The number and quality of inbound links in your site’s link profile is a critical factor in showing up near the top in Google. The quality of an inbound link is a function of the link authority of the page that links to you, as well as the relevance of that page to your business.
For example, a link from a page with a very high reputation (from having many inbound links itself) is more valuable than a link from a website that has very low link authority.
And a link from a website that’s related to your business counts more than a link from a website that’s completely unrelated. Your link profile should have a variety of inbound link types including from directories.
Get listed in niche directories
An excellent source of high quality inbound links is a niche directory, especially if they offer “follow” links. Directories typically have many inbound links themselves, which gives them high link authority. But they also, by dint of being niche, relate very closely to your business.
For example, if you are an elder law attorney, what could be more relevant that a link from the elder law attorney directory at FindLaw or Lawyers.com. As highly regarded websites, FindLaw and Lawyers.com have very high authority, and they are highly related to the niche of elder law attorneys— or any law firm for that matter.
Home services companies have niche directories like Houzz and Home Advisor and almost any business can find at least one directory focused on their niche. Directories in your niche can be excellent sources of link authority for you.
Many large niche directories like those just mentioned are willing to link to your website, but at a price. If you’re a website owner working on a tight budget, paying for every link is not only expensive, but likely not in your budget.
But don’t despair; there are lots of quality, free and inexpensive niche directories out there. The biggest challenge is finding them. You may need to look through each directory to find out if they offer free listings or how expensive their premium listings are.
Go to your favorite search engine and type in general keywords related to your site. For example, if you’re a wedding caterer you might type in wedding. Usually, well-ranking niche directories will place in the Top 10 results.
In this case Wedding Wire, Brides.com and The Knot all show up on the first page. Click through to the site and look for something like an “Add a Link” or “Join Vendor Directory” button or link somewhere in the navigation.
Method 2: Focused Directory Search
Narrow your search by your niche and the word directory. You may find a directory that offers both free and paid listings like CPAdirectory.com or MyZipPlumbers.com. This may be the quickest way to find good niche directories for your business.
Method 3: Unfocused Niche Directory Search
Here, you can find lists of hundreds of niche directories which are likely to include at least one directory for your niche. Simply search for niche directories. This can detect lists like Niche Listings.org and others. You should expect to have to scan through lots of directories, and don’t be discouraged if some of them are defunct; these lists usually aren’t closely maintained or pruned.
Method 4: Competitors’ Links
This allows you to take a shortcut and profit from your competitors’ previous linking efforts. Do a search with a Google search operator for links. Specifically, search for link:example.com, where you replace example.com with your competitor’s website. Then click on each link to find directories that your competitor is listed in.
Method 5: Remember your blog
We almost always recommend our clients maintain an active blog. If you do, you can enhance your link profile with links to your blog from blog directories that are a good match for your business. Just do a search for blog directories and look for directories that list businesses like yours.
Another tip
Expand your thinking when searching for a niche directory. When looking for a directory, try to think of all markets that relate to your web site. You may be surprised at what can count as a related directory.
For example, while working for an elder law firm that does guardianship as one of their sub-practice areas, I found the Special Needs Alliance website which lists many Certified Elder Law Attorneys. Keep an open mind about related topics that might be perfect for you.
Persistence pays off
You may need to search through several directories before you find some quality, free or affordable niche directories that are right for you; however, persistence pays off.
You may need to explore some directories to find their pricing plans, many of which offer a free option. There are very likely to be some great directories that can enhance your link profile, improve your domain authority and even bring in some high quality, targeted traffic as well.
Your persistence will be worth it.
How’s your experience been with finding niche directories? Start a discussion below.
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When you’re creating a website for a new business, think carefully about the domain name for your website. It’ll represent your business in a unique way and it will become as important a branding consideration as your company name.
You want it to reflect your company, but there are several other considerations as well.
Decide on your top level domain.
