In this article I will try first to explain briefly what directory submissions are about and secondly to give some clarifications on the role of directories and the human factor.

In plain words, directory submissions are about getting mostly one-way links (there are also reciprocal links but I will deal with them in another post). I am talking here about free links and not paid. There are thousands of free directories out there in English and hundreds in the other languages.

Free directories do not ask much from you. Just a correct submission. This meaning to provide a couple of titles (a small number of them will only allow your brand name and no keywords but this is not our case here), a description usually up to 255 chars, 5 seo keywords, a working email to verify you are not spamming, and fill in a CAPTCHA. I intentionally left out the category to deal with it on the next paragraph.

Use a human to do your submissions. Do not rely on automated software. Automated software make mistakes. You can not have full control over your submissions.

What about choosing the right category? Directories are so different one from another that you have to double-check your category or even try to guess which category is the most suitable for your website. Why? Because if you submit a website about ‘Internet Games’ there might not be a proper category. So you have to select among ‘Recreation’, and ‘Internet’. There are cases when the options are more than two. Does automated software give you a solution there?

If yes, what about non-English directories i.e. Portuguese? You need to hire a human to do those. You should hire an expert though to get your money’s worth.

Directories still count as backlinks in Google, Yahoo, Bing ecc. They do not count as they used to, but their links are still like votes for the search engines. In the mary case when a directory page passes pagerank for you then your are in paradise!

Thanks for reading.