What are directories and backlinks?

A directory also known as a web directory is practically an online catalog of links to certain websites these links are called backlinks. In order to find a certain backlink you need to search for the company name and or industry and where it is located, and then the directory will display relevant backlinks on your screen. Think of it like this, a library has different categories for different books and in order to find your book, you need to search for it, similar to the way you search for backlinks in a directory.

How are backlinks important for your SEO strategy?

Back in the days, this was a major tactic to improve SEO rankings, however, the latest Google updates have been introduced to decrease the efficiency of this tactic because it was considered to be quite the spammy tactic. Google have specially programmed bots that roam the World Wide Web looking for certain data to index. One specific type of data is a link, when a google bot finds a link it follows the link to wherever it leads to (in your case your website) and scans whatever data it finds then indexes it in google’s library. The more your website is indexed the better because it improves your search engine rankings. So as you can see it is still massively helpful for your SEO strategy.

The best directories to get your website on:

In order to get your website on a directionary all you need to do is find a directory with domain authority and enter your company details.  But be careful because some directories can be spammy  and can cause your website to get demoted by google. Don’t worry we have a list of the best and safest directories to add your backlinks to:

Site	Domain Authority	Industry	Location
https://www.bingplaces.com/	98	General	International
www.tripadvisor.com	95	Hospitality	International
www.directory.independent.co.uk	94	General	UK
https://directory.thesun.co.uk/	90	General	UK
www.truelocal.com.au	68	General	Australia
www.thomsonlocal.com	64	General	UK
www.factual.com	63	General	International
www.communitywalk.com	62	General	International
www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk	61	General	UK
www.scoot.co.uk	61	General	UK
www.iBegin.com (required phone verification)	60	General	International
www.192.com	60	General	UK
www.thetradefinder.co.uk	53	General	UK
www.storeboard.com	50	General	International
www.uk.bizadee.com	48	General	UK
www.yelloyello.com	44	General	International
www.wand.com	44	General	International
www.b99.co.uk	44	General	UK
www.gb.enrollbusiness.com	44	General	UK
www.searchme4.co.uk	44	General	UK
www.expressbusinessdirectory.com	41	General	International
www.n49.com	41	General	USA / UK
www.whodoyou.com	38	General	International
www.fyple.com	38	General	USA
www.company.fm	38	General	International
www.parkbench.com	38	General	International
www.uk.ypgo.net	38	General	UK
www.businessspread.co.uk	37	General	UK
www.iglobal.co	36	General	International
www.teleadreson.com	36	General	International
www.businessnetwork.co.uk	36	General	UK
www.lekkoo.com	35	General	International
www.opendi.co.uk	35	General	UK
www.find-us-here.com	33	General	International
Non Follow links Site Domain Authority Industry Location www.facebook.com 100 General International www.yelp.com 94 General International www.houzz.com 93 Home services International www.foursquare.com 93 General International www.yell.com 85 General UK www.aboutus.com 70 General International www.spoke.com 69 General International www.2Findlocal.com 63 General International www.brownbook.net 61 General International www.cylex-uk.co.uk 61 General UK www.showmelocal.com 58 General International www.hotfrog.com.au 52 General Australia www.salespider.com 49 General International www.misterwhat.co.uk 49 General UK www.hotfrog.co.uk 46 General UK www.cylex.com.au 44 General Australia www.agreatertown.com 42 General International www.tipped.co.uk 42 General UK www.infoisinfo.co.uk 41 General UK www.tuugo.co.uk 40 General UK www.callupcontact.com 38 General UK www.citylocal.co.uk 37 General UK www.fonolive.com 35 General International www.mysheriff.co.uk 35 General UK www.bisnzz.com 31 General International www.tupalo.net 30 General UK some other links we love Infobel Navmii Central Index Citipages The Mirror Scoot 54 54 60

Do directories still hold importance in 2020?

As said above, Google have released updates that decreases the effectiveness of directories. So arguably directories still hold value in 2020 because it can still help websites to rank to the top, but only if that directory has domain authority.

• It is still recommended that your build backlinks with high authority directories that are popular.
• Create backlinks on directories relevent to your industry as it helps to create continuous referral traffic
• All that needs to be done is to create a few quality backlinks and move on!!

  Connect with Garry and the team

learn more about Loving Social Media