Very employed and effective in their beginnings as an SEO tool, internet directories have lost their interest a little. However, they remain means that should not be overlooked as part of an SEO strategy.
Indeed, provided you know how to choose and use them, directories can still be very useful assets for free referencing because they constitute backlinks or inbound links to your site which are very useful.
A – Reminder on the different types of directories
As their name suggests, web directories are huge virtual platform directories that feature descriptions of websites. Registration is required to be included.
There are 3 main types of directories, and each can be used as a natural referencing tool, namely:
- general directories: they are in principle open to all sites, without distinction of themes or activities;
- thematic directories: they are dedicated to specific subjects;
- local directories: they list the sites of companies and professionals in a particular geographical area (districts, towns, regions, etc.).
B – Choose the one on which to register your site
If you want to continue to enjoy the benefits they bring in terms of SEO, the first step is to select the directories on which you want to appear. A wise and well-targeted choice will make it possible to obtain more effective backlinks and therefore relatively relevant in the eyes of Google.
General directories and local directories are fairly easy to find, specifying, in particular, the geographic area targeted for the latter.
Thematic directories, for their part, require targeted research and the use of directories.
When selecting the directories on which you plan to make your directory listings:
1) Start by ruling out those who are no longer very active.
2) Avoid those that have not been validated for at least a year and those that are not indexed by Google.
It is useful to specify here that search engines favor thematic directories because they seem more relevant, in particular to Google robots.
C – Content remains the best asset to position yourself
Given the mishaps of directories caused by their misuse of SEO, precautions are now in order.
The most appropriate option to avoid being penalized and to improve the efficiency of referencing through these sites is to take care of the content that will be published there.
Varying your titles, texts, and presentations so as to produce unique copies for each directory is preferable. Google will quickly ban you if all of your descriptions are the same, which happened to many users a few years ago.
Moreover, over-optimizing the anchors no longer presents any major advantages; this technique is only effective in the short term.
