Forum Moderators: open
Other than that, there are lots of other small directories that help your PR like Business.com, GoGuides and About.com. Look at each directory you find and try to get your site listed in the highest PR category that has the fewest links and that is the most relevant. You'll have to pay for some of them with either reciprocal links or real money, but over time they will help your rankings.
As for Zeal, I haven't tried it yet, but I've been told by a Moderator that you can post commercial sites that have lots of non-commercial content as long as you use the link for the non-commercial content pages.
Like I said, I haven't tried it yet. Too chicken since I'm still kinda new and the site's name matches my screen name there. If I'd known what I was getting into, I'd've used a different name. ;)
However, About.com doesn't really see itself as a directory these days, and adding or updating links is pretty low on many guides' priority lists. And if an About.com site has an "apply now" sign on it (as many do), you'll have to wait until another guide is hired before you can submit a URL.
Where at about.com is the link to submit a site? I couldn't find it?
Under "Help" on the main page:
How to add your site [about.com] to About.com
Jim
Are these links at all google friendly? It seems like straight links to a listed site aren't all that common anymore.
Business.com, and Looksmart both have these kinds of links to sites in their directory.
Zeal.com seems to be the only other directory mentioned so far that links directly to a website.
[edited by: tankman at 4:47 am (utc) on Oct. 30, 2002]
[surfsafely.com...]
and
www.Galaxy.com
Those are definite seeds and I have a hunch [surfsafely.com...] helped my site out a lot on pr.
http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/95416252/*http://yourwebsite.comAre these links at all google friendly? It seems like straight links to a listed site aren't all that common anymore.
Hmmm. Now that you mention that I wonder myself. But Google itself says to get links in Dmoz and Yahoo so I imagine they have a way to follow that link. Plus the url is in the string.
Anyone know for sure?
Two more Google Seed directories to check out.
[surfsafely.com...]
and
www.Galaxy.com
Just as an fyi, Galaxy is for paid listings and surfsafely requires you to have ICRA and/or SafeSurf coding in the meta tags of all sites submitted.
The PR on SurfSafely is probably high because of the restrictions on the types of sites they allow in their directory.
<added>the value I was referring to is the BBB logo link on your pages.<added>
[edited by: Powdork at 6:44 am (utc) on Oct. 30, 2002]
I paid $10 a year ago and it was up in 30 days, even though it said 60 days til editor review. Not sure how much it is now. It might be more.
But if you have a "clean" site, surfsafely is free and I recommend it. My hunch, unproven of course, is that it's looked on a little more highly by Google. Can't prove it, like most speculative posts here. Just one webmaster's hunch/opinion. It's not hurting me I can tell you that.
Zeal.com seems to be the only other directory mentioned so far that links directly to a website."
----- actually ZEAL doesn't offer straight links.
One thing I noticed at Galaxy.Com is that the express and premium listings seem to provide a direct url link to your website - while the $10 listings go through a strange re-direct system (it didn't even seem to work when I clicked on the links in the directory when I visited). You can tell the difference between the types of listings because premium and express listings are in bold.
Jim
All the rest can be found by starting here [directory.google.com].
To keep this thread from turning into a long list of every single niche directory all of us have ever submitted to, I think it would be best to leave it at the ones already mentioned.
With all due respect, I believe this thread can be far more valuable than just wading through all of the listings in the Google directory.
The title of the thread is "directories to be listed in for best google positioning".
The vast majority of the sites listed in the Google directory are not valuable for this specific purpose due to the use of redirects and other scripts.
Also of particular value will be any user experiences with directories, portals, and vortals that offer static URLs which are not listed in that particular area of the Google directory.
On which note, I have several sites listed in Zeal and have never had a backlink acknowledged by Google. Maybe all the referring pages are less than PR4 (or 3, or whatever the threshold is), but even so that doesn't help too much for Google positioning.
A Zeal/ Looksmart listing is highly valuable as a source of traffic in its own right, but that's a different issue.
The forums are not a venue for advertisements in any way. It will be the sole discretion of Webmaster World and its moderators as to what constitutes an advertisement.
It is impossible to deduce which posts are honest requests and which are just promotional drops.
There could be 30-300 people in a thread ambling in telling about their PR-rich directories at Tripod or Angelfire. Unless it's known directories, someone has to take the time to check them out. Maybe take a whole day off from work if there are enough of them. :)
It's not at all open for any discussion, but personally, I'd be interested in hearing about different ways people have discovered to hunt down good niche directories. I know there are some out there, because I've found them - but I'd like to find more.
That doesn't just give us a fish or two, it gives us tips on how to fish. So does anyone have any tips on finding good ones?
I urge folks to look for these directories. It really helps to 'theme' your website..and that ain't a bad thing.
Great point Marcia.
The Google Directory is handy because it shows at a glance who has PageRank (at least in their home page). There are some old directories that don't tend to get mentioned any more.
This may sound sneaky, but it's always worth looking at where some of the competition get their links from.
That doesn't just give us a fish or two, it gives us tips on how to fish.
Yes, but if someone else has already done the fishing, sharing the catch will save the rest of us from spending hours in a boat.