What should you know about directory listings?

Online website directories provide several benefits, the most important of which is linking. While this article is about lawyers, it applies to any industry.

A FindLaw white paper, “Visibility, Design, and Content: Three Steps to Successful Online Marketing,” stated: “In the expanding online market for legal services, the most successful law firms focus on three essential areas ( and related): build visibility through search engines and directories, use distinctive site design to differentiate the firm, and deliver persuasive content that engages prospects and deepens client relationships… Links from other firms Lawyer directories, online directories, and legal sites like FindLaw also support an effective link building campaign.”

When considering paying for a listing review in an online directory, most people only think about the traffic potential and whether the cost of listing review is really worth it. However, this is not the only consideration.

Obviously, when an online directory appears in the first search results of a search engine, people can find your website listing. One result is that your listing will provide some branding as people view it. Another result is that some of these people will click on your listing, land on your website, and possibly do business with you.

The most important and often overlooked benefit, as noted by FindLaw, is that when links point to your website from many niche directories, such as a legal directory pointing a link to a law firm’s website, your “web popularity” improves and the position of your law firm’s website in search engine results will move up.

If you really want your law firm website to appear in the first search results, it is imperative to list your law firm in as many legal directories as possible. Once again, this applies to any business. Just search for niche directories for your industry.

Whatever business you are in, getting a listing in some of the top ranked general directories is also beneficial. Of course, once a directory is well ranked, there is usually a fee to review your listing.

The website directory should give you a true “live” link without a “do not follow” tag. The “no-follow” tag prevents passing any page rank, sometimes called “link juice” to your website. There are several ways to use a “do not track” tag and it is not easy for the average lawyer to tell if it is being used. Look for specialized directories that do not use a “do not track” tag, such as LawFirms911.com for law firms. If the website directory you’re considering doesn’t state if it uses a “do not track” tag, just email them and ask. If the directory provides a tracking link and is a well-maintained niche directory, go ahead and pay to have your listing reviewed.

Why should you pay to have your listing reviewed? A well-maintained website directory will manually review each website listing to ensure that the listing belongs to the directory and is placed in the most appropriate category.

Search engines will ignore a website directory full of spam website listings, just like your listing. Directories are assaulted daily with spam submissions and websites that are unrelated to the topic of the niche directory. To make sure that a list of submitted websites is in fact a law firm and not a website that sells drugs or a website about automobiles, I have to look at the website that is submitted. Many times, it doesn’t take long. However, spam websites are often cleverly disguised and only after doing some research, I find out that it is a useless website.

If people searching the internet are going to use a directory, and if search engines are going to give value to your link in a directory, listings need to rank well. Many listings are submitted to inappropriate categories, usually because the submitter did not take the time to find the most appropriate category or because the submitter wanted the listing in a higher, more general category.

To make sure that a list of submitted websites is indeed a law firm and submitted to the most appropriate category, I have to look at the website being submitted.

I don’t want to just delete your listing. Instead, your ad will be placed in the appropriate category. It takes time to re-categorize submitted listings. For anyone, time is expensive. Since I am a lawyer, maintaining my directories is even more expensive.

If your listing moves to a more specific category, don’t worry. Being more closely categorized with similar websites is beneficial. Also, being at the top or one of the few category links can be better than being at the bottom of a category with hundreds of listings.

As you can see, it takes a lot of time to go through all the submitted website listings. It also takes time and money to maintain the infrastructure of the directory, including its software, search engine optimization, and other aspects.

Charging a small fee to review your website is necessary if a website’s directory owner is going to maintain the directory properly. It’s a small price to pay to make sure that the directory benefits your website and doesn’t hurt it.

Websites that have been previously submitted should be checked regularly to ensure that the submitted website has not been lost by the owner who did not renew the domain name and subsequently picked up by a “spammer”, resulting in non-spamming lists. intentional in the directory. This happens all too often. The standard period of time for the review is annual. Some directories charge an annual renewal fee for this service.

I have been adding more directories and am currently at the point where I will have to hire someone. If my boards are to remain permanent, they must be run like any profitable business with overhead.