Specialized search engines & directories

[Bradley]

I was just wondering if people submit their site to specialized search engines and directories within their respective industry. Do you generate any traffic because of these specialized submissions?

I know it is obviously important to do well with the major search engines, but I wanted to see if anyone targets their site to the small SEs and directories in hopes of driving more qualified traffic to thier site.

This is very interesting to me. I look forward to your reply.

[tedster]

I'd say the success of a small, focused directory listing depends, in a very big way, on the particular directory and on the topic.

For instance, we have one client with a needlepoint site. Their BEST source of traffic by far (twice the Yahoo volume) is a specialized needlecraft dirctory. However, they are also on another, slighlty broader, crafts directory that only sends about one referral a month.

We have another client who does corporate event planning. We never found a small directory of any kind that worked for them, and they're on about 50 for various business to business services. Their traffic leader is AOL. That one still surprises me, but it looks like a lot of small or medium buinesses are using AOL Search.

It's worth the time to look for such directories, IMO. You just might turn up a winner. But it's not worth drilling too deep, because if you have to drill deep to find them, so would any other traffic -- then they're not likely to be a good source of referrals.

We also use software that does auto-submission to 8,000 small directories and search engines. We've used it for over 50 client sites, and had very minimal results -- but lots of spam to the dedicated mailbox we use for submissions. Every "winner" we've found has come through hands-on research.

[chiyo]

this is really great advice tedster.

my experience also, but you have given it some authority.

Im amazed at what a very very focused directory can do for referrals. They dont take long to find if you know your area, and if there is a directory like that in your area it can be a gold mine.

[tedster]

One of the sources I like to use is Search Engine Collossus [searchenginecolossus.com]. Time spent poking around there can sometimes give very interesting leads.

[rcjordan]

Some of the large relocation "guide" sites (directories) are doing pretty well for me.

[Hotrodder]

I always spend some time looking for directories that a client's site might fit into. After all it can't hurt and it could help with the positioning of the site in the majors.

<disclaimer>
I run a specialized directory ;-)
</disclaimer>

[rcjordan]

Welcome to the forums HR.

>I run a specialized directory
A Links 2 man, I see. Nice job.