Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
A tool to submit websites in directories
-
Hello
I am looking for a tool to help me to submit websites in directories, something like the yooda tool. http://www.yooda.com/outils_referencement/submit_center_yooda/ This tool seems good no? do you offer something similar at seomoz? or where could I find some similar tools and in which languages is it available?
-
A Comprehensive Guide to Directory Submission Sites
Introduction
Directory submission is a critical aspect of off-page search engine optimization (SEO). It involves submitting your website's URL and other details to various web directories under specific categories to improve your site's visibility, increase backlinks, and drive traffic. Although its importance has evolved over time, directory submission remains a valuable tool in the digital marketer’s toolkit.
This article provides an in-depth look at directory submission sites, including their benefits, types, submission process, and best practices to maximize your SEO efforts.
Understanding Directory Submission Sites
A directory submission site is a database of websites categorized based on niche, industry, or topic. These directories provide a structured way to find websites, making them accessible to users looking for specific information. By listing your website in these directories, you enhance your online presence and SEO performance.
Types of Directory Submission Sites
-
General Web Directories: These directories list websites from a wide range of categories and industries. Examples include DMOZ (now closed) and Yahoo Directory (discontinued).
-
Niche Directories: These directories focus on specific industries or topics, such as health, technology, or travel. Examples include Healthgrades (for healthcare) and TripAdvisor (for travel).
-
Local Directories: These directories list businesses and websites based on geographic location. Examples include Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Google My Business.
-
Reciprocal Directories: These directories require you to link back to them from your website as a condition for listing.
-
Paid Directories: These directories charge a fee for listing your website. Examples include Best of the Web and Business.com.
-
Free Directories: These directories offer free submission services. Examples include Hotfrog and Jayde.
Benefits of Directory Submission
-
Improved SEO: Directory submissions help build backlinks, which are crucial for improving search engine rankings. Quality backlinks signal to search engines that your site is authoritative and relevant.
-
Increased Visibility: Listing in directories increases your website’s visibility, making it easier for potential customers to find your business.
-
Targeted Traffic: Niche and local directories drive targeted traffic to your site, leading to higher conversion rates.
-
Brand Recognition: Being listed in reputable directories enhances your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness.
-
Indexing: Directory submissions can help search engines discover and index your site more quickly.
The Directory Submission Process
The process of submitting your website to directories involves several steps. Here’s a detailed guide to ensure a smooth and effective submission process:
-
Identify Suitable Directories: Research and identify directories relevant to your industry or niche. Prioritize directories with high domain authority and good reputation.
-
Prepare Your Website Information: Gather all necessary information about your website, including URL, title, description, keywords, and contact details. Ensure your description is concise, accurate, and keyword-rich.
-
Select Appropriate Categories: Choose the most relevant category for your website within the directory. Accurate categorization ensures your site is listed in the right context, making it easier for users to find.
-
Submit Your Site: Follow the directory’s submission guidelines and complete the submission form. Some directories may require account creation or email verification.
-
Verify Submission: Some directories may require you to verify your submission via email. Ensure you complete this step to finalize your listing.
-
Monitor and Maintain Listings: Regularly check your listings to ensure they remain accurate and up-to-date. Update any changes to your business information promptly.
Best Practices for Directory Submission
-
Focus on Quality Over Quantity: Submit your website to reputable and high-quality directories. Avoid low-quality or spammy directories, as these can harm your SEO.
-
Unique Descriptions: Write unique descriptions for each directory to avoid duplicate content issues.
-
Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone): Ensure your business’s name, address, and phone number are consistent across all directory listings to improve local SEO.
-
Use Relevant Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your descriptions to enhance SEO.
-
Monitor Backlinks: Use tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs to monitor backlinks generated from directory submissions and ensure they are indexed by search engines.
-
Leverage Local Directories: For local businesses, prioritize submissions to local directories to boost local search rankings.
-
Avoid Over-Submission: Do not submit your site to too many directories at once. Gradually build your directory listings over time to avoid appearing spammy.
Top Directory Submission Sites for 2024
Here’s a list of some reputable directory submission sites you can consider for 2024:
- DMOZ (ODP - Open Directory Project): Although no longer active, its clones and alternatives still hold value.
