Directory submission: One of the best post penguin SEO strategies! How to do it right?

Making the most out of directory submissions

Google penguin update has redefined the SEO link building strategies that have been in practice for so long. However, there is one SEO strategy that still remains unaffected for a decade - “The directory submission” (web directory listing) strategy. There are only a few SEO strategies which are directly given a green light by the search engines. As you know, onsite SEO such as page speed, optimized META content and quality of the on page content are some of the strategies directly recommended by the search engines. Similarly when it comes to off page SEO, directory submission is one strategy that Google and other search engines consider as valid SEO. Take a look at a conversation between Google’s Matt Cutts and Debra of linkspiel.com

saying that Google is publicly recommending directory submission as one of the best SEO strategies, but Google recognizes it as a SEO strategy. How many SEO strategies you know are recognized positively by Google and they say “Hey, that’s okay to do this SEO strategy”? With directory submissions, Google says listing your website to directories is a “SEO strategy” which becomes effective when your choice of directories meets the Google criteria. It is true that nobody except Google knows all those criteria, but based on the general SEO guidelines of today, we could filter the directory list based on the following factors:

• Say no to directories in the same IP network. You can use bulk IP checker tools to check for duplicate IPs in your list.
• Say no to directories with the same template or script footprint (PhpLD directories for example).
• Though the approval in manually reviewed directories take a very long time, you should include as many directories with a manual review process .
• See the quality of the sites published in the directory. If only good sites are published, Google and other search engines would love those directories as well
• Check if the directories are in Google index or if they are banned in search for some reason. You don’t want your website to be listed in banned directories
• Do not use any automated software to submit your website to these directories. It may save your time but would eventually harm your websites rankings for sure.

What directories to consider?

Now you know how to filter and obtain the best list of directories. The process doesn’t just stop there. With the importance of targeted SEO, now we have different types of directories. It is not just one type of general website directory submissions to look for. In addition to the general directories, your website must be listed in:

• Company profile directories such as aboutus and crunchbase

• Niche specific directories
• Country specific directories 
• Directories that allow inner page links to list your contact page or the about us page
  

In addition to these options, you can make use of the following types of directories as applicable:

• If you have a blog you can list it in the best blog directories and submit the RSS feed of the blog to RSS feed directories
• Great news for those who have a facebook fanpage and twitter page is that, there are directories available for them as well.
  

Before doing the submissions to all these types of directories, you have to apply the search engine criteria factors that were discussed earlier. 

Hiring a SEO company for directory submissions? Ask questions!

Directory submission is certainly a time consuming process when you do it as a manual process. So, you would be mostly outsourcing the directory submissions to some SEO company. It is a good move to hire a SEO company to save time and resources make sure that:

• They have the most updated list of directories (updated after the penguin and the most recent panda update)
• They have an 100% manual submission process
• They are knowledgeable about the current search engine algorithms and the SEO guidelines. Their expert knowledge would be applied with strategy too
• Ask for reports of the submissions. If they just give you a list of directories and tell you that the listing would go live after a few days, ask for something that shows that the submission for done properly. Screenshots would work.
• Most importantly, directory submissions to popular and indispensable directories such as Dmoz and Yahoo come included with the service with NO EXTRA COST. Always remember that submissions to these top directories need no extra effort when compared to the regular submissions.

Directory submission is a SEO strategy that has been “algorithm proof” consistently for almost a decade now. When done right, directory submissions would get you the same effectiveness as most of the premium SEO strategies to today!

What do you think about directory submissions and its effectiveness after the penguin algorithm update? Discussion is now open at our official Facebook forum.