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The SEO Value of Online Business Directories

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It’s all about the backlinks… See below for direct links to 25 directory sites!

Chain Links

What are Backlinks?

Backlinks are any inbound link to your website from another site.  They are valuable since search engines reward websites that other sites link to with higher organic positions on search results pages. Since most Internet searchers look for organic results on the first page, a backlink strategy is essential.

Which links are important?

The most valuable links come from high-ranking websites, as determined by the search engines, like Google. Not surprisingly, these search engines provide their own business directories, so make sure your business website is listed on all of them (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.). Don’t forget local directories since they’ll provide SEO lift within that geographic region. These can include local chambers of commerce and newspaper directories (here’s a link to the IJ’s). There are also specialty sites for events, restaurants, hotels, medical practitioners, contractors, etc.

According to Google’s Matt Cutts, backlinks are still a very important factor in the search engine’s algorithm. In fact, Google has tried removing that criteria in search engine tests but found that the results derived from those searches were substantially poorer. So the backlink criteria is not going anywhere anytime soon.

So how do you build backlinks?

There are many ways to get inbound links to your website. But for today’s purposes, we’re going to focus on the most common way which is through online directories. There are some paid services like YEXT that will place your listing on multiple online directories and allow you to manage them from one portal. Other SEO agencies can offer custom strategies to build out content and links on a whole host of popular and proprietary sites. But beware of any company offering to get you at the top of the organic search results page right away.  Getting there takes time and dedication. Disreputable SEO companies may use “black hat” techniques to build SEO for their clients quickly. But when Google catches wind of it, it’s going to be your site that is banned.

So the safest way to build your SEO using white hat tactics is to claim your business listing on as many reputable online business directories as you can find. The good part is, you don’t have to be web genius to do it.  It just takes a little time and patience. Remember, it’s these links that will help search engine algorithms determine whether your site is worthy of showing on a search results page.

To get you started, we put together a list of 25 popular online business directories starting with the top five in Marin. Some are free while others charge a nominal fee. It’s usually a pretty simple process to add your information. In some cases you may start by doing a search for your business. Then you’ll be prompted to either claim, edit or submit a new listing.

Remember, the key purpose is to add links back to your website. The more, the better. Don’t get distracted setting up accounts or think you’re done once you’ve updated your business address or uploaded a logo. Make sure that you add your website URL or multiple URL’s whenever possible. Building backlinks can be time consuming but you will be improving your SEO with each business listing. And when the search engines come looking for you, you’re going to look great.

Happy  backlinking!

 Marin Directories

  1. Marin Local Guide (This one is ours!)
  2. Telli Marin
  3. Marin.org
  4. MarinDirect.com

 National Directories

  1. Google
  2. Bing Places
  3. Yahoo!
  4. Yelp
  5. Merchant Circle
  6. LinkedIn
  7. YellowPages.com
  8. Whitepages
  9. Supermedia
  10. Yellowbook
  11. CitySearch
  12. Mapquest
  13. Biznik
  14. Local.com
  15. Foursquare
  16. Discover Our Town
  17. CitySlick
  18. Acxiom
  19. SuperPages
  20. JustClickLocal

The post The SEO Value of Online Business Directories appeared first on Marin Media Suite.


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