The Value of Web Directories!
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| by S. Housley |
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 Web directories are an important
component to search engine positioning. Directories come
in all shapes and sizes, some are generic, while others
are highly specialized. Directories, are defined as
categorized topics or collections of information organized
into a tree like structure where categories are used to
define each groups association.
Large directories like Yahoo tend to have general themes
and may charge for listings. While smaller niche
directories like http://www.finance-investing.com
offer free listings and profit from advertising revenue or
pay per click models like Google AdSense.
Being listed in a directory not only brings in targeted
traffic, it provides a one-way link from a website with
similar content. Directories are generally highly ranked
in search engines, and are considered well respected
resources, two traits that are desirable in link partners.
While smaller directories that focus on a specific niche
might generate less traffic, the quality of the traffic
from a niche site is usually highly targeted and will be
superior to that generated from general search engines.
If you are selling fire alarms, traffic from yahoo will be
less qualified than traffic from Alarm Tools, http://www.alarm-tools.net.
Most visitors to Alarm Tools will have a genuine interest
in alarms and alerting systems. The nature of highly
specialized directories result in visitors who have a
serious interest in the directories theme, or a at the
very least an interest in a theme related to the
directory.
As a result, web publishers need to make a conscience
effort not to ignore the value of directory listings.
Regardless of their size, a related niche directory
listing can be extremely valuable.
Many directories offer sponsorship opportunities. Vendors
can optionally purchase sponsorship to increased their
exposure with a bold listing or top category listings.
Determining a Directories Value It is difficult to assess
the value of directory listing, as there is an obvious
advantage to a listing of a closely related theme
directory that is difficult to measure and quantify. In
general, webmasters can use common web guidelines to
determine the popularity of a directory and assess the
directory link's value.
To assess the value of a web directory, consider the
PageRank of the webpage where the link placement of your
site will occur. The PageRank is indicative of how
important Google may find a specific page. Another
reliable third party measuring tool is Alexa. The Alexa
ranking provides insight into how popular a website is. In
general, a link from a web page containing a PageRank of 5
or higher is considered very good. A link from a site in
Alexa's top 100,000 is also generally very desirable.
Compare the following two directories' Monitoring Tools http://www.monitoring-tools.net
and RSS Specifications http://www.rss-specifications.com.
Monitoring Tools' main page has a PageRank of 5 but most
internal pages that contain links have low page ranks and
the overall Alexa ranking of the site is over 650,000.
While RSS Specification's claims a main Google PageRank of
6 and subpages all contain a minimum of a 5 for PageRank,
the overall site is ranked 32,000. Clearly if you are in
the syndication business, RSS Specification's would be a
very desirable link partner, while you would have to weigh
the cost benefit and position of a link from Monitoring
Tools.
To determine a sites PageRank without downloading the
Google Toolbar, use the following online tool from
RustyBrick http://www.rustybrick.com/pagerank-prediction.php.
A website's Alexa ranking can be found by entering the URL
into Alexa http://www.alexa.com.
It is recommended that PageRank and Alexa ranking be only
used as a guide when determining a directories reputation.
It is important not to get too caught up in either Google
PageRank or Alexa Ranking as webmasters can use
"tricks" to artificially inflate their numbers.
The bottom line, links from directories that are small but
niche, can provide quality web traffic.
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| About
the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for
FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and
podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
FeedForDev http://www.feedfordev.com
an RSS component for developers. |
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