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? To check that links are indexed by search engines, scroll over a listing
in the directory. The status bar at the bottom of the browser should
show ?www.whateverlisting.com.? A few good directories happen to
show some funky characters for redirects. Yahoo! is the only major
directory I know of that shows funky characters and still provides text
links that search engines index.
Most directories that show some funky tracking characters are not
providing static, spiderable links. If in doubt, ask questions at SEO
forums before spending any money.
? Some redirect links do get indexed, but there is no simple litmus test to
make sure that they do. You can right-click and copy links from within
the directory and do a server header check on them. If they show a
301 redirect, they will probably add to your link popularity. If they
show a 302 redirect, they probably will not add to your link popularity.
If they show a JavaScript redirect, then they do not count. When in
doubt about whether a link counts or not, ask in a couple SEO forums.
? If you use the Safari browser, you can use a tool from Digital Point to
view PageRank.
Crap Directories
Some people buy a directory script, create a ton of categories, and then only add
links if people buy them. The problem with this is that many categories will not
have unique content. Many of these same directories will list any business that
wants to pay for a link.
If there is no unique content, or if the content is all sponsored links, the site does
not add value, and search engines may not want to index it. When looking at a
directory, ask yourself, if you were a search engineer, would you want to count links
from that site? Would you want to allow that site to influence your search
relevancy algorithms?
You can view how many pages Google knows about from a directory by searching
Google for ?site:www.directory.com.?
Some directories (such as SevenSeek
do not have many listings as compared to the
number of pages in their site. This will cause some search engines to either avoid
indexing the site or only index a small portion of it. The index saturation of a site
in Google can be found by searching for ?site:www.directoryURL.com
Signature text for a site is any common text that appears on every page, such as the
copyright. Sites that consist of many pages with the same or similar content may
trip duplicate content filters. If you run a directory make sure you do not let search
engines index the ?add URL? pages.
The value of a single
directory link is usually not
very high.
Directories add value after
you list in many of them,
especially if you are listing
in high-quality ones next
to other sites that are in
your same vertical.
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