Directory Listings the DO's and Dont's

[ATP]

Hi guys,

We are currently working on increasing our online marketing presence and with a new website on the cards I am turning to all of our B2B business directories to update, and being tracking referrals etc to see ones that may be worth premium listings.

I have a list of 200 business directories to scope and check,  some are relevant some are not, obviously i dont want to sign up to them all and risk a dodgy link profile so im going to be selective, but im not sure how many to aim for etc. So im looking for some general advice and guidance at this early stage so I can properly plan my approach.

What advice would you give and are there any major DO's and DONT's of sorting through these directories  to look for some new ways to source customers.

EDIT: We are UK based

Thanks

[Paddy_Moogan]

Hi there,

In terms of how many to aim for, I don't think I'd advise thinking about it from that perspective. Instead, I'd recommend thinking about it from a quality / relevance perspective. Make quality and relevance the first thing you worry about and if that means that you have a large list of directories to submit to, then that's fine and you should just work through them when you get time.

For the do's and don'ts, there are a few things that come to mind:

• Focus first on whether the directory is relevant to what your business does
• If a directory is likely to send you quality traffic, then that's a positive sign for it
• Look at the page where your website will be listed and make sure that you'll be surrounded by other quality sites, don't go for it if you see lots of low quality or irrelevant sites
• Check whether a directory shows in search results for it's own name, don't submit if it doesn't

I hope that helps!

Paddy

[KevnJr]

Hello ATP,

I target the directories I see in a SERP for my target terms. Yelp, Manta, Yellow Pages seem to dominate. Moz Local helps us manage a lot of our local profiles.

Hope this helps.

KJr