Listing in directories

[KPautomotive]

Is it worth getting my shop listed in loads of free directories online?

would this boost visitors coming to my site?

Thanks

[wilfy]

it won't necessarily boost traffic but may boost your page rank in google and will definately increase your spam inbox! create a spam account to register with directories if you want to go down that route.

[KPautomotive]

so it won't hurt then?

another thing .. how do I find out my sites PR?

Thanks

[DuaneJackson]

how do I find out my sites PR?


Install the Google toolbar. It will show you the PR of anysite you are visting.

[KPautomotive]

Thanks.. I'll try that :)

[approvedindex]

Install the toolbar but don't get to bogged down in the little green bar.
The PR rating shown by this toolbar is only updated approx every 4-5 months (when in reality an actual site's PageRank is calculated all the time behind the scenes).

[KPautomotive]

ah .. do you think thats why my page rank is only 0?

[wilfy]

how long ago was it indexed? how many in bound links do you have?

takes time for the bots to catch up!

just as a bit of advice kp. have you thought about installing sts templates onto you oscommerce site? if not i would recommend it. you can download it from oscommerce website look in the forums for support

[KPautomotive]

I'm not sure what an sts template is.... will look into that!

How do I tell how many incoming links I have?

Thanks
Kerry

[Invicta]

How do I tell how many incoming links I have?
On the Google toolbar click the black arrow to the right of PageRank for a drop down list that includes Backward Links.

Actually, Google only ever seems to list a few of a sites backward links whereas MSN and Yahoo always list far more.

I find the easiest way to check backward links is by using the Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/) web browser because it offers a huge range of add-ons (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/) in the form of plug-ins and extensions. One of these is SearchStatus (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/321/) that will show all sorts of information about any web site including backward links from Google, Yahoo and MSN.

[KPautomotive]

Thanks for that ... I'll check that out

Kerry

[pdecaux]

Many free directories do not offer web links - that is usually an "extra". If they do offer it, make sure they provide a direct link and not one that redirects you via a page that is used by the directory to log the "click through". This will not help boost your page rank. Just hover over a link on one of the free listings. If it uses a redirect, it will have a URL in the form:

http://www.FREEDIRECTORY.com/REDIRECT-PAGE?url:www.SOMESITE.com&pagerank=0

(apologies to freedirectory.com if it exists!)

it ... will definately increase your spam inbox! create a spam account to register with directories if you want to go down that route.

A good directory will also hide your email address from public gaze by providing a feedback form.

[YooHee]

getting listed to a directory site will boost the traffic to your site...

also it's a good source of back links :p

[jallanson]

The more links to your site, the better in Google's eyes so its definately worth getting listed wherever you can! :)

[fisicx]

it won't necessarily boost traffic but may boost your page rank in google...

The more links to your site, the better in Google's eyes so its definately worth getting listed wherever you can! :)

Absolute rubbish. Sorry guys but you need to update your thinking. Only those links that endorse your site are taking into account during indexing. Getting listed on all the free directories is a complete waste of time. It won't bring in any appraciable traffic and it cetainly won't help your ranking. There are some good directories (UKBF members) but in general any link you get for free isn't worth having.

You would be much better off spending your time improving your site contents to increase conversions.

[Stampy]

Absolute rubbish. Sorry guys but you need to update your thinking. Only those links that endorse your site are taking into account during indexing. Getting listed on all the free directories is a complete waste of time. It won't bring in any appraciable traffic and it cetainly won't help your ranking. There are some good directories (UKBF members) but in general any link you get for free isn't worth having.

You would be much better off spending your time improving your site contents to increase conversions.

This question isn't intended to sound flippant, I'm genuinely interested:

How do you know?

[MGDigital]

This is a very good blog post which I often refer to when trying to build links for a site:

http://www.avivadirectory.com/strongest-directories/

[dfdsolar]

Is it worth getting my shop listed in loads of free directories online?

would this boost visitors coming to my site?

