Web Directory Submissions part 1

What are web directories?

In the early days of the web, directories were the main method of finding relevant information. They are essentially a catalog of website links which are sorted by relevant topics. General Topics (headings) would be listed on the home page of the directory and the user would simply click on the most appropriate topic, which would bring up more specific topics. This process would continue until the user drilled down to the lowest most relevant topic (heading) and until they found what they were looking for within that specific directory database of website links. These original directories tended to have relevant information about a specific topic because they were human edited, meaning that a human had to submit their website link to the directory and then another human on the directory side had editorial control of this submission by either denying the submission altogether or approving the submission and the appropriate category. Did you know that even Yahoo originally started out as a directory. Today search engines like Google and Yahoo are the main sources of connecting people to what they are looking for, because of technology advances in the ability to perform searches and bringing up relevant results.

Because of these changes and abilities of the search engines, very few people today would prefer to drill down through categories to find the correct category and what they are looking for versus performing a simple search. Therefore most of these directories have little value in terms of generating direct traffic on its own.

If most of these directories are of little value when it comes to driving direct traffic from the directory to the business website.

Then two questions arise

1. If not many people are using directories any more, should I care about them?
2. Are there any directories that will generate traffic to my website?

The answer to both questions is Yes.

Yes, general directories can help your site in your overall website marketing. However they must be the right type of directory.

And yes, some directories can actually generate a tremendous amount of traffic. However they also must be the right type.

To address what is the right type of directory in both cases above, we must understand that there are different types of directories and we also must understand how they work in today’s market.  More on this topic in our next post.  If you would like to learn more about directory submissions contact Advertising Solutions Inc.