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In 2022, will web business directories still be valuable for your business listings? You bet. Take a look at these 10 web directories to increase your website's visibility and traffic.
Back in the early 2000s, link building might have involved adding websites to a appropriate directory with a decent PageRank to gain an easy backlink. But just like many link-building strategies of the past, when it became simplistic, Google began to scowl upon those links.
The first and last question, is: are web directories still a valued path of links for webmasters in 2022?
What Is the State of Web Directories Today?
Today, Google’s algorithm is a little bit difficult.
Although links remain one of the top-ranking signals, Google does not view all links equally.
Links from a web directory listing are not as much important than a super applicable contextual link from a high-authority site in your role.
That’s not to say that web directories are totally pointless.
According to Moz research, web directories and local credentials still seem to be a small ranking aspect – especially for local businesses.
However, Google’s John Mueller himself has said that directory links “commonly” don’t help with SEO.
How should a marketer proceed?
Look beyond web directories as a source of links.
Rather, view directories as a path of traffic treat them as your local search engine with trust.
Any business with a local occurrence needs to maintain their local records with a reliable NAP, but web directories won’t help with your SEO much outside that.
Credibility and traffic will be what gives your business real returns.
As you start your search for web directories, have those two principles in mind.
The following questions should be considered before you start your listing processes:
• Is this a trustworthy site? Put another way: If a client saw me on this website, would they see my business as more – or less – genuine?
• Are my target viewers likely to visit this website? If not, it’s possibly not a value listing of your business.
Let's talk about the web directories that still have value today so you can find what you came here for.
Web Directories That Still Have Worth Today
In a struggle to continue appropriate, many web directories of yore have transitioned past basic listings to detailed review sites.
The directories I have listed below show this trend.
Trustworthy and useful web directories for all kind of websites
1. BOTW
Started in 1994, Best of the Web (or BOTW for short) is still a trustworthy online directory used by more than 16 million businesses.
It gathers 60,000-70,000 visits per month.
There’s also blogs.botw.org for blogs and local.botw.org for local businesses.
The lifetime llisting cost on BOTW is $297 (with a link to your website).
2. AboutUs
Originally designed as a business domain directory, AboutUs now allows the listing and discussions of all kinds of websites.
The website receives 100,000 monthly traffic, on an average.
3. Spoke.com
Spoke is an online community for searching and discussing companies, news, people and much more.
On Spoke, you can add a site listing for an individual or a business.
Till now 1.4 million companies and 5 million people are registered on the website.
This site gets over 100,000 monthly traffic.
4. Blogarama
Blogarama main specification is over 154,000 blog submissions that are actively updated by admins.
It's the only one that continues to send consistent traffic out of the (very) many blog sites that I've added my own blog to.
Plugin your RSS feed and Blogarama auto-updates you’re submitting with your newest posts.
The site receives over 150,000 visitors monthly.
5. Bing Places
Another one is Bing Places, the Google Business Profile comparable for the world’s second most famous search engine.
Only about 6% of the world uses Bing as their search engine, it’s important to remember that it’s the default search engine for Internet Explorer and Edge, and Microsoft still dominates the desktop computer market.
Those PC users still hold a good traffic volume, so make sure to reach those users.
6. Facebook
When we think of Facebook the auto click in our minds gives a social media network impression.
However, we often forget that Facebook Pages are indexable in Google SERP.
Having an official Facebook Page offers your business, blog, or online publication an additional way to connect and drive discussion with your audience – especially as Facebook inches ever closer to 3 billion monthly users.
Plus, two in three Facebook users visit a Page for a local business once a week.
7. Yelp
Yelp still endorses hegemony as the best review site for local businesses.
If you want customers to find your business, your business must be visible on Yelp and in addition to it you must be consistently getting the positive customers reviews.
The site currently has 224 million reviews and 90 million monthly users, 97% of who go on to make a purchase after using Yelp.
8. Foursquare
Foursquare is nowhere near Yelp in popularity, but it does provide listings for all kinds of local businesses.
The site has 24 million monthly traffic, and 93% of local storefronts represent 2 million of the businesses that are already listed on Foursquare.
9. Yellow Pages
Yes, this is that Yellow Pages.
If you’re wondering whatever happened to the company that used to drop off yellow tomes on your front doorstep, they went online.
Here, claiming your business is free, although you can expect to get annoyed by frequently jabbing by them to opt into their paid advertising options upon signing up.
Beyond a business listing, YP stays relevant by offering coupons, providing listings for a large variety of industries, and regularly posting blog content to drive internal link equity back toward their directory pages.
The site averages 17 million monthly visitors.
10. Chamber Of Commerce
ChamberOfCommerce.com is the online version of your local Chamber of Commerce (which you should also aim to get listed in, by the way).
Around since 1998, this website aims to be the most robust listing of small businesses online.
It also serves a small business owner resource center, through their free listings, paid ad options, and educational articles.
The site lists more than 30 million businesses and monthly traffic numbers are over 780,000.
