How To Use Directories To Get High Google Ranking

Getting into Those Smaller Quality Directories Pays Off In Google Ranking

by Honor Hart

Want to get a higher ranking in Google search results?

One way is to use the smaller reciprocal link directories, find the category that fits your website and establish a reciprocal link.

Listing in these directories is all about helping Google to see your site as an authority site.

Google likes authority sites and tends to give them a better position in the SERPs (Search Engine Results) and a better "Page Rank (PR)."

This Google ranking report will help you see how this all works...

Google Ranking Report Item #1. The Importance of Page Rank

"Page Rank" (PR) is Google's version of Alexa. It is important to have inbound links from higher Page Rank websites. The higher the PR, the better.

The only way to know the PR of a website is to install the Google toolbar

If you don't have the Google Tool Bar, you can use our free Google ranking tools (opens to a new window).

The Google toolbar tracks web users just like Alexa's tool bar.

Page Rank is valued from the lowest at 0 and the highest at 10. You want to strive for a high PR for your website and it's pages because the higher the PR the more often you are spidered. The more often you are spidered by Google, the deeper the spider goes and the faster you raise in the SERP's on Google searches.

Also, the higher your PR, the more Google sees you as an authority site which also boosts your ranks in the SERPs.

So, you see, Page Rank is still important even in 2005 (see note below) and has led to the trend that it is better to do link exchanges with other sites who have a some established PR so that you can gain credibility in Google's digital eyes.

Note: In 2005, we know that Google PR is harder than ever to accurately assess since the Google Toolbar is not accurate. But, still you want to consider the quality of a website in terms of good content and don't link with any website that is just a bunch of links on all the pages of the site.

And one more thing. Only link to your site from directory categories (or link exchanges) that fits your site concept. Linking from a good PR site about bicycles to a site about ice cream is not as highly valued by Google.

Google Ranking Report Item #2. The Importance of Direct Links

If you are listing in directories to be found by individuals, then direct links do not matter but if you want Google to rate your website as an authority site, then the links need to point to your website in a particular way.

What is a direct link?

A direct link, also called as 'static link,' is a link that is referenced on the directory page that points directly to your website and does not go through any redirect script to get to your website.

It's like the links on a links exchange page on many websites. You want a direct link that points to your site so that Google can spider from the directory on over to your site and so that Google will count the directory link as an inbound link.

The way to tell if a directory is using direct links is simple. Simply navigate to any listing in the directory and hover your mouse over a listing. Look to the lower left of the status bar in your browser and note it the link looks like this:
http://www.sitebuilditsolutions.com

If not, and you see something like this:
http://www.webdirectory.com/goto.asp?frm=no&url=http://www.herbalgram.org; then figure this is not a good directory as far as Google PR is concerned.

This is what we call a dynamic link (vs. a static link) and Google will not follow this link to spider your website and (in some cases) will not list this as an inbound link.

It is important to have direct, static links from good PR's (and link exchanges) so that Google can travel through the directory site over to your site! This helps you get indexed quicker than, perhaps, even through the SBI World Submitter.

If nothing else, it helps to establish your site as an authority site since a higher PR website deems it worthy to point to your website.

Google Ranking Report Item #3. How To List In Directories

If you picked a domain name for your website that has the keyword phrase for your site concept in your domain name and it is hyphenated...then you have less work to do than others.

When you list in directories, you want to make sure it is your keyword phrase of your site theme (or if listing a particular page, the the keyword phrase of that page) that is in the hyperlink text. We call this contextual linking.

Contextual linking is more important now than ever for boosting your own Page Rank. When you list in a directory or from a web page that has a good PR (4+), a static link and the link includes your keyword phrase that you want Google to rank you well with in the SERPs, then you are giving yourself a good chance to move up the search engine listings.....maybe even to the first page!

Here is an example of a contextual link from a websites that does not have the site concept keyword phrase in the domain name. Can you guess what the site concept keyword phrase is?

Health and Nutrition Advice: "Happier Lifestyles, Happier Lives". Free health related information including articles on nutritional health and ergonomic health.

Place your mouse over the contextual link and look at your status bar. It's a direct link!

This is how you should fashion each and every link you put on the web whether it is on a directory, a link exchange or even on a page on your own website.

Google Ranking Report Summary

I hope you have read all these instructions and understand the importance of placing your links just right so that you can bump yourself up in the SERPs.

Don't wait any longer to establish a good solid link exchange program. You can use our very own Websites For Women Directory to boost your rankings in the search engines.

NOTE: Please be sure to follow the advice in this article and set up your link exchange directory using the filters available to you. These filters will keep out poor quality sites and eliminate categories that don't match your site theme!