A directory submission is another part that we would call Off-site SEO. This could also be seen as a form of link building and of course getting your link placed on some good quality directories will pass some link juice to your website. We would advise you though in the UK there are probably around 50 good quality directories that you should be getting yourself listed on. The rest of them however, are pretty much useless as there are just far too many websites on them now, making the site essentially spammy.
Some of the decent directories have phone call verification or other methods to ensure that any listing is genuine. Now, this can be a bit of a pain to do when going through and doing this type of work, but overall its the only way that a directory can keep all of their listings genuine making it a worthwhile directory for the general public to use.
One downside to directory listings is that in almost any instance that I've ever done them, you always receive a call from the company trying to up-sell you a paid listing which they claim it is the best directory with premium features and you will gain loads more work. In all honesty, a directory listing is done with a view to getting a link on it, not because loads of people go onto directories and look for services. Most people in this day and age will simply just Google what they want, and click on the first couple of websites. It's highly unlikely that they will go through directories looking for your services.
So at this point, you should go and Google " Free Directory Listings " and see what comes up, some of the top ones we would recommend you get on are
- Thomson Local
- Yell.com
- Cylex UK
- Lacartes
- Locanto
- Free Index
- UK Small Business Directory
- Yalwa
- Business Magnet
- Scoot
- B2B Index
- Touch Local
.
Every town or city in the UK will most likely have a couple of their own local business directories which may or may not be good. Any form of advertising is always a great way of promoting your business though so don't worry too much about putting a link on others, we just recommend you don't waste too much time registering with everyone you can find.
At this stage, you should go and get yourself listed on some of these FREE directories and take your time filling them out!
