SEO Articles

How Directories Help Search Engines


At the beginning of the web era, users would go to directories to find sites relevant to their interests. In fact, Yahoo!, the web's number one destination, started as a directory. Nowadays, most users rely on search engines, not directories, to find what they're looking for.

When search engines started to become popular, they relied on web pages' 'keyword metatags' to determine the topic and relevance of the page (the keyword metatag is a section within a web page's HTML code where webmasters can insert words that are relevant to the page's content). Webmasters discovered that by stuffing their meta tags with popular search terms repeated hundreds of times, they could propel their pages to the top of the search results.

Search engines caught up to the abuse and decided to ignore the meta tags and rely instead on web page copy. Webmasters then started to overstuff their page copy with popular search terms, often writing them in the same color as the web page's background, so that they could be detected by search engines while being invisible to users.

Again, search engines discovered the trick and decided that the best way to rank a web page's content and its topical relevance was to rely on inbound links from other pages. The rationale behind this is that it is much more difficult to influence other people to link to you than it is to manipulate your own web page elements. In fact, inbound links are the foundation of Google's Pagerank? algorithm.

There are several ways to get inbound links, among them writing articles that include your bylines with a link to your page, exchanging links, and listing your site in directories.

Listing your sites in good directories is probably the best way to get quality links that are highly valued by the search engines. Since directories rely on human editors who enforce strict criteria to list a site, and since directories organize the information in highly focused categories, they are an invaluable resource for search engines to measure the quality and the relevance of a web page.

In summary, directories are important not because they generate significant traffic (they don't), but because they are given great importance by the search engines to qualify and rank web pages, and to determine their topical relevance.

You should definitely list your site with quality directories if you want to increase your chances of success with the search engines.

About The Author

Mario Sanchez: http://www.theinternetdigest.net. For more search engine tips go to: http://www.accordmarketing.com/seotips/


MORE RESOURCES:

Search Engine Watch

Bruce Clay, Inc. Releases New Free SEO Tools
MSNBC - 2 hours ago
Both tools compile select data from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! and put only the most useful SEO information within easy reach. ...
Ecommerce Know-How: Information Architecture to Improve SEO and ... Practical Ecommerce (subscription)
Two New Free SEO Tools Released by Bruce Clay Search Engine Watch
The Role of Contextual Links In SEO Is Immense Promotion World (press release)
BigNews.biz (press release) - MSNBC
all 61 news articles


Search Engine Land

Considering In-house SEO? How to ease into in-house SEO Smoothly
Search Engine Land, CT - 11 hours ago
In-house SEO can be more cost efficient, but it can also be very costly because in-house SEO has many unique challenges. If you are planning to bring SEO ...
How PPC and SEO Can Benefit Companies In A Struggling Economy Promotion World (press release)
all 2 news articles


BizAtomic Launches Version 5.1 of its SEO Optimized E3 Ecommerce ...
Emediawire (press release), WA - 7 hours ago
St Augustine, FL (PRWEB) January 7, 2009 -- BizAtomic.com, a leading provide of Ecommerce Websites and SEO services, today announced the launch of version ...


Indianapolis SEO, IndianapolisSeo.com, an SEO and Web Design Firm ...
PR Web (press release), WA - 12 hours ago
Indianapolis SEO, www.IndianapolisSeo.com, a Web design and search engine optimization firm is launching the new website for PJ's College of Cosmetology ...


IndiaBook Indian SEO Company Launches Search Marketing Outsourcing ...
PowerHomeBiz.com (press release) - 5 hours ago
January 7, 2009 ( PowerHomeBiz ) - India -- India SEO a Professional Internet marketing Firm located in Chandigarh, northern part of India, since 1999 has ...


Search Engine Journal

Search for SEO eBooks and PDF Tutorials
Search Engine Journal - 4 hours ago
There are several really cool groups there found for [SEO] search each containing really good books. 2. Google offers a nifty advanced operator allowing to ...


Increase Traffic Using Article marketing, Article Submission and ...
Meadow Free Press, ID - Jan 6, 2009
If you are a business person and have a website, you may have heard the term SEO or search engine optimization. Article marketing is a very effective way to ...
New Free One-Stop Website Providing Expert Resources Launched ... 1888 Press Release (press release)
all 2 news articles


How to use Google Analytics to Track SEO Rankings
Marketing Pilgrim, NC - 23 hours ago
With Google and other search engines continuing to roll out personalization updates, it is becoming increasingly difficult for SEOs to get an idea of their ...


This Time, SEO Gets Personal
Mediapost.com, NY - Jan 6, 2009
Tom Pick reminds us that CEOs and other executives need to appreciate the importance of their personal brand, but he doesn't mention that employees need to ...


Chart of the Week: SEM/SEO Most Important Marketing Tactic
Practical Ecommerce (subscription), Grand Junction - Jan 5, 2009
Search engine marketing and optimization, which embodies both SEO and pay-per-click efforts, were clearly the most important marketing tools in the survey ...

SEO - Google News

Home | Sitemap | Forums | Contact Us | Advertise
© 2006 SEO Articles. A Real Web Talk Presentation.
Network Sites : Index Rated Directory | SEO Care Directory | Humour Inc. | Free Mobile Ringtones | A1hosts | SEO Blog
the four required words