Directories that Pass PR or Page Rank
Google Penalties for Selling Links. In late 2007 Google penalized directories that were selling links for the purpose of gaining PR (Page Rank) by dropping their PR and causing them to not even rank for their own name until they made some changes on their websites. Thus some that had submitted to those directories found their PR drop also. Since then Google has steadily dropped the PR on most link pages on the internet. It is rumored this is a result of Google trying to devalue PR as it is too easily manipulated.
Directories No Longer Pass PR. Since then there are very few directories with PR on their link pages unless they are using rel="nofollow" on the links (which Google recommends but which also means that page will not pass PR even if it does get some PR in the future). So finding directories with PR on their linking pages is almost impossible. However, Google often applies PR value to a page with no PR even if it doesn't show any, due to the PR on the home page, so don't neglect submitting to directories for that reason.
Link Trades Devalued. Google has also penalized sites for getting involved in traingular linking schemes (I'll link to your site from this site if you link to my other site). Link trades, blog links, social bookmarking and forum links don't provide as much benefit as they used to either.
What does that leave us? Google recommends that you provide pages of interest to your visitors that people will want to link to without being asked. Google ranks information pages above product pages so if you have an e-commerce site you need to provide information your visitors will find useful or set up a forum or blog where people will want to return and then bookmark the site.
Directory Submissions. Directories still produce some benefit so you might try the following directory list. I have personally checked all these directories and they all appear to be clean directories (SEO Friendly) that don't have nofollow on their links and they don't have the links in frames. They also don't have other means to prevent the link from being indexed as far as I can tell. However, I can't guarantee this won't happen in the future.
The PR has been left off the chart below because of so few directories having PR. I have also left off directories that require a link trade as I do not consider that "Free", although that option is usually available. Don't submit to directories that accept submissions from gammmmmbling, Poorrrrrrrnoo, Pharrrrmaseutical (misspelled on purpose) and other bad neighborhood sites as their link value has likely been demoted to nothing. I have not set up direct links to the following directories in case they get penalized in the future (which would reverberate to this page).
Free Submit Directories with no link trade
| Directory | Comments |
|---|---|
| www.dmoz.org | free submission is human edited and can take up to 1-2 years to be approved but feeds Google Directory and a plethora of other directories. It also provides Trust Rank. |
| www.dir.yahoo.com | Free to Non-profits only. Yahoo provides Trust Rank. |
| www.lii.org | Librarians Internet Index. They do not accept submissions from stricly commercial sites unless they also provide valuable information. Reviews submissions within 48 hours |
| www.IllumiRate.com | They have very pickey rules so be sure to follow them carefully. |
| www.joeant.com | Puts site in several categories. Must be an editor to submit sites for free. |
| www.craigs-directory.com | They don't have very many sub categories yet as its a new directory. They usually send an acceptance email within 3 days |
| www.home-directory.biz | A home improvement directory. Sites are alphabetically arranged and they provide a thumbnail of website. Has more info page and puts title in title plus category word so don't use this one if your site is brand new. |
| www.packadtrader.com | You must set up an account on this directory and use the official site name but they review sites quickly. |
| www.koopy.org | This directory sends an email when accepted which only takes a few days. |
| www.alistsites.com | This directory doesn't have enough sub categories but you can use alternate titles. Takes 2-3 months to accept sites. |
| www.listyoursites.com | Must use official site name. they take about 2 weeks to accept and do not send an email when accepted. |
| www.webnetclick.com | Have to use official site name. They don't send email when accepted. |
Free Submit Christian Directories with no link trade
| Directory | Comments |
|---|---|
| www.christiansproducts.com | They require the site must be a Christian site or you'll have to trade links. |
| www.actschristian.com | They send email when accepted. |
| www.kingdomheartsonfire.org | Can use alternate title and 2 categories. Lists sites by category and state/city and also provides a map for the location. |
| www.fishthe.net | Must register. |
| www.christiansunite.com | Takes 4 days to a few weeks. They have javascript links so you probably won't get value from the link but it may bring you traffic. |
| www.christian-websites.org | have to register. They have a "more detail" page.\. |
The reason the Christian directory list is so small is because most Christian directories have one or more of the same problems as other directories one should avoid: putting your title in their title (which means they can out rank new sites for their own title), 302 redirects, pages in frames or over 100 links on a page. Most of them are also way behind the times and think link trades are still the way to go. And practically ALL of them charge a fee for submission or force you to trade links. That doesn't say much for "Christian Charity"!
For more information on this topic see:
Directories to Avoid
Keyword Strategy
Getting good Backlinks
If you would like your web site analyzed for keyword ranking
please check out the Website Evaluation page.
Lori Eldridge
www.loriswebs.com
Copyright © September 14, 2005 - Updated 7-19-10
All rights reserved.
