Using Internet Directories as a Link Building Tool - Selecting the Directories
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The most obvious Internet directory to start with when beginning a comprehensive link search is the well known DMOZ directory. With its complete category and sub-category classification system, any website owner can find numerous sites within their area of business.
If your website is already listed in the DMOZ directory, the first step is to go directly to your own site's category. Within those pages of listings, whether you are in the global or regional category, will be some of your direct competitors.
There is no need to contact them for link exchanges if you are concerned about loss of visitor traffic to their sites. If you are not listed in the DMOZ directory, find the category where your site would probably be included. The process remains the same for finding link partners, whether your site is listed or not.
On the other hand, if your goal is to build what Google considers a "hub site", link exchanges with competitors are a positive. For purposes of this discussion, however, the goal will be more straightforward link exchanges. We will focus on gaining additional incoming links for their search engine benefit, and on links for attracting extra visitor traffic.
Within the selected category, the listed websites are placed in alphabetical order, and the listings may include one, two, or even more than ten pages of sites. The important thing to remember is all of the listed sites are theme and topic related to yours.
The same concept can be used in the sub-categories and the higher categories in the same subject area. The listings are generally all related sites thematically. The same procedure can be used for businesses that are related and complementary to yours, like flowers are part of weddings, and therefore make sense for wedding dress sales.
The Yahoo! Directory provides a similar opportunity for the website owner. The Yahoo! Directory has many of the same sites listed as DMOZ. That is a given. There are, however, many more sites listed in Yahoo! that are not part of the Open Directory Project. That fact opens up many more possibilities for the webmaster.
When you go to the Yahoo! Directory, as with DMOZ, go first to your category if you are already listed. Select the most probable one, if your site is not included. Note that the listings are also in alphabetical order, and may have somewhat different descriptions than the DMOZ directory employs. Use the same procedure as before, and your list of potential linking partners will grow larger.
A third important Internet directory is the Google Directory. Using listings supplied by the Open Directory Project, the listings are very similar to those found in DMOZ. Google offers a major and important difference, however. Google orders the results from the highest PageRank listing to the lowest, making your sorting that much easier. Keep in mind that some of the PageRanks on display are possibly out of date, and may not reflect the site's current PageRank.
If exchanges, for higher PageRank purposes are important to your site, then the Google directory offers what you seek. As a general rule, don't let PageRank determine your linking partners. It is far more important to make your site helpful for your visitors and customers.
Next: Putting Specialty Directories to Work for You >>
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