Free Directories IBL Updated

I'm having a very lazy day today, Saturday being my usual day to work on my Free Directories list, so I haven't done too much work.

I have updated a few listing's status and several free directories have shown up recently as IBLs (inbound back links), so I added that data to the listings.

I am pleased to see that Free Directories appear to being counted a bit more now than a few months ago.

I'm getting ready to launch a simple local site for my Mum and some of her friends, so this will give me a chance to start from scratch and follow my own advice to see how good it is. I'll report back as I go through the process.

I have been getting a bit more feedback recently, but I would really appreciate any feedback on success or failures based following my advice and reviews.

As always, please comment below, email me by clicking on my name or use the contact us form.

Have a great weekend and remember it's OK to be lazy occasionally!! ;-)

martin

Free Directories PageRank Updates

Well it's been a busy day updating all the data at my Free Directories and Paid Directory Listings reviews.

As you probably know by now, Google is in the middle to their October 2005 update (code named Jagger - I think WMW has some stupid names for these updates). This update is a multi-part one spanning three weeks according to Matt Cutt's latest Google Weather Report.

On 10/20/05 the Google's toolbar PageRank™ was updated to allegedly reflect the PR conditions on 10/10/05. I'm not a big follower of PageRank, but it is a decent barometer for a sites link strength (not to be confused with the site's quality).

I have updated all my review data to reflect this PR update. I have also added a + or - next the PR number to show which direction the directories PR is moving.

Here's the score card for this update:

Main Free Directory Listings: 57 directories reviewed: 11 had a PR increase, 2 decreased and the rest stayed the same.

Free Directory Listings - Duds: 10 directories reviewed: 1 had a PR increase, 1 decreased, one was delisted and the rest stayed the same.

Paid Directory Listings: 15 directories reviewed: 3 had a PR increase, 1 decreased and the rest stayed the same.

This is a much better performance than the last major free directory update. I think the "free directory" situation is swinging back from their "bad boy reputation", but it is important to get listed in the good ones and avoid the bad ones, especially if you link back to any of the directories for enhanced listings or quick acceptance. Like with anything else you do with your website, taking a bit of time to do some research will usually pay off in the long run.

I added one new directory and one of the Duds came back into the main section when they started to accept listings again (in fact, at present, they appear to be an instant submission - kind of strange structure though - check it out: CanLinks Directory).

That's it for now. As always, I like to here from you. You can comment below or email me by clicking on my name below or via the contact us form.

martin

Thanks for the Plug Robin!

I want to thank Robin Nobles of Search Engine Workshops, my SEO teacher, client and most of all friend, for the wonderful plug in her great article "Blogs with a Purpose". I have received a huge initial traffic boost and it appears several new repeat visitors. It just goes to show if you create something useful, somebody will notice and then all the hard work starts to pay off.

Welcome to my new visitors. I hope that you find my Free Directory Listings helpful. Be sure to also check out the great, mostly free tools, in my SEO Tool Chest. There is other useful information in my Website Resources section.

Dan, at info.vilesilencer, has released another update to his great SEO Friendly List. If you haven't already seen it, be sure to check it, but then come back here for in-depth information on many of the directories.

I added a few more free directories and updated a few. I must be getting lazy, I almost missed a 302 redirect on one of the new listings. I was surprised to find that directory on one of the free directory lists (not Dan's) I use for reference. I will be moving it to the Duds page as soon as I see if they accept me. I would not have submitted to it if I had done my normal due diligence before submitting.

As most of you know by now, 302 redirects don't count as back links and don't pass PageRank (although I have seen a few show as back links). Therefore, they won't help you with you service engine rankings. The other problem with them is that some search engines, especially Google, have allowed some sites to be "hijacked" by the site linking to them via the 302. It is best to avoid them just to play it safe, although I have not actually had a problem myself (knock on wood).

That's it for today! As always, please feel free to comment below or email me by clicking on my name.

martin

Good Free Directories Are Getting Harder to Find

Good free directories are getting harder to find! I just went through the new listings at info.vilesilencer's new forum and most of the directories had a PageRank of zero. I added one PR2 and another that was for high page rank sites only (PR4 and above), but the High PageRank Directory is a PR0 right now, guess they need to do some link building. If any of my readers find a decent directory, please let me know.

I have added a bit more data from my clients' site submissions, so you can see a range of acceptance times on some directories. I also, found one directory, Agada, that removed a client's site that was previously listed, but it was already on the "Duds" list because Google had delisted them. I have heard some rumblings lately about other directories dumping listings, so I will spot check for that too.

As for the delisted directories, it appears that they might have been picked off for linking to too many scrapper sites. If that is true, it once again reinforces that you shouldn't link to "bad neighborhoods". I use the "rel="nofollow"" attribute on my links to the delisted directories.

That's it for this week. As always, I like to hear from you via comments below or by email by clicking on my name.

martin

Free Directory Listings Quick Start Guide

Some people have told me that I provide too much information in the summary and update portion of my Free Directory Listings. Personally, I disagree, but for those in a hurry, here's a Quick Start Guide:

1. Read my Free Directory Listings 101. That tells you how to organize your listing information, titles, descriptions and keywords.

2. Click on the links below, which open in a new window so you can refer back here for the next directory. Check my review for any additional information you may need to know before submitting or to see if the directory is a good fit for your site:

wikidweb.com - I list here first because it is an instant listing, you can include links to interior pages and the search engines spider this site quickly. I expect these links to strengthen over time, but right now it's great spider food.

So Much - Quick acceptance, allows deep linking and links show up in all three SEs.

AbiLogic.com - If you want a quick listing, consider a reciprocal link.

A Free Directory - This directory is quick and the links show up in SEs. This is not a strong link, but might mature over time. These folks have a bunch of other directories, but they are on the same Class C IP block. This directory seems to perform a bit better than the others.

All Links Directory - Quick listing, deep linkging, some strong pages and the links show up in SEs.

Tsection - Quick acceptance, allows deep linking and the links show up in SEs.

Fabaroo - Quick listing and the links show up in the SEs.

If you have a few bucks available for site promotion, I would submit to a few good paid directories that Google allegedly likes:

GoGuides - Use their Express Review Service or if you have several sites to submit, use their SSM Membership service.

Joe Ant - If you don't want to go through all the effort to become an editor, use their Speed Pass Service to get in quickly.

Note: Both these directories will only accept reasonably good submissions. They do reject junk!

Greenstalk and associated directories - this appears to be a good deal. You get 10 directories for $49.95. Some of the directories have some internal page PageRank and the links show up in SEs. This is only available via the submit page on Greenstalk.

If you follow this guide and submit to these directories over about a week's time, you should see some search engine activity pretty soon. That's how I started link building for this site, except I didn't know which ones to submit to first. I would then go through and submit to some of the other directories, in my Free Directory Listings section, that take a bit longer to accept.

Add in a dmoz/ODP listing, if you can get one (don't forget to try the regional category for you locale) and get some links from other sites (see Link Building Strategies for other ideas). With this you can probably rank for some terms (not majorly competitive ones).

That's it for now. Get out there and start link building.

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

martin