SEO Step By Step Guide– 130. Should You Sign Up For Paid Directory Inclusions?

All of us know that directory submission is one of the popular and effective ways of getting back links for our website. There are different types of directories online. Some of the directories are completely free directories. There are directories that offer two types of directory inclusions one is free inclusion and the second type is paid inclusion. Third type of directories have only paid inclusions.

Should we go for paid inclusions in directories and is it worth paying money for such inclusions? The answer to this question depends on the nature of your website and the nature of the directory. Today there are thousands of directories online and the original goal of directories has been twisted severely to match SEO needs. It is rare that people visit directories to find the service providers. There are only a few respectable directories that people visit to find information. Around 60 to 70% of the directories are launched with the idea of providing back links for websites. So you must first review the directory and its traffic level before investing any money for getting listed in such directories. If the directory under interest is a reputed directory where people flock to find their service providers then you can invest your money to get highly targeted traffic to your website. That too, you must make sure to find directories that specialize in your niche area. Paying for listings in general directories may not bring you the desired traffic. So pick directories that specialize in specific business niches. They are more effective than general directories.

When you are paying for getting listed in directories check with them whether you will get a back link to your site from a page with good PR and that the directory is not using “No Follow” tag. If the directory uses “No Follow” tag, then links from that directory will not be counted by the search engines. If you are paying for inclusions you must get maximum benefit from both targeted traffic as well as good quality back links.

If you are too short of budget, then submitting to free directories too will do your website enough good. You just need to be little selective as to which directories you are submitting your website. Indiscriminate directory submissions will only hurt your website’s search ranking. You must get links from relevant directories and relevant categories. So do not go for automatic submissions. Select companies that not only promise to make manual submissions but companies that actually do manual submissions. Most directories demand that we submit our sites manually to avoid spamming. If you want to get included in their directory you must either submit your sites manually or hire a company that manually submits to the directories.

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