This is the suffix at the end of your website address. Businesses should normally have a .com top level domain (TLD). But there are exceptions. Internet-based businesses, like web designers, may want a .net TLD. Not for-profit businesses and trade organizations may be best served by a .org TLD. And of course colleges and universities qualify for a .edu TLD. Also consider that the Search Engine Institute recommends avoiding .info domain names claiming that they have a reputation for being spammy websites.
Start with your company name
Does it lend itself to a unique domain name for your website? Or does another business already have a domain name that matches your company name?
Consider including keywords
If your name includes keywords, so much the better. Jones Brothers Plumbing Co. might choose JonesPlumbing.com or JonesBrothersPlumbing.com. The keyword is likely to be slightly helpful in search rankings. You can also think about geographic keywords — like MorristownPlumbers.com. But don’t get carried away with something like MorristownNewJerseyPlumbingAndHeating.com.
Beyond this, you may find that the domain name you’ve chosen has already been taken. It may be in use, or it may be held by a squatter who ill happily sell it to you for an exorbitant fee. If that happens, you may find some help in this article from Search Engine Journal: What to Do When the .COM You Want Is Taken.
Consider your domain name thoughtfully
Be sure not to make any of the 10 dumbest domain name decisions.
And finally, look at your domain name with a careful eye. Make sure you don’t choose an unfortunate domain name that can be easily or disastrously mis-read. I have a few surprisingly bad examples here.
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Some People Didn’t Think When Choosing their Domain Names
You may be amused by some of the domain names people have chosen. For some of them they discovered it too late and either went out of business or belatedly re-thought their decisions. But a surprising number of them are still alive under their amusing domains.
Here are some classics that aren’t there anymore.
Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views: http://www.expertsexchange.com
Need a therapist? http://www.therapistfinder.com
New to Milan and you need electricity? Why not sign up on-line with Power-Gen? http://www.powergenitalia.com
Looking for kids’ clothes? Try Children’s Wear http://www.childrenswear.com/
There’s also the online training company Via Grafix http://www.viagrafix.com/
A French arborist, Les Bocages
lesbocages.com
Top MP3 songs – MP3s Hits mp3shits.com
TV personal advice celebrity Ben Dover bendover.com
Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website: http://www.speedofart.com/
IT Management from Regency Technologies now redirects to a new domain name. itscrap.com
International Housing Ads had a website for housing in Las Vegas under the name of IHA Vegas. But now it redirects to a new domain. http://www.ihavegas.com/
A bait & tackle shop that may just have done this on purpose masterbaitonline.com
This major algorithm update makes Core Web Vitals a new ranking factor. Those of us who are working to get ready for it now have an extra month. Google released a statement saying that the Page Experience update will begin to roll out in mid-June, but won’t be fully integrated into search rankings until the end of the summer.
Google explained:
“We’ll begin using page experience as part of our ranking systems beginning in mid-June 2021. However, page experience won’t play its full role as part of those systems until the end of August. You can think of it as if you’re adding a flavoring to a food you’re preparing. Rather than add the flavor all at once into the mix, we’ll be slowly adding it all over this time period.”
While this update is a significant one, I don’t anticipate it having a dramatic impact on your search rankings, at least not for many months. That’s because Google has more than 200 ranking factors that go into where you show up in the search results for any particular keyword phrase. While this may be more important than a good number of those, it’s still going to have a relatively small impact.
Nevertheless, if you haven’t started to address these page experience factors, I encourage you to read our blog post, 7 Steps to Prepare for Google’s Page Experience Factor.
Have questions about this? Start a discussion below.
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The infographic below is from last year and from UK Web Host Review, but it’s still definitely relevant in 2021 in the US.
As just a single point of SEO related information, search engines have been increasingly penalizing web pages that aren’t mobile-friendly. Last year Google doubled down on its mobile-first policy. Now your website may not just rank lower if it doesn’t work well on phones, it might not show up in the search results at all.
Here are some more relevant statistics for you.
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