Free Directory Listings

- Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Duds, Duds-2

Updated: April 29, 2008.

The following is a list of free directories where you can list your website. All these directories are free (some require that you link back to them or a partner site). Some of these directories have paid submission options.

I have submitted (or attempted) to each directory and will update this page as information and experience is gathered. Since I link back to all directories (for review purposes). I will note my experience on not linking back to "Link Required" = "Optional" directories based on client site submission results, when available.

This page is a continual work in progress, listings are entered as I review the directories and are not in any particular ranking order. Notes and credits are at the bottom of the page.

I posted a short article at my blog on Free Directory Listings 101, a "How To" guide with tips to get your free directory listing accepted on the first try. Also, check out my new "Free Directory Listings Quick Start Guide" to get up and running quickly.

Update: 04/15/06: Check out my directory interview on eMarketing Talk Show! Good stuff there.

Key to listings:

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Yes	Yes	5	No	3 weeks		G, Y!,M

Link Required: Is a reciprocal or partner link required?
Static Link: Is the link static (passes PageRank™) or redirected (type of redirect)? §
PR™: What is the PageRank™ of the directory's home page? Green background denotes a PR1 or better on interior pages two levels down (note: some sites do not show interior PR on the Google Toolbar, but they do an various PR Tools).
Register: Are you required to register or submit an email address?
Time Frame: Actual time for a verified submission or site stated time frame, if this site is not listed yet.
DL: Does the directory allow submission of interior pages (Deep Linking)?
IBL Shown: Does search engines show back links from this directory (see notes below).

More Free Directory Listings - Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Duds, Duds-2

Kingbloom - is a directory and search engine with free regular and paid Premium submissions. They offer a Premium URL upgrade for a one time fee of $3 which gets you a special listing at the top of the category. They also offer a Super Premium listing for $50 per year which gets you a special listing at the absolute top spot (limited to one per category).

They send you an email notifying you of your acceptance if you provide an email address. After submission the state, "The entry will be reviewed soon". After my approval, I spent the $3 for a Premium Listing and I jumped to the top of 113 listings in the Internet > SEO category.

Update: 05/21/06: They show their free submission option is closed. Dan (SEO Friendly List) has removed them from his list because of this. I am going to give them a little time to see if they open the free listings again.

Update 2: 04/29/08: Page Rank ( - ) from 5 to 3. Free regular listing discontinued. Moving to paid directories.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
No	Yes	3	Optional	20 Minutes	N	M

Linketeria - Search useful internet resources for the general public. Websites are listed by popularity and sites that exchange links are clearly labeled. Webmasters submit your site and get free promotion instantly! That is their suggested listing description.

This is a general directory with instant listings. They also offer a starred listing in return for a reciprocal link and the traffic you send them. They note if you want to be identified as a possible link partner with a chain link icon. Your submitting email address has to be from your domain. Top level domains only. I listed this site instantly.

Update: 04/02/06: I have seen a little bit of traffic from this directory recently. I just went there to check on their PR and saw a cool little ad on the top of all their pages for latest referrer (from a reciprocal linking partner). It just happened to be for my site. Maybe that's where the traffic came from.

Update 2: 04/29/08: This site doesn't seem to have a directory listing anymore, has no page rank, and the domain name may be up for sale. I am going to move it to Duds.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Optional	Yes	none	Yes	Instant	N	M

Established Websites Directory - Is a general directory that limits submissions to sites that have a PageRank of 4 or above. If you are listed in DMOZ/ODP, they want you to submit to that category. They send you a submission confirmation email and they will notify you upon approval. There is not any submission time frame listed on their site or in the email. I submitted my site with a link back and was approved within 30 minutes. They did move my listing to my ODP category.

I wrote to Marcus, the directory's owner, to ask him to clarify a few things. * They will deep link if the page is a PR4 or above. Also a reciprocal link will get you a featured listing, if the page you link back from is a PR4 or above. * He said typical submission processing time should be 0 - 10 days (currently about 0 - 3 days - 10/08/05). He also said that once his directory gets more submissions, he will reject a submission if it gets submitted to the wrong category.

Update: 10/22/05: ( + ) Home page PageRank increases from 0 to 4

Update 2: 01/22/06: This directory has changed it's name from High PageRank Directory to Established Websites Directory.

Update 3: 02/18/06: ( + )Their PageRank has increased from 4 to 5.

Update 4: 05/21/06: Dan (SEO Friendly List) shows this directory as paid only, but I don't see that. I am going to check further before moving it to paid.

Update 5: 04/30/08: On this date, the page loaded blank although there is a page in the Google cache dated 4/15/08. so I will check again later.

checked on 5/7/08 and page still blank with a PR of 4 (?!). I did a Google search for "Established Websites Directory" and it seems to be up for sale so that may be why the blank page.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Optional	Yes	5	Yes	30 Minutes - 10 Days *	Y *

Software-Pointers Directory - Is a quality human edited niche directory aimed at software development and computer related listings (including internet related sites). Sam, the directory's owner listed my site after reading about me in Robin Nobles' "Blogs With A Purpose" article and suggested I may want to review his directory.

Sam told me in an email, "We try to list only appropriate quality sites, our rejection rate is above 80%. Many people don't bother reading the guidelines and just submit all their casino sites. I just entered your site into the database, the link will go online within 24 hours".

* Since I didn't submit to his site, I am going to list 1 Day as the time frame. Then I anonymously submitted a client's site and it was accepted in 3 days.

