{"id":284,"date":"2018-05-15T15:59:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T15:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/05\/15\/getting-listed-how-to-generate-more-traffic-and-mentions\/"},"modified":"2019-05-15T05:33:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T05:33:23","slug":"getting-listed-how-to-generate-more-traffic-and-mentions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/05\/15\/getting-listed-how-to-generate-more-traffic-and-mentions\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting listed: how to generate more traffic and mentions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Directory submission is a tactic that has evolved dramatically since it first became known.\u00a0Firstly, it is no longer referred to as a directory submission, simply because the term has received some negativity over the years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the goals have changed: we no longer focus on link acquisition. When you come to think of it, the whole link-building strategy has undergone the same evolution: it has become more integrated, meaning that we now pursue non-link-building tactics while still hoping to get some links anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the non-link-building benefits of getting listed that may still result in links include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Proactive reputation management (i.e. making sure your business name is mentioned a lot across the web)<\/li>\n<li>Discoverability (i.e. making sure your business is there when people use the directory search to find what they need). This comes with <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/12\/21\/guide-google-analytics-confusing-terms\/\">traffic<\/a> and leads, which is always nice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Getting listed: the opportunities<\/h2>\n<p>If you think directories are dead, think again: there are plenty of new and old directories out there that can send you traffic and leads. Here are just a few categories to look into.<\/p>\n<h3>SaaS and B2B directories<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/producthunt.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78937\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/producthunt-300x206.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.killerstartups.com\">KillerStartups.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.producthunt.com\/\">ProductHunt.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.g2crowd.com\/\">G2crowd.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/financesonline.com\/\">FinancesOnline.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Business directories<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/business-directories.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78938\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/business-directories-300x122.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"122\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>These come in several types and forms. Some are more traditional (free but with the option of charging you once for premium review):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.magicyellow.com\">MagicYellow.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/botw.org\/\">BOTW.org<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jasminedirectory.com\/\">Jasmine Directory.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.avivadirectory.com\/\">AvivaDirectory.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.alivedirectory.com\/\">AliveDirectory.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While others charge you a monthly\/yearly fee:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.business.com\/info\/advertise\/#overview\">Business.com<\/a>\u00a0($299 annual fee)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tuugo.us\/\">Tuugo.us<\/a>\u00a0($9.99 per month for premium listing)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yalwa.com\/\">Yalwa.com<\/a>\u00a0($4.95 a month for premium listing)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Local directories<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/localdirectories.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78939\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/localdirectories-300x113.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"113\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>These deserve a separate article (which you can find <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2017\/08\/10\/6-ways-to-market-your-local-business-online-beyond-google-maps\/\">here<\/a>). Apart from the ability to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/local-directory-traffic-rise-224066\">send local traffic<\/a>\u00a0(from people trying to discover a local service), they are also quite useful for so-called local citation building \u2013 in other words, they help <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/05\/21\/no-need-for-google-12-alternative-search-engines-in-2018\/\">search engines<\/a> associate you with important locations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/smallbiztrends.com\/2016\/03\/local-business-marketing-book-review.html\">Yellow Pages<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dirjournal.com\/\">Dirjournal Local<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/bizjournals\/datacenter\/companies\">BizJournals<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yellowbook.com\">Yellowbook<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Getting listed: the smart way<\/h2>\n<p>There are many more useful directories out there that can still drive sales, but choose wisely; in many cases, it&#8217;s an investment of some sort. In addition, it\u2019s paramount to stay away from penalized directories. Here are a few tools I use to evaluate whether any directory or platform is worth the investment:<\/p>\n<h3>Find whether the platform ranks in Google<\/h3>\n<p>Does Google think a directory is good enough to rank it high in search results? Search positions are the most reliable sign of a site\u2019s health.<\/p>\n<p>There are not many sites that will let you see the stats for free, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/serpstat.com\/\">Serpstat<\/a>\u00a0is one of the most affordable.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/serpstat-rankings.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78940\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/serpstat-rankings-300x196.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Simply run the domain in Serpstat to quickly see where it ranks and how its rankings are distributed among different search engines. There are also tools to analyze whether the domain is ever featured in Google, which is an important signal of health too.\u00a0Here is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitaleagles.com.au\/digital\/optimise-site-googles-featured-snippets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">list of tools<\/a> you can use.<\/p>\n<h3>Find whether the platform has any traffic<\/h3>\n<p>Since creating an alternative traffic source is one of the main goals here, this is vital. There aren\u2019t many reliable ways to evaluate a website\u2019s traffic unless you own it, but these are decent:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alexa.com\/siteinfo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alexa.com<\/a>: its major data source is their own toolbar, which may mean it&#8217;s somewhat limited. Yet, it is the oldest player in the field, and therefore quite trustworthy<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/\">SimilarWeb.com<\/a>: read more about their data sources\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.quora.com\/How-can-a-website-like-SimilarWeb-gather-their-data-Isnt-it-supposed-to-be-confidential-information\">here<\/a>: &#8220;global ISP data, and thousands of add-ons, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/02\/08\/17-top-plugins-extensions-seo\/\">extensions<\/a>, apps and <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/02\/08\/17-top-plugins-extensions-seo\/\">plugins<\/a>, plus a team of <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/03\/12\/robots-txt-best-practice-guide-and-examples\/\">web crawlers<\/a> that scan thousands of websites&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/similarweb-traffic.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78941\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/similarweb-traffic-300x154.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"154\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Check whether your subcategory is linked to from elsewhere<\/h3>\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t be an SEO if I paid no attention to <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/03\/12\/social-media-how-does-it-affect-seo\/\">backlinks<\/a>, but in my defense, links are not just a sign of SEO \u2018authority\u2019 \u2013 they signal quality too; if someone links to it, it must be a good page.<\/p>\n<p>I use\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/batch-analysis\">Ahrefs bulk backlink<\/a>\u00a0analysis feature to quickly run a lot of pages and section to choose the best ones.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/ahrefs-bulk.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78942\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/05\/ahrefs-bulk-300x156.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"156\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>[NB: I only mention directories that have proven worth the investment based on their rankings and traffic.]<\/p>\n<p>Have you listed your website in some directories and seen some solid traffic and leads? Share your tips and resources in the comments.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you think directories are dead, think again: there are plenty of new and old directories out there that can send you traffic and leads. Ann Smarty reviews the available opportunities for getting listed to generate more traffic and mentions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[266,267,268,269,270,22,139],"content_type":[27095],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","tag-business-directory","tag-directory","tag-directory-services","tag-listing","tag-local-listings","tag-seo","tag-seos","content_type-news"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_387484564-120x90.jpg","category":"SEO","timeago":"8y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}