- Yahoo Directory: While discontinued, its legacy continues with other business directories that follow similar models.
- Google My Business: Essential for local SEO and visibility on Google Maps.
- Yelp: Crucial for local businesses, especially in the service industry.
- Bing Places for Business: Important for visibility on Bing search engine.
- Yellow Pages: Traditional yet effective for local business listings.
- Foursquare: Useful for businesses targeting local customers.
- Angie’s List: Ideal for service-oriented businesses.
- TripAdvisor: Essential for travel and hospitality businesses.
- Hotfrog: Free and general web directory.
- My Advisers: This is a financial blog website. Contact blogger Biswajit for business listing.
Conclusion
Directory submission remains a valuable component of an effective SEO strategy. By understanding the types of directories, following the submission process, and adhering to best practices, you can enhance your website’s visibility, drive targeted traffic, and improve search engine rankings. While the landscape of SEO and directory submissions may evolve, the foundational benefits of increased exposure and quality backlinks continue to make directory submissions a worthwhile investment for digital marketers.
-
-
I was looking for a tool to automatic list my website in classifieds & directories, please let us know if you have one (paid/unpaid) both.
-
Hello
I am looking for a tool to help me to submit websites Horitoki Saree in directories.
-
Hello, Moz Local is a really good SEO tool for this, or, you could use a backlinks tool, such as Majestic SEO, look at your competitor's backlinks, and build the same backlinks/ business citations.
-
Introducing an SEO text artifact that can avoid being detected as AI content by the platform. Although Google says it will not ban AI, it is still difficult to ensure future policy changes.
AI Undetect is undetectable AI rewrite tool
It offers an AI detection remover service that integrates 8 free AI detector interfaces, including GPTZero, ZeroGPT, Copyleak, Writer, and SAPLING. With a single click, you can determine whether your content has been generated by AI.
If you wish to make your content seem more human-like and bypass AI detectors, you should make use of our AI humanizer, which helps in converting AI text to a more human-friendly form to anti ai detector.
aiundetect -
SubmitEaze directory submission software helps you with submitting to web and article directories.
-
f you're looking for an automatic tool similar to Yooda for website submissions to directories, SEOmoz doesn't offer such a tool. However, you may explore alternatives like SubmitEaze, Directory Maximiser, or tools from Whitespark and Yext for local business listings. Always check reviews and features to ensure a tool aligns with your needs. Additionally, SEOmoz provides resources on effective link building and local SEO strategies that might be helpful in your directory submission efforts.
-
For directory submissions, you might want to explore other specialized tools or services. BrightLocal, Whitespark, and Yext are examples of platforms that assist with local business listings and directories. Always check the latest features and reviews to ensure a tool meets your specific needs.
Additionally, Moz does provide resources and guides for effective link building and local SEO strategies that could be helpful in your directory submission efforts. Keep an eye on their official website for updates on new tools and features.
.
.
(Canada Immigration Process Time from India) (after MBA in India study in canada) -
@evreeland said in A tool to submit websites in directories:
Yext's (www.yext.com) PowerListings product is a great tool for free robux that have actual physical locations. Our extensive network and technical integrations with many popular local directories and search engines allow for incredibly quick business listings updates.
Indeed, Yext products really does a great job. Kudo's to Mark and his men.
-
@papaly Speed Dial app/extension is great. Thanks.
-
We use yext and love it. Yuou can submit and synergies all NAP listings in one spot.
-
You can always use a bookmarking service such as a Speed Dial app/extension. At Papaly you're able to create a customize directory of all your bookmarks. Hopefully this helps you!
-
"I'd also be careful not to run wild with directory submissions, as Google could pretty easily detect spikes in backlinks from directories." I was always under the impression that directory submissions don't all get accepted in one shot. Each submission gets accepted at a separate time, correct? Some may take days other may take month.
-
Yext's (www.yext.com) PowerListings product is a great tool for businesses that have actual physical locations. Our extensive network and technical integrations with many popular local directories and search engines allow for incredibly quick business listings updates.
-
Just wanted to leave a quick note saying that SEOmoz has upgraded our Link Directory! You can view a post Cyrus wrote with more information about the directory update and link building via directories at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices
-
Yeah we trialed Directory Maximiser for our own site and it seemed good and they did what they said they would do.I've also noticed that one of the submitted directories has appeared as one of the best quality in our SEO moz reports.
