Why You Should Submit to Directories

by Rick Hendershot, Small Business Online Linknet Network -

The Importance of Anchor Text

As I have mentioned in various articles and posts about link text and anchor text it is important to create powerful, keyword-rich link text in order to create a "context" that tells the Search Engines exactly what your link is about. This is how the "relevance" of a link is established -- by inferring its subject matter from the anchor text and the surrounding link text. Your objective should be to make your links appear as "natural" as possible.

Follow up:

Why You Should Mix Your Anchor Text

If you have had any experience with linking, or if you have applied any of the Power Linking Techniques I have outlined in various articles, you will have learned by now that your link text and "anchor text" are very important. Some webmasters learn how powerful link anchor text is and quickly rush off to build thousands of links using the exact same link text. This can raise a flag in search engines as being unnatural linkage manipulation. When links occur naturally people will link to your site with a wide variety of anchor text. When I build links back to Linknet I use a variety of different anchor text combinations:

Linknet
Linknet Network
Linking Strategies
Power Linking
Power Linking Strategy
Power Link Techniques
Power-Link-Strategies
Link Exchange Programs
Link Trading Strategies
Power Link Exchanges
etc.

Add Directories into the Mix

In one of the first lessons in my Power Linking Course I say the first place you should start in your attempts to build valuable inbound links is with directories. Directories are sites that compile organized listings of web resources which are used to help search engines organize and understand the web. Quality directories require a human review. The Search Engines consider that human review is a vote of quality or a vote of trust. In turn, the search engines use this "vote" to help evaluate the quality of your site.

The Problems With Some Directories

There are thousands and thousands of directories. Most of them are worthless.

Many of them do not build adequate inbound link popularity...and their sites do not get indexed. Many of them are configured so search engines do not have a way to index their inner pages. Many of them use jump links that search engines can not follow. One way to evaluate directories is with first hand experience. If you see a directory listing showing up in your backlinks, then you know it is a good place to be listed. You can also go to sites who specialize in directory listings and see what they recommend. Have a look at their backlinks too. One such site is text-link-ads-inventory.com. Here are some of the directories they recommend:

JoeAnt
GoGuides
UncoverTheNet
WebAtlas
Gimpsy

Of course there is also DMOZ and Yahoo! Directory ($299/year).

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Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including Trade Show Tips, Building Web Traffic Resources, Rick Hendershot's Marketing Bites, and many more.