Thanks
Add your site on the directory will not boost your traffic,but it can improve your page rake.But adding site in directory is benefit with your site.

[fisicx]

Add your site on the directory will not boost your traffic,but it can improve your page rake.But adding site in directory is benefit with your site.

This question isn't intended to sound flippant, I'm genuinely interested:

How do you know?

The search engines are trying to provide the a results page that is relevant to your search criteria. They will know that your website) is relevant and meets their quality guidlines so they will now look for inbound links that endorse the site.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/good-times-with-inbound-links.html

100 links from free-for-all directories are not endorsement and won't do anything to help your ranking. In fact in 2007 there was a time when google effectively removed all the directories from the index because they had become so spammy.

[fisicx]

This is a very good blog post which I often refer to when trying to build links for a site:

http://www.avivadirectory.com/strongest-directories/

Good list but not much help for ranking. Google reccomends that all paid for links are no-follow. If you pay for a link then it is not an organic lisitng and as such won't carry much, if any, weight.

[Stampy]

fisicx - I can't find anything in that link you provided to support the statement "Only those links that endorse your site are taking into account during indexing" or "in general any link you get for free isn't worth having."

It's basically saying that an organic link that says nice things about your site isbest, and it tries to ignore "spammy" links. There's nothing to suggest that an anchor text do follow link in a relevant forum will not be benefit your sites rankings.

This thread might be better in the SEO section of the forum.

[fisicx]

Ok, think about it this way. How would you choose a plumber? Would you use the one who puts flyer through your door every week or the one reccomended by a friend?

Forum links are just like the flyer, google has seen millions of them so no longer takes any notice. However if you wish to use forums to promote your business then be my guest. I'd much rather concentrate on converting a higher percentage of my visitors.

[Stampy]

Ok, think about it this way. How would you choose a plumber? Would you use the one who puts flyer through your door every week or the one reccomended by a friend?

Forum links are just like the flyer, google has seen millions of them so no longer takes any notice. However if you wish to use forums to promote your business then be my guest. I'd much rather concentrate on converting a higher percentage of my visitors.

I appreciate the analogy, but I still don't see where there is definitive evidence that Google only takes notice recommendations from friends, rather than flyers - afterall, many people do take notice of flyers, and a lot of business is generated this way (to keep the analogy going). I get the impression that Google would like to only take notice of organic links, but can't always tell which are and which are not, which gives value to the other non-organic links.

As for increasing conversion rates, that's fine, but if you have a new site, you could convert 100% of visitors, but if you're only getting one a month it's not much use. You're always going to have to look to increase traffic.

[FireFleur]

Google is heading towards the ideas outlined by fisicx, but it is not there yet from what I can see.

Page rank, incoming links and age of domain all play a big part in positioning.

There is probably a weighting for more organic style links, I often see pages rank better where the links are in a p element and not in a list element.

It is always going to evolve to the less spammy style of optimisation, as no one likes spam, and anything which makes the content better is going to be the one that trumps.

[fisicx]

Fair enough. As I said I'm not going to stop you promoting your business in any way you can and forums can bring in visitors so in this respect it can be a good marketing tool but I've not yet seen any evidence that a forum link is a ranking factor. In fact google usually puts most of the posts in the 'similar pages' dump which should indicate how little value they have.

[Stampy]

I think part of the problem for ecommerce sites is that there is only so much quality content you can have on your site without losing the focus that you're there to sell products, so you need to look for opportunities to increase your SERPS, and therefore traffic.

I have also got a couple of affiliate blogs, and was able to get more daily organic traffic within a couple of weeks than I got on my ecommerce stores in a lot longer.

[FireFleur]

If you accept the concept of weighting, then it makes more sense.

Forums use to be ok, but they have weighted it down over time, and so you are right it has little effect nowadays, but there is some effect.

The big gains are always going to be in clear navigation, content and related association, and those are the ones that are harder to pull off, than just spamming links.