Thread: What do directories need to remain a useful resource?

What factors do you think directory scripts need to remain a useful resource? Not just for people building links - but for actual users? There has been a proliferation of new directories over the last several years and are less and less a tool made for Internet users as they are for Webmasters to share and spread links.

What would make you bookmark a directory and keep going back every day, week or month?

In my opinion for a directory to be truly useful to an actual human it should be a niche directory and include only relevant top quality listings.

While having your site listed in a directory can help with SERPs to some extent the average person will not go to a directory but instead will just use a search engine. How often have you seen a directory listing show up in search results? Not very often if at all. A directory should be more than just a listing of websites.

My advice to anyone who is considering starting a directory: Concentrate on a specific niche and add content about that topic in addition to the listings. Accept/add only the best sites that are unique and useful.

I think that almost all webmasters have at least 1 directory ( consider it a trend ). I personally don't have any directory ( not yet ).

If you want a quality web directory, you must take care of your directory, approve ( like @kentuckyslone said ) only quality / relevant links and of course to promote your directory, increase your directory visibility / popularity.

The sites which have maintained good position like botw, yahoo directory, v7n directory, all maintain very high standards of manual review and do not allow much of anchor text manipulation.

Originally Posted by KentuckySlone

In my opinion for a directory to be truly useful to an actual human it should be a niche directory and include only relevant top quality listings.

While having your site listed in a directory can help with SERPs to some extent the average person will not go to a directory but instead will just use a search engine. How often have you seen a directory listing show up in search results? Not very often if at all. A directory should be more than just a listing of websites.

My advice to anyone who is considering starting a directory: Concentrate on a specific niche and add content about that topic in addition to the listings. Accept/add only the best sites that are unique and useful.

I agree.. very well said..

Certainly agree with KentuckySlone here! Niche directories are really the best option if you are planning to establish or build a directory.

A directory should review the site first before accepting it to be listed. This is to ensure that every category only list those sites that are related to a specific niche and to avoid link farm...

If a directory has reviews on a site this is a big plus imho, 99% of directories today are essentially link farms with no real info

Originally Posted by Tekime

What factors do you think directory scripts need to remain a useful resource? Not just for people building links - but for actual users? There has been a proliferation of new directories over the last several years and are less and less a tool made for Internet users as they are for Webmasters to share and spread links.

What would make you bookmark a directory and keep going back every day, week or month?

What I would like to see in a directory script are decent user profiles that a person can fill out and that will also list the websites they have listed as well as any articles they have submitted.

When at web directories,we dont know which is spam or links.....I just approved it........But if we approved some google banned link.Does it will effect with us?

Originally Posted by gmchun83

When at web directories,we dont know which is spam or links.....I just approved it........But if we approved some google banned link.Does it will effect with us?

Yes. You could be penalized by Google for linking to a banned website.

The best way to decide what is spam and what is not is to look at the website and ask whether the site is providing value or not. Generally websites that have more ads than content are spam.

So does the ban website by google must have 0 or n/a page rank?

Originally Posted by ArwenTaylor

Yes. You could be penalized by Google for linking to a banned website.

The best way to decide what is spam and what is not is to look at the website and ask whether the site is providing value or not. Generally websites that have more ads than content are spam.

Not all websites that have no Pagerank are banned by Google and just because a website does have Pagerank does not mean they have not been banned. Brand new sites won't have any Pagerank and sites that have been online long enough to earn Pagerank don't automatically lose their rank when they get banned. I think they get hit when Google does an update.

In any matter, Google considers linking to a banned website the same as having your link in a bad neighborhood (i.e. a link farm or a splog) and may penalize you for it. Google bans websites from their listings for spamming and other assorted nastiness such as using the website for illegal activities etc. The best way to check if a site is banned is to use some of the tools available on the internet. Iwebtool has a ban checker tool: http://www.iwebtool.com/google_banned

Great tool Arwen, I bookmarked it. Was not aware there was such a tool, but im dumb that way! LOL

Originally Posted by LeenkzMike

Great tool Arwen, I bookmarked it. Was not aware there was such a tool, but im dumb that way! LOL

Don't feel bad. I just happened to know about that one because I used to use their Pagerank checker all the time before I installed the Pagerank Firefox extension.

Just find a directory thats not required reciprocal for one way link...