SEO: Importance of Directory Links - By Liz Jackson
Well, hello everyone! My name is Liz and this is my first official Blog for Business Logos! I am brand new, and have been helping Adam with Search Engine Optimization for just over a week. I will be writing a new Blog each Friday, so check back each week to find out how things are going!
My first week has been great. I’ve learned so much already! Adam has taught me so much about SEO and Site Optimization. I’m intrigued by seeing the effect our work can have on the visibility of Business Logos on Google, Yahoo and MSN Search. I’ve learned all about the value of different types of links, and most importantly, the importance one-way links. I’ve also learned how to do reciprocal links.
After getting a feel for how everything worked, I was then able to go to work on getting our links! First, I created a new spreadsheet to track all links to the Business Logos site. Then I went to work on updating old links and adding new links. I checked directories where we previously had links, to make sure they were still up and running. I also researched new directories, and added links in Directories where we weren’t previously listed. In order for your site to come up on a major search engine, you must have links to your site on other sites. The links are more influential if they are one-way and if they are located on site with page rank. They’re also more valuable if the link is located on a page where it is surrounded by relevant key words such as design, logo, business or graphics. So, my first week here I pretty much just went to town on getting as many directory links added as possible. I actually had fun doing it, since I was able to track my progress on my spreadsheet and can anticipate eventually seeing the effect our work has on our ranking on Google, Yahoo and MSN Search.
However, as usual, nothing is smooth sailing for long. Soon I started to run into trouble! Maybe things were compounded by the fact that my blood sugar was getting low at the end of the day on Friday, or maybe it was the fact that got so focused on what I was doing that I worked 8 hours straight and didn’t take a break that day! But either way, at the end of the day, I was suddenly on the verge of going crazy! In order to give you a better feel for my frustrations (and to give some insight into some basic SEO tips), let me explain: Each directory is divided up into categories and numerous sub-categories. Therefore, each site in the directory is is actually located somewhere on a specific page within the directory. If you simply do a search, you are pulling up individual sites that match your keywords, but may be located on very different pages within the directory. If you navigate through the site by category, you are looking through the directory page by page. So, when checking for a specific site or type of site within a directory, you first go to the directory and enter keywords. Similar to a search engine, the directory then pulls up a list of relevant sites. For instance, if you look up logo design, the directory will pull up a list of matches to the keywords logo and design. Each match is listed with a Title, URL and description of their site. Most directories also show the actual directory location of each site so that you can then also check that location for similar sites that may not have come up on your keyword search. However, believe it or not, there are some people who apparently think including the directory location just isn’t necessary. And this is where I started to run into trouble. Since the general purpose of a directory is to help visitors to the directory find relevant sites, you would think that the people who design the directory would make it easy for people to do so, right? Wrong. These directories do pull up the Business Logos site when I do a search for Logo, Logos, or Logo Design. However, when I try to navigate through the directory and find the actual location of our site, it is nowhere to be found! And I mean nowhere! I look under Arts, Computers, Internet, Business and every category and subcategory in between! This is a problem for me since as I check a link, I need to make sure it actually exists somewhere within the directory so that I can a.) include the actual link URL on my spreadsheet, b.) find out the page rank of the actual page/location within the directory and c.) make sure that the Directory placed our link in a relevant location, to ensure that it is surrounded by relevant keywords. So, when I know the link is in the directory, but I can’t FIND the link, I start to feel a bit concerned (and that might be a slight understatement
!). The worst situation is when I end up spending over twenty minutes trying to find it at the end of the day on a Friday. And what do you think could be even worse than that? Having to go through ten or more of these types of sites when, as I mentioned earlier, my blood sugar and attention levels are running low! So, sad to say, I got so frustrated that I smashed my computer to pieces in front of the entire office. I was so embarrassed afterwards. Just kidding. I made it through the day and the worst of these Directories have now been banished to my “Problem Directory” list. And trust me, a Directory has to be a major pain to be put on this list! At this point, all I know is that if I ever set up a directory, I’m going to make it easy to navigate through and above all, useful. I mean, isn’t that their actual purpose after all?
Overall, I’m really enjoying my work here. At least I know that from now on, when I start to get thas frustrated, I’ll just vent and write another entry for all of you to read! Hopefully that will keep things on this blog interesting! 
I think it will be exciting and hopefully rewarding to see the progress we make with the Business Logos site.