Update: 04/30/08: Page rank steady at 4, still free listing for software development and computer related listings.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
No	Yes	4	Optional	1 - 3 Days *	Y	Y!,M

Apexoo Directory - Is the general directory section of the Apexoo search engine. There is not a time frame stated on their site. I submitted an interior page on 10/15/05 and I will advise on progress.

Update: 10/16/05: My listing shows in their search engine, but not in the directory yet.

Update 2: 02/19/06: My site does not show in their search engine any longer and is not listed in their directory.

Update 3: 07/13/06: ( - ) PageRank decreased from 4 to 3

Update 4: 04/30/08: ( - ) PageRank decreased from 3 to 2. I submitted a site on 1/22/2008, showed up right away, strongly recommends reciprocal link, but not required. Checked 4/30/08 and site is still listed without a reciprocal linkback.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
No	Yes	2	Yes	1 Day ?	?

High Class Blogs - is a human edited blog directory with high PageRank interior pages. They require a reciprocal link and the submission process is unusual. You must submit via email after linking to them. The do not state an review time frame, but they say "Wait for our approval department to contact you".

Bruce, the directory's owner, contacted my to ask for a review after reading my write up in Robin Nobles "Blogs with a Purpose". Since they link to your blog, if it is hosted on your own site, that would constitute a deep link.

I submitted my blog but did not follow the reciprocal linking instructions that state that I should link to them from my blog's index or main page. I was accepted, but I received a polite request from an editor saying, "Although, we have decided to index your blog, we suggest that you
recommend to your visitors that they follow our submission guidelines exactly for the best chance of approval".

Update: 01/22/06: This directory is only one level deep. It has good PR, but there are quite a few links on most pages.

Update 3: 04/30/08: Page rank ( - ) from 6 to 5.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Yes	Yes	5	Yes	2 Days	*

ABC Submissions - is a general directory from the folks at Add Link Directory. This directory is on a different class C IP address block. Their directories usually do pretty well, so get in early. Their site states "Submit as many websites as you like. We will accept all of them ASAP".

Update: 02/18/06: ( + ) Their PageRank has increased from 0 to 4 on the majority of the datacenters. Several do show PR 1 and few show PR0 (this is more of a difference than other listings).

Update 2: 04/04/06: ( - ) The PageRank of this directory was reduced from 4 to 1

Update 3: 04/30/08: ( - ) Page Rank down from 1 to 0. Submissions cost $9.95 one-time fee for permanent links. Moving to paid directories.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Yes	Yes	0	Yes	1 Day	N	Y!

Webmaster Resources - The WebmasterLead.com directory is a niche directory for webmaster related listings with high PageRank interior pages. They give you a text link from the category listings page and URL link from your details page. They do require a reciprocal link, but considering the strength of their pages, it's a good deal. They notify you via email confirming your submittal and when you submission is validated. The site owner told me the typical review time frame is about 24 hours.

I submitted my Free Directory Listings section and it was listed in 2 days.

Update: 04/30/08: ( - ) Page Rank down from 7 to 0

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Yes	Yes	0	Yes	2 Days	Y	Y!, M

Directory Delux - is a general directory which allows you to edit your listing after acceptance and allows visitors to review your site (please review mine). If you provide an optional reciprocal link your listing will appear in their "What's Cool" section. No review time frame is stated on the site (12 hour review time frame is stated in the DP Forum thread below).

I submitted my Webmaster Resources section and it was accepted in 12 hours ( * I later read at DigitalPoint Forums that they don't want you to submit interior pages - they made an exception for my resource section, but they prefer you submit your main domain).

Update: 04/04/06: ( - ) Their PR was reduced from 4 to 3

Update 2: 09/28/06: ( + ) Their PR was increased from 3 to 4

Update 3: 04/30/08: Page doesn't load, will check later. Doesn't load on 5-7-08 although Google has a cache of it 5-2-08.

Link Required	Static Link	PR™	Register	Time Frame	DL	IBL Shown
Option	Yes	4 +	Yes	12 hours	N*	M

More Free Directory Listings - Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Duds, Duds-2

Credits

Credits: There are numerous "Directories of Directories" on the internet, but most are not very useful. I would like to thank the two that I have found invaluable in compiling my list of reviews.

http://info.vilesilencer.com/ - An excellent compilation of SEO Friendly Free Directory Listings. Thanks Dan!

http://www.seocompany.ca/directory/free-web-directories.html - another good resource that provides some additional information, such as the link popularity, page saturation and IP address sharing. Thanks Bob!

Notes:

G, Y!, M - (IBL Shown) Denotes search engine shows directory as a back link to either this or a client's site. G = Google, Y! = Yahoo!, and M = MSN. Note: Yahoo! is known to show the largest sample of back links, Google only shows a very small sample and MSN shows something in between. The fact the an IBL (inbound back link) is not shown in Google or MSN is not very significant.

§ - There is some debate on whether a 302 scripted redirect passes PageRank™, but due to possible problems the directories that use 302 redirects have been moved to "Duds".

۩ - These directories share the same Class C IP address (/24) block as other directories
(# denotes directories that share same IP address - example = ۩2)

* - See information within the description/review for further details

Directory home page Toolbar PageRank™ updated as of 09/28/06. (Note: There are a small percentage of datacenters that are showing the PageRank from the 07/13/06 export, so I am using the "majority view." I was waiting to see if the datacenters would all align, so I am actually making this update on 11/19/06, but dating the PR to 09/28/06.)

Effective 10/20/05, I am adding a + or - to the PR value and the update note so it's easier to see which direction the directories PageRank is moving. If there is not a + or -, there isn't any change from the previous PR export.