SEO Tips Australia

Years ago, when there weren't that many free online directories, submitting your site to them was a very powerful way of building backlinks. But as more and more webmasters started such sites, the internet simply became saturated with them. So they are not nearly as effective for SEO as they used to be.

That said, they are not dead yet. And submitting to them is very easy - though boring. They are also useful to the newbie webmaster and blogger, since if you've just started you simply won't have enough content to attract or justify links from authority sites. Free directory submission means that you can start to rank for a few keywords and gradually bring in some search engine traffic anyway.

There are a million lists of them, easily located via Google. Two that I have used occasionally are at VM Options and Directory Critic. The first has directories submitted in chronological order already. And you can choose to view the second list this way too, by selecting "date submitted".

If you choose directories that are hot off the presses then you are more likely to get your site accepted, and more quickly. Remember that some of these directories will grow over time and climb up the rankings. The owners may even start charging for submission. But you'll be in there with a strong backlink for free. Of course, the flip side is that most of these directories will ultimately just die, or be of no use. But that's the nature of the internet. Websites - even big high quality ones - are forever going belly up.

Some purists say you should avoid being included in such new, low quality directories. But ultimately it's highly unlikely they'll do your site any harm. And they can help a little. So they are still worth using, in my opinion. Basically, if you have a new site you are a link beggar. And beggars can't be choosers!

So have a look at those lists and others from time to time, and do a few submissions here and there. Change the site descriptions  periodically. And also target different keywords in the titles. Eventually, you'll start to see them appear in searches for your site. But don't go crazy and do thousands of them. And don't use an auto-submission service either. Just use them to vary your link building when you find time.

As your site grows in quality, as well as the number of pages indexed, you'll get to a point where it's worth submitting to major, human edited directories. DMOZ is the most well known. They are picky, which is a good thing. So you might not get accepted. But even if you are the process will probably take several months. So don't stress about it. Just put in a good, thorough submission. Make sure it's for the most appropriate category, then forget about it.

If you have an Australian themed site, then of course it makes sense to submit to geo-specific directories. Below is a list. Most of these are free, often with upgrade options. Some are paid only. (This has taken me a while to accumulate, so links to it are much appreciated.)

If you have a business in particular, then you should submit to as many of these as possible. (The majority are specifically for businesses.) They will definitely help for SEO, and of course you'll get some clicks coming directly off them too!