Submitting to quality web directories is a great way to establish your web site in a number of ways. Below you will find a number of tips that will lead to better success and results from web directory submissions. Some of the information provided has been mentioned repeatedly elsewhere, some is obvious, and others may be useful to everyone with any experience level. Some of the tips are geared more towards submission to free directories and others are specifically for paid web directories, but all of the information can be useful for both types of web directories. The purpose of this article is to offer a collection of useful tips for web directory submitting together in one place for convenient access and reference to others.

1. When considering a web directory for submission, be sure that it is appropriate for your listing. For example, a financial planning web site would not be appropriate for a niche games web directory. In other words, ensure there’s a category appropriate for your listing. If there’s not a category for your web site in the directory, consider suggesting it to the web directory owner via a contact form or built-in category suggestion link (if available on the site). Doing so is better for both you and the directory. If you submit into a category that is not appropriate, it may be moved to an undesired location, such as “Miscellaneous” or “General”..
2. If you’re being selective about the directories to which you’re going to submit, consider them wisely. There are many opinions on what makes a quality web directory that is worthy of submission. Listed below are some suggestions on aspects of a web directory to consider. It is recommended that you submit to the directories that will give you the most value first, in most cases.
   • Does the directory have editorial integrity? If a web directory is represented as family friendly, but you find web sites with adult images, for example, that will tell you the directory is accepting sites without the listings being properly reviewed.
   • Are the directory’s listings properly categorized? It is of value for your listing to be included among those with content related to your site..
   • Are the listing descriptions well written? If you find descriptions that are a bunch of keywords that do not form an actual sentence or clause, that’s an immediate indication that the directory is not being as well managed as it should be..
   • Many people judge a web directory based on its Google PR rating. When considering PR, it is useful to not only take into mind the directory’s homepage PR, but the PR of the category page in which your listing will be placed..
   • Some directories, especially bidding web directories, send valuable traffic to listed web sites. When submitting to a web directory, consider its Alexa rating. The Alexa traffic rating system is certainly not perfect as it has a significant webmaster skew. However, it is the best system we have available to judge traffic. It is most accurate for webmaster related sites, and luckily web directories fall into this category. Therefore, it’s a good measurement for which directories receive the most traffic..
3. Look through the categories available for submission carefully. Sometimes there may be a more relevant/appropriate category in a different main category than the one you selected initially..
4. When submitting a web site, don’t use a title that is excessively long. Try to keep your titles limited to 3-5 words, and do not use a list of keywords as a title. Ensure that your title makes sense and is descriptive of your web site. Similarly, avoid using one-word titles. A one-word title is far too generic, and many web directories will not accept a one-word title. Therefore, it is better if you put a 3-5 word title that will be useful to you, rather than the directory owner changing to something appropriate that may not be useful to you. Note that some web directories require using the web site’s official name for the title or only allow keyword titles with certain submission options. Be sure to check the directory’s guidelines for this information..
5. Take the time to write a really good description for your web site. Keep in mind that this description may be a representation of your web site for years to come. Ensure that it gives a good impression of your company or web site. Descriptions for web directories should be written in complete sentences or clauses (in some cases). Be careful to use correct grammar and spelling. Quality web directories may re-write your description, but if you provide a good, quality description, it is likely to be re-written much less, and can prevent any misinformation. Also, it is possible that even a high quality directory can miss a typo. Therefore, if you are careful about this as well, chances are much better that you will end up with a description that is acceptable to both you and the web directory..
6. When writing titles and descriptions, do not use text that is too promotional. Such text can seem like an ad or endorsement from the web directory. Web directory titles and descriptions should be as objective as possible. Avoid words like ‘best’, ’leader’, ’cheapest’, ’greatest’, and other similar adjectives..
7. Do not use all UPPERCASE letters in titles and descriptions. Also, do not capitalize the first letter of each word in descriptions. It is recommended to capitalize the first letter of each significant word in the title.