I'd be interested to hear though from others whether its been effective for them as we're tempted to use them for a client's site.
-
Directory Maximiser seems pretty good - you can add multiple variations of submission titles and descriptions and there is a list of the directories they submit to on the website.
This service is very cost effective at around £6 per 50 submissions, and you can also pay around £0.01p extra per submission for them to set up an email address and manage the confirmation emails too.
They also have a service called 'Social Maximiser' which is a social bookmarking submission service with a similar pricing structure.
Does anyone have any experience of using this service? A few different people have recommended it to me.
Paul
-
I would agree. If Google, Bing/Yahoo, and my buddy Blekko can find the site I move one to more specific directories or link building. ( I like Blekko 'cause they rank me higher for my top keywords than the others, so I think they are brilliant - hah)
-
Is this worth doing or even effective? I've been reading that you don't see to much of an effect when using automated tools. In fact, a few people have said that they've seen better results just filling out a few "Top" directory listings. Love to hear everyone's thoughts!
-
Submission to directories in general used to be seen as the big way to promote a site, these days however (as has been said by many) generating back links needs to be a bit more thought out than just blasting out submissions. I have used IBP and WebCEO in the past with success, but actual traffic and link juice gained is very nominal.
Personally, once submitted to the major SE's - Google/Bing/Yahoo etc, I would spend the time/money on specific link mining and building instead.
-
If you have a list of sites you are going to submit to then using an extension like Roboform or AutoFillForms can take a lot of the tedium out of the process and save you a few £/$/etc if you need to do that.
-
I'm having some issues with the directories from http://www.webdisney.com/suggest/default.asp
A lot of the sumbit links are 404.
If that's just on my side sorry .. if not it will be great if someone can review them : add new ones if needed and remove the expired ones.
Thanks.
-
there are some good ones out there (fast directory submitter, IBP, webceo) but they are meant to be viewed as supplementary ones for the ones you create manually.
-
I would recommend creating your own long or short list of directories you want your site in then outsource the submission using odesk.com. Others here have offered great advice on building that list (Casey & Kris).
One thing you should always check is that the URL your link is going on is in the Google index. If you have a link to your site on a page that is not in the Google index try pinging that link or dare I say tweeting that link so it has a chance to get picked up. If the URL the link is on is not in the index it passes no value.
-
What about a good automatic tool for submitting local directories?
-
I find automatic tools are good to fill up the portfolio of older established sites with a lot of backlinks. Just try to use the tools in a whitehat-style. Split linkbuilding packets in 4-5 time frames (always leave 2 monthes to submit to next).
My recommendations for semi-submitting is SubmitEaze with the new version (also own sites in local languages can be setup); try to enhance time frames for link building to prevent landing in g*****`s sandbox. If you have to make more backlinks, I recommend Sick Submitter - it can submit automatic to phpld - directories, BUT take care and only use it also in whitehat style. Also only use own scraped high quality phpld domains, as built in sites are full of spam. Scraping software what is good -> scrapebox. Hope this helps.
-
I find whitespark Local Citation Finder gives god results, it does not post for you, but does give a good list for given keyword and location
-
small caveat to the endorsment above... IP diversity does seem to be a rather important ranking metric. It's been my experience that Quantity and Quality need not come from the same source. If you've got some great quality links, and a bunch of quantity only type links.. it seems to still result in a net positive.
Six things I normally look at linkbuilding wise (in no particular order):
Authority/Trust
Niche Relevance
Segmentation (links in content > links in sidebar, footer, comments)
Anchor
IP diversity
Linkweight (Juice, PageRank, whatever)As long as you have elements of each of these SOMEWHERE in your link profile you generally do well.
Other than that I agree with these fine folks. Also automation is great for scaling but it almost always leads to a great reduction in quality and possibly could end up being a wasted effort if the rejection rate goes up enough as a result.
