my deep link submission. I still have to go back and note the ones that only allow you to submit your domain (DL = N). I will continue to try and make these reviews the best guide of Free Directory Listings.

Please let me know if you find any inaccuracies in my review data or if you find a directory that you think should be included.

Here's a great deal from my favorite web hosting company, Lunarpages: Right now they will give you a free domain name for as long as you host with them. You own the name, but Lunarpages pays the registration fee for you! That's a great deal and they are the best hosting company I have ever used. I currently have my site and 6 clients hosted with them. Their customer service is incredible. The average email support request is answered within 2 - 3 hours, sometime faster! Do your self a favor and check them out.

I almost forgot (actually I did forget and came back to add this), Dan at info.vilesilencer.com has just released an updated SEO Friendly List. I just added a couple of his new listings.

That's it for now, as always I like to hear from you, so comment below or email me by clicking on my name. Now get out there and submit some of your important interior pages!!

martin

Paid Directories Reviews Added - GoGuides & Greenstalk

Back in June I created a paid directory listings area to house the directories that switched from free to paid only. It was pretty much just a holding area for directories I didn't want to just trash after spending time to research and review them.

As my web business matures and I can afford to spend some money on promotion, I decided to submit to some paid directories for added exposure. Just as I did when I started with listing in free directories, I am reviewing them as I go.

I started with a list of directories that Google is supposed to consider important, and also looked at one of the free directories that recently changed to paid only.

GoGuides.org is a high quality human edited directory (formerly the directory portion from go.com, formerly infoseek (my old favorite search engine - circa 1998)). They are quite strict about complying with their editorial guidelines, which helps to keep the quality high and thus they are trusted more by the search engines. They offer two submission options, see my directory review for more details. I was just approved as a GoGuides Submission Specialist, so I can now offer instant listings to my clients (I can't just submit sites, I have to provide other services).

Greenstalk.com didn't appear to be a really great directory when I first reviewed it as a free directory. Plus, they did not list me for free. When they switched to paid only, I looked and noticed that most of the listing pages had PageRank and not too many listings, so I thought I would list my site for a $9 one time fee. They give you one main link and description, plus four other text links to special pages.

When I clicked on the pay button, I was surprised to see an option to submit to 9 other directories as well for $49.95 total (this doesn't appear anywhere on the site). I was suspicious at first, but after a quick check of the other directories, they seemed to be a pretty good deal. I am waiting to see how they show up as back links.

I will continue to review paid directories in addition to my free directory listings to help you to promote your sites and improve your rankings.

As always, I would like to hear your experiences with any directories. Comment below or email me by clicking on my name.

martin