Our web development clients are located in Newport Beach, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Southern and Northern California, New England, as well as throughout the United States and abroad. Search Engine and Directory marketing is a major component. Webconsuls enjoys a very high referral business because our Clients usually achieve and maintain Major Search Engine and Directory positioning successes, for targeted keyword terms. These search and / or category-based resources will undoubtedly continue to occupy a great deal of our attention in the months ahead.
Commercial web sites are designed to attract customers, maintain customers and to generate business. Your site needs to be easily found (and used by large numbers of new and existing customers). After repeat business and customer referrals, Major Search Engines and Directories represent the preferred way to accomplish this objective. While there are many free search engines, a growing number now have paid registration features.
Webconsuls, as part of the Internet marketing process, will register your site on a number of major search engines and directories. We recommend a variety of paid engines and directories to our clients, as well as one or more Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaigns, (i.e. Yahoo Search Marketing, Google Adwords). PPC is an excellent way to augment natural or organic positioning activities that form the basis of web development programs.
With regard to Search Engines, in the 2007 /2008 time frame, Google is still considered the leader, with Yahoo, MSN and ASK following, in this same order. AOL has declined in popularity over the same period.
Paid Directories are becoming more numerous every day and much of the SEO literature is now targeted at those resources. Most agree that some “paid” participation is required; what is also agreed is that the "measure" of their value is far from certain. We offer a few important considerations:
- SERPS: Directories are "evaluated" for quality and have a PageRank / Trust Rank in the search engine results pages (SERPS). When determining which Paid engines are to be pursued, quality factors also apply, very similar to link popularity “relevance / reputation” criteria.
- Spiders /Crawling: Are the Directory pages themselves being cached by the major search engines? If so, how frequently are the interior pages being indexed?
- Links and Category Selection: Is the link provided to your website direct or redirected? Are the categories provided by a particular web Directory relevant and appropriate to the website content?
- Relevance and Appeal: Is the site maintained in a current condition, with information updated accessible and well presented?
- Cost: Is the fee requested "reasonable" in terms of the advantages you expect to realize?
Paid Directory participation can become quite expensive, so we recommend research and analysis before allocating marketing dollars. Check with your SEO firm when unsure. Budgeting is always the best approach, with expenditures allocated throughout the year. This allows for plan revisions, based upon business conditions. The “reputation” of Directories is also dynamic, so timing allows for Directory replacement or getting in early with new resources receiving Internet attention.
Perhaps the most important aspect is that most people will use the major search engines for search, with the vast majority of Directories being accessed much less frequently. This includes the Yahoo Directory <dir.Yahoo.com> and Open Directory <www.DMOZ.org>. The reason your site needs to be included is because the major search engines use various Directories to obtain new sites for inclusion and for positioning consideration. Google uses Open Directory, offering a free registration process. The submission is reviewed by Editors and Lisa McClure is a category editor.
Directories are a vital component in SEO and should be viewed in that context. If you are seeking expert help in search engine positioning services, SEO, design, Pay-Per-Click or any web development-related projects, in California or anywhere in the U.S, call us today at 520-395-0825. |