8. Avoid use of exclamation marks ‘!’ in the description submitted to web directories.
9. Do not mention any pricing, telephone numbers, or other information that is subject to change with time in the descriptions submitted to web directories.
10. If a web directory allows deep links, take advantage of them. Often when submitting to a web directory, you may want to get through the process quickly, and that can mean wanting to skip entering deep links for a web site submission. However, promotion of a web site’s inner pages is very important to many web sites. If a web directory gives you the option to enter them (especially if free or at the same price as the normal submission), it is definitely worthwhile to take the time to enter them. When entering deep links, be sure to note the format for the URL. For example, if the deep link URL fields have http:// to the left of them, do not enter http:// again with the URLs. Otherwise, be sure to always enter http:// with deep link URLs. Following this tip will ensure that your deep links actually work.
11. Be sure to read any rules or guidelines available on a web directory’s submission form. We are probably all guilty of this at one point or another. After you have submitted to a lot of web directories, you may get the feeling you know what is acceptable and should be done, and it becomes easy to skip over reading posted rules and guidelines. However, reading guidelines can sometimes save you time, money, and/or frustration. For example, some web directories require using a featured submission option for a listing to be included in a top-level category. If you do not read the guidelines, and submit to a top-level category with the regular listing option, your submission will likely be moved. Another good example is the few web directories that accept only deep link submissions (you can usually identify these by the name of the site, though). Occasionally you will even find mention of a discount coupon on the submit form, which can save you money. There are numerous other examples of instances it is useful to read any submission information available on the page. The best way to sum the point up, though, is to not assume all web directories have the same submission rules, accept the same types of sites, and have the same policies.
12. Take note of the type of web sites considered acceptable for the web directory. Most web directories, especially , do not accept web sites, such as:
    • Sites that are made solely for displaying Google AdSense, Yahoo Publisher Network, or other ad formats
    • Mirror web sites that are solely or include much duplicate content
    • Sites that do not contain much unique content
    • Sites that contain mainly affiliate links or that are made entirely for affiliate sales
    • eBay™ or Amazon™ store sites
    • Sites that redirect to another web page or site
    • Sites that contain illegal items for sale
    • Sites that are under construction or no longer active/updated
    • Sites that contain pornographic images
    • Sites that include nothing more than links to other web sites
    • Sites that are difficult to read (such as very small text or text color that is not easily read with the page’s background)
    • Sites that contain excessive pop-up or pop-under advertising
    • Sites that contain hate or violence related content
    • Sites that contain copyright infringing material
13. If your directory is not written in English, check to ensure the web directory accepts non-English web sites. If the web directory does accept non-English web sites, most require English titles and descriptions for listing in the web directory.
14. If you are promoting internal pages of your web site as new listings, ensure that subpage submissions are allowed or possible. This is usually not an issue for paid (unless a technical one with the script configuration), but free web directories often do not accept submission of subpage listings.
15. Reciprocal listing options should be used only if you plan to maintain the link back to the web directory. Also, the page containing your reciprocal link should be linked elsewhere on your web site so that it is, at least, indexed by search engines. Many web directories check the existence of reciprocal links periodically. Therefore, if the reciprocal link is no longer found, you risk your listing being removed.
16. If your web site is hosted on a free server, ensure that the web directory accepts such sites. Also, some web directories do not accept listings that are submitted with free email addresses or require for the email address to be on the same domain as the web site submitted. These requirements are more common with free web directories.
17. If the web directory has posted character counts listed for fields, be sure to check that your text falls within the requirements. This is becoming more rarely a problem since more submission forms are validating the fields before the submission is successful, but it is still something to watch, especially on older sites.
18. It is useful and appropriate for you to be careful when submitting to any directory, but when submitting to free directories, be extra careful to follow the above tips. It may take you minutes to submit a listing, but it only takes the web directory owner a second to reject it if something is not selected or entered correctly, such as a wrong category or a listing that does not follow posted guidelines.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Tips for Directory Submitters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.