Most SEO Professionals agree that social media properties such as blogs and bookmarks are priceless for search engine optimization link building efforts. In fact, it is very difficult to build high-traffic links without some elementary social media foundation somewhere along the line. However, this fascination for blogging and the trickle-down tools that come with blogging have cut into the once popular directory submissions. They used to be a large part of SEO’s inbound linking strategy.  In some SEO Campaigns, directories as an online tool have seemingly taken a backseat to blogs, wikis, and social media properties. The Google factor has also affected directory popularity since it can recognize paid links and has been known to harshly penalize low quality and duplicate directories.

The decreasing popularity of directory listings actually makes them a smart choice for link acquisition – as rival sites are unlikely to count the same sources in their own inbound link reports. If you know how to effectively target directory links, you can build a quality list of referrals that your keyword competitors probably won't have. With the right SEO campaign, these directory listings can help you increase your website's page rank and guided traffic. Despite the consistent and long-term benefits, directory submissions should not form the bulk of your link acquisition strategy. Instead, they should be thought of as a secondary tool that can add value to an overall off-site search engine optimization campaign. These following tips are what we use to help you achieve the best results from directory submission activities: Relevancy is Key The first and easiest way to ensure a directory link adds value to your overall optimization activities is to weed out the bad directory sites and id

entify only the most relevant sources. This is particularly important if the directories you are targeting use the paid listings model, because even a small number of irrelevant links can end up hurting you if they don't deliver relevant and serious traffic. If you have a very specific target market, it's essential to identify those directories that are most relevant to that group. SEO Professionals spend a large amount of time researching this – usually this includes talking with existing clients to identify any directories they prefer, staying up on industry journals and relevant blogs, or even conducting competitor research to see which directories they use.