There are certainly a lot of directories available for site submissions and most of them are either blog directories or they accept blogs. An article on human edited directories by Chris Crum at Small Business Newz makes for interesting reading and raises several interesting points.
To summarize the article, Chris focuses on two issues with directories;
- Human edited listings: These directories edit every listing that is submitted ensuring they are not only quality sites, they are also relevant to the category they are submitted in.
- Automatically approved listings: These are generally accepted using an email response. There is no quality control and sites may end up being listed in categories that are totally unrelated.
Does it make any real difference? A directory is a directory and all listings provide some value don’t they? This may be true. However if your site or your blog is listed in the wrong category then you may not receive the real benefit that could have been provided by a more relevant category. Not only that, if your entry has been accepted into the wrong category, how many others have as well?
Human edited directories at least ensure that you are in the correct category and that all the other sites are also in the correct category. More importantly, human edited directories are able to filter out the spammy and parked sites that offer no real value to the community. Automated directories accept all sites. As Chris says in his article:
[source]Don’t you think search engines would value a link that is listed among other quality links higher than one that is listed with a bunch of spammy ones?
I cannot help but agree with his argument although I think other issues still need to be considered. Some directories, although claiming to be human edited, leave me wondering when you see the type of sites included and the lack of quality control when it comes to category selection. I have seen XXX rated sited listed in Family or Parenting categories – so much for human editing.
Other issues include timing. I have sites listed with DMOZ and even after six months, they have still not been approved. Like all things related to the internet, before submitting your site to a directory check that you are in the right category. Also check out the category to see what sort of sites are listed there – make sure they are relevant.
A blog directories are blog directories and you are always going to gain some benefit from them. Chris’ points are valid. You will get more benefit from a human edited directory than an automated one. In fact it is well worth the extra time preparing an accurate submission to a human edited directory. It is also worth the extra time waiting for approval. But man is it galling when they knock you back because they think you have selected the wrong category – and they don’t advise you on the right one.
