Best Web Directories

What are some of the factors at which to look when deciding to submit your website to a web directory? Below is a starting point (not an all-inclusive list) and highlights 10 significant points which distinguish superb web directories from many other web directory sites.

1. Does the web directory accept virtually any website which is submitted? If there is not careful editorial discretion in weeding out the “subpar” sites, you probably don’t want your site in that directory. If the editor is rejecting sites which do not have a high level of good content, this may be a directory to consider a site submission.
2. Is the cost of the web directory submission for “review” or evaluation, or is the fee for an automatic listing?
3. Does the web directory appear to promote the listed websites, or does it seem like the site is trying to sell Page Rank? Does the directory sell links in the sidebar and/or footers of the homepage? Not a good sign of a clean web directory.
4. Does the web directory have fresh, relevant, and related content, which would be helpful to a person searching for a product or service online?
5. How long has the web directory been in existence? 5-10 years of existence shows a reasonable consistency, and may indicate that the site will continue in its present form in the future.
6. Keyword Placement. How does the web directory place for specific keywords? Presumably, a good web directory should place reasonably well for the keywords “web directory.” Interestingly, with millions of web directory sites online, these keywords are extremely difficult to capture in terms of search engine results; the top 200 sites may be worth evaluating. Also, how does the site place for its own domain name? If it has trouble placing for keywords of the website name, beware, it may have been manually penalized by Google.
7. MOZ Rank. SEOMOZ has established itself as an authoritative website analytic program. Page Authority and Domain Authority are the applicable measuring basis. Scores range from 0-100, the higher score being the better one. I look for web directory sites which have a Domain and/or Page Authority score of 60 and higher. SEOMOZ combines many on and off site factors into their algorithm, and appears to conduct a thorough evaluation. Scores are updated monthly.
8. Alexa Score. Again, another gauge of how a site is performing. The statistics of Alexa may not be perfect, but they represent as specific a measurement of website traffic which is generally available. Any directory which is in the top 100,000 websites in terms of visitor traffic may be a site to consider.
9. Who links to the web directory? If the web directory owner is promoting his site in credible and trustworthy web directories, this is a good sign. If the directory is promoted by spam blog posts and questionable web directories, beware.
10. Page Rank. OK, I know I am not supposed to care about this topic. What can I say? I still think that it plays a role in determining whether a web directory is an effective tool to promote your site. (Remember, we are promoting websites, not buying Page Rank.) Although Page Rank may not be deemed to as important as it once was, it is still a factor I consider. Google manually reviewed and punished many web directory sites over the past five years, and one gauge of their “penalty” may be measured by a low web directory Page Rank. I am always leery of promoting a site on an older web directory which only has a PR of 0 or 1. Something doesn’t seem right about a directory which has been online for years, without a PR of at least 2 or 3.