Hi, I own some dutch websites and directories are not very common in The Netherlands. Now I want to grow a international website and forum/community so I have to learn more about directories I guess. What are the best free directories to sign up my brand new website? If this is possible of course TIA!
Why do you need to learn about directories? Their value for SEO is limited as of about 5 years ago, people use search engines rather than old school directories like DMOZ (that no longer exists).
Okay, thank you. Im looking for possibilities to promote my new website and generate backlinks. I hoped this was the trick ;-)
Directories are still good for improving backlink profile, especially for new website. Try these: clutch.co, goodfirms.com, designrush.com, appfutura.com, techreviewer.com. And you can also google directories, just type 'top [your niche] companies' and press 'search'.
I'm having a hard time waiting for the approved free listing websites in different directories. I would like to know why does it take several months to be reviewed by the admin or website owners. I can only afford free listing and extra effort.
Because they're free directories and once the initial excitement of launching a new site has waned their owners realise that free directories are a lot of work! That, or they're getting enough traffic and clicks from people submitting their sites that they don't need to worry about content. They're also way less likely to be curating their directories and adding authority sites in each category to bolster the value of their site. I don't have tested facts and figures but I believe each category should aim to have a minimum of 3 owner-submitted sites and probably a minimum of 1 owner submitted for every 5 submitted sites in that category. This might be an ODP hangover but a directory with only submitted sites means they're all going to be "less important" as the bigger sites rely on advertising, word of mouth etc and will never even think of submitting.
You can find few more lists to increase link popularity at Free Directories and Websites Lists. Yes, This one is good also but according to me and my team experience more than 50% web directories are paid while they are showing in list that its free. According to me this is just trick to earn some bucks .... If you have not patience then spend some money and get approval within 24 hours. As i know only 30 to 40 percent listing get approval within one to three months .... for others either we have to wait longer or it will not approved by admin because they are considering only for paid listing because of long list of free submission.
But when we pay for submission isn't that against Google policy. I also have a feeling that most directory owners disregard free submissions and take care of paid ones. Exception is when they start so they build their database. So should we pay for submissions or be patient?
If you're willing to believe Moz's analysis on DA's, we get our best directory backlink from yell.com
try to do citation, business profile in google map, bing profile, yelp etc... Just Google "local directory list" in your area