Page Ranking

The internet and the World Wide Web have opened up tremendous opportunities for individuals to disseminate information and/or to distribute marketable products. The challenge, however, is to generate traffic to your site. In other words, you want people to visit your website in order to see what you have to say or sale. Increasing your sites page rank is the key. Directory submission is perhaps the one of the best methods to increase your sites ranking. Directory submission, while only one of many different methods, is one of the most commonly used.

One of the first things that one needs to understand in attempting to increase traffic to your site is some of the factors that are involved. As we previously mentioned, increasing your sites page ranking is one means to do this. But this begs the question, what is a page rank? The idea behind page ranking is to determine which sites are the most relevant internet destinations. Generally speaking, the higher the page rank is a key indicator of the sites link popularity.

Essentially, page rank is determined by how many other links on different sites refer back to your site (called backlinks). As such, the more links that are found elsewhere on the net that refers to your site, the higher your page rankingpage ranking will be. Additionally, the page rank of these backlinks also are a determining factor in a websites overall page ranking. There are a number of ways in which you can begin to increase your sites page rank. The most common method is through diectory submission.

Directory submission is really just what it sounds like. The idea is to take the information about your website and post it into a web directory of other web sites. This is sort of like adding your name and telephone number to a phone directory. A web directory listing can provide a website with a great deal more visibility in a shorter period of time than attempting time consuming methods such as article submissions, blogging, and forum posting, for example.

Web Directories: Facts and Types

There are three basic types of directory submission categories that users should be aware of. When considering a directory submission, you can increase your sites llink popularity by carefully evaluating which category to submit to. Remember, you want to garner as much visibility to your site as possible, and therefore you want to list your site on the web directory that will provide this. These categories are as follows:

General Directories:

A general directory is one that list websites of every type. There can be literally dozens of different sub-categories on these types of directories to choose from. The advantage of a general directory is that there tends to be more general traffic that utilizes these as a result of the number of different topics that are listed. However, the downside is the number of topics that are listed. It is easy for your website to get “lost” in the crowd on a generally directory, especially if you have a niche topic.

Niche Directories:

A niche directory is one in which features a topic that is similar in nature to your website. For example; if you have a website that is devoted to mystery novels. Then if you list this on a directory about carpentry, the odds are that you will generate very little traffic, even though people will surely see it there. Why; because the people who are searching through a web directory on carpentry are probably interested in that subject matter and not mystery novels.

On the other hand, by doing a directory submission to a Novels web directory, then you stand a better chance of finding individuals who are interested in visiting your site. With niche directories, you are aligning your websites topic with individuals who are most likely to find an interest in it. In general, a web directory of this type gives you the best opportunity to begin building link popularity.

High Page Ranked Directories

Even directories have a page rank. Those directories that are most heavily used tend to have higher page ranks. Part of the page ranking formula places a value on the website that lists your link. In other words, the higher the page rank of the website that has your link, the higher value that this link contributes to you own page rank. So there are two benefits to listing on a high page ranked directory.

First, a high page rankedhigh page ranked web directory usually has a higher volume of traffic, and thereby more potential links. This is what you want as you seek out the opportunity to establish backlinks. Secondly, the value of being listed on a web directory with a high page rank adds value to your own ranking. This is important as you build your link popularity. As such, it is obviously a pretty good idea to do a directory submission to a high rankinghigh ranking web directory.

In this general category, you can also find bid directories. Bid directories are unique in that you pay or bid to have your site ranked on the directory itself. The more you pay, the higher your ranking will be in the bid directorybid directory. The advantage of this is the visibility you attain by being at or near the top of the particular category you are listed in. With a bid directory, you can often realize quicker results in building link popularity.

There is every reason to have a desire to increase your page rank and link popularity. After all, the whole reason for you building and maintaining a website is to be recognized. This requires traffic. And while there are many ways in which to accomplish this, the most simple and sometimes effective way is through directory submission. Directory submission is fairly straightforward, and places your website in a grouping of other similar websites. For those individuals who search for an interest that your website covers, a web directory is one of the first starting points. As such, a directory submission makes perfect sense for the individual who wants to increase traffic to their website and build link popularity.