The Best Directories

The Best Directory Listing (in order of importance)

  1. DMOZ – You may not have heard of DMOZ but they are by far the most important directory listing you can get. DMOZ is owned by AOL and run by a mostly volunteer staff. Volunteer editors review all entries to the directory. The beauty of DMOZ is that unpaid human review ensures that only relevant sites get listed. A DMOZ listing is a huge dose of credibility for your site. Many of the search engines, including Google not only use the DMOZ directory, they give extra weight to sites that are listed in the index. In fact, the Google index is actually mirrors the DMOZ directory.
  2. Yahoo – It now costs $299 for commercial sites to get a listing. While the $299 does not guarantee they will list you, unless you submit a garbage site, you most likely get a listing in a few days. While Yahoo offers many of the same advantages of DMOZ, the fact that it is “pay for inclusion” diminishes the relevancy of your listing. Still, all serious web pages should get a Yahoo listing. This may change in the near future, but for now a Yahoo listing still has some value.
  3. LookSmart – LookSmart is a high-bred pay-per-click directory. LookSmart feeds their directory listings to many search engines such as MSN. They have a ($29) fee to join and then a .15 pay-per-click charge when your listings are selected. Fifteen cents per click is not bad for clicks if you are in a highly competitive industry. LookSmart used to be a cheap way to get traffic, however, recently they have lost their relevance in the search industry due to click fraud. I have recently canceled my LookSmart listings and did not notice even the slightest dip in traffic HMMMM
  4. Miscellaneous small directories – Chances are your industry has several small directories that focus on sites related to your industry. Some of these sites can not only give you a Pagerank boost, but also can give you highly targeted visits. Most are free to join so if you have the time it won’t hurt getting your site in as many as you have time.
  5. Local Directories - If your site is local focused, getting listed in the local directories related to your market niche.

There are many other directories that I could list but I would suggest that you focus your energy on those listed above. Their are many paid submission services that have good connections and can get your site listed in many quality directories fast. Rather, then spending all your time submitting to multiple directories and trying to figure out what each one wants, I would suggest you pay and expert on the inside to do it for your.