-
digixmas has a decent article submitter and directory submitter, but this obviously produces mediocre-low level quality links. It does have tools for checking the submission and outputting the exact url of the link, so that you can use services like linklicious or other indexing/spidering services to expedite google's finding these links. The results range from 0-38 PA in OSE. Obviously using these tools won't get you ranked in highly competitive niches, however you could probably achieve top 10 in somewhat competitive local results such as 'industry + cityname". If you're going to use these tools, i would strongly recommend using the submission report features I mentioned otherwise your links will not be spidered for a LONG time.
-
I use SubmitEaze, and they just recently upgraded their software to include a captcha solver (since many directories use the same platform). The software is good at getting you into directories - whether those directories actually add any value is up for debate. Generally the directories are mediocre to low quality, so chances are your listings won't get indexed for a long time.
So far, I haven't seen sites get "in trouble" for low quality directory listings. At the same end, I haven't seen sites increase their organic rankings from low quality directories either. There might be a case for using directories for local search, since Google Places generally looks for a citation as opposed to a backlink (and Google Places is all about quantity as opposed to quality. )
-
There is no set amount of links that a site needs to be successful. I think you may have that 150 number confused with what we usually consider an acceptable amount of links ON a page. Not links pointing TO a page.
A good strategy might be to submit your site to a few directories a month, spend time working at creating partnerships (that might bring links), while also creating compelling content that people want to link to naturally.
If you're seeking link building ideas, I'd highly recommend reading through our linkbuilding category from the blog. Tons of great ideas there!
-
Thank you for your answer.
But there is something not very clear for me: I think you have said once than a website needs at least 150 links or something like that, that means you submit all directly in directories, but it is very time consuming no? Because we need to gain time to do this.
Or what else would you advise?
We are a small growing web agency.
-
First, no, SEOmoz does not offer any automatic directory submission tools. We do offer this page as a service to our customers, and you may find it useful: http://www.seomoz.org/directories
Yooda does seem like a nice piece of software, though I can't say that I've used it.
I've also heard decent things about this one:
http://www.fastdirectorysubmitter.com/tutorials/73-fast-directory-submitter-video.html
For the most part I've found automatic submission tools to be pretty frustrating, and almost certainly never worth the money. I'd also be careful not to run wild with directory submissions, as Google could pretty easily detect spikes in backlinks from directories.
I hope that helps!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Unsolved How to Reduce the spam score of the website?
My website is https://usapickleballrules.org it is a informational website and Moz shows a spam score of 8,may i know why my site spam score is high and how can i reduce it,after all it is a dubai store portal.
Moz Pro | | rameezmirza2 -
Best tools for an initial website health check?
Hi,
Moz Pro | | CamperConnect14
I'd like to offer free website health checks (basic audits) and am wondering what tools other people use for this? It would be good to use something that presents the data well. Moz is great but it gets expensive if I want to offer these to many businesses in the hope of taking on just a few as clients and doing a full manual audit for them. So far I've tried seositecheckup.com (just checks a single page though), metaforensics.io and mysiteauditor. Thanks!0 -
Tool recommendation for Page Depth?
I'd like to crawl our ecommerce site to see how deep (clicks from home page) pages are. I want to verify that every category, sub-category, and product detail page is within three clicks of the home page for googlebot. Suggestions? Thanks!
Moz Pro | | Garmentory0 -
Does SEOmoz have a tool to find mirror sites?
I heard from a company that is trying to get my clients SEO business that they discovered multiple sites mirroring our site's content. Does SEOmoz have a tool to find these websites? Or does Google?
Moz Pro | | thomas.wittine0 -
How to force SeoMoz to re-crawl my website?
Hi, I have done a lot of changes on my website to comply with SeoMoz advices, now I would like to see if I have better feedback from the tool, how can I force it to re-crawl a specific campaign? (waiting another week is too long :-))
Moz Pro | | oumma0 -
Why do my Rankings Report show different results than the Rank Tracker tool?
I noticed that my ranking report puts be at 33 in google for one term, but when I use the Rank Tracker under Research tools it places me at 15.
Moz Pro | | trainsimple0 -
Is there a tool to upload multiple URLs and gather statistics and page rank?
I was wondering if there is a tool out there where you can compile a list of URL resources, upload them in a CSV and run a report to gather and index each individual page. Does anyone know of a tool that can do this or do we need to create one?
Moz Pro | | Brother220