Search Engine Optimization Bible, Second Edition

Chapter 16. Adding Your Site to Directories

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Search directories vs. search engines

• Geo-targeting and other strategies

• Using submission tools

Very often, search engines and search directories are lumped into the same category. After all, you type in a search term and click a button and the results for that search are returned to you, right? That's right, but the data collected by directories and search engines, and the way those search results are returned, are very different. In fact, directories and search engines differ in three fundamental ways:

• How they collect data

• The search results

• How those search results are ranked

Yahoo! is one of the most well-known search directories on the Internet. It was one of the first names in search, and it remains one of the stronger players in the search market. However, there are dozens of other directories available online, and, like search engines, these search directories can be very specialized, so that entries cover a single topic or a related group of topics. Search directories can also be implemented within an organization, so that you can list and find all the important documentation your company owns.

The advantage of these highly targeted search directories is not traffic volume of the sort you would receive from a search engine or a general search directory; what's important here is the quality of the traffic you receive. Specific search directories attract specific users who are searching for specific items. This means that ...