In the early days, web directory listing and other keywords stuffing were the most commonly sort after things for SEO.

Former Directory Listing

Back then, Google’s algorithm was a lot simpler to game compared to the current Google algorithm used now. If your site was listed in tons of directories, you’re see your webpages soar high and be placed in first page of google search easily.

Current Directory Listing

In recent years, Google’s algorithm is getting tougher and complex. Links are still one of the important criteria google looks at but its not categorize similarly anymore. Links from web directory listing are less influential than your super relevant content from a high domain authority site. That does not mean that web directories are useless nowadays. Instead, according to research made, web directories and local citations are still important for local businesses.

Relevant Listing

To remain relevant, many web directories have evolved beyond a basic listing. Many sites require a more detailed listing and reviews. For a company to stay reputable and trustable, ranking and registering in directories might help to drive credibility and traffic to your business site.

When you start filling in and registering for search directories getting yourself listed in their pages, consider these few things:1. Is this a reputable site?2. Is my target audience likely visit these directories?3. Is this a complete directory or a spam directory?4. Is there any other competitor in this directory?

Categorizing

These directories were normally categorized with different reporting metrics to better give you an understanding of its authority and credibility. Such metrics include domain authority (DA), Google Page Rank (PR), Alexa Rank and no-follow.Domain Authority (DA) = Simple metrics which predicts how well will a website rank on search engine result pages (SERP) with different factors such as external links, internal links, root domains and many more. The higher a DA, the stronger the trust and authority of the domain.

Google Page Rank (PR) = A simple score from 1 to 10 given by google websites to judge the relevance and quality links of a website. It might be phase out as these are not being regarded highly and is easily manipulated.

Alexa Ranking = Score given by Alexa, an Amazon.com company. It ranks websites based on traffic with a number. Thus, a low number would mean a higher traffic.

No-follow = A value that tag to rel attribute of a HTML to give instructions to search engine that these links should not affect or influence the link target ranking. In short, if you instruct a nofollow attribute, it means you are disregarding the PR being carried by the targeted link. A good mixture of follow and nofollow links were normally being practiced in the market.

Directory Listing

Verdict

Ultimately, listing your company and website on such directories now seems to be less relevant as compared to previous years. However, listing in such directories help increase your chance of getting seen by more customers and creating a sense of trust and credibility throughout the years. What’s more, most of these listings were normally provided free.