Rock Your Rank With A Dynamite Text Link At Yahoo Directory

Last week a client called me excitedly exclaiming that their Google PageRank had jumped a notch and theirtargeted keyword term now ranked #23 (up from #45) for their competitive search phrase.

I asked the client if he'd been notified by Yahoo that his site was now included in the index after wehad submitted it three weeks ago. "Yes," he said, "but why are you changing the subject?"

"I'm not changing the subject. Inclusion in Yahoo Directory is the most likely reason for the jump inboth your search position and your PageRank. Remember when you doubted the value of inclusion in theYahoo Directory and I pushed for submission anyway? Now you know why I insisted."

That seemingly expensive Yahoo Directory listing has one little known benefit to your website. It isthe most important and valuable text link you could ever purchase. That one link from one source willdo your ranking more good than any other single link (except possibly the Open Directory).

Many webmasters look at potential traffic referred from the Yahoo Directory as the determining factorfor submissions, when that is not the best reason for inclusion - It's the link value that matters aboveall else in this case.

I've had several SEO clients see a leap in ranking for targeted search terms a week or so after thatYahoo Directory link goes live for them. Many clients have argued with me about the value of that YahooDirectory text link. But at $299, the yearly fee is cheaper than many of those commercial text link adssites and does far more for your ranking in search engines OTHER than Yahoo.

Why? ItÕs purely the value of that link. Search engines know that only sites of a certain quality levelwill submit and get accepted into Yahoo Directory. They know that serious businesses will pay that yearlyfee, while marginal or hobby sites will not pay that $299 every year. Surely there is some level of valueassigned in search algorithms to inclusion in the Yahoo Directory.

It's a little known technique for gains in ranking which is based purely on empirical observation overtime. But the result of inclusion in the Yahoo Directory is the same for every client, every time - theirPageRank ratchets up and targeted search terms suddenly take a big jump just a week or two after inclusion.The same is true of inclusion in the free Open Directory Project at DMOZ.org.

I've seen client sites jump from positions on page three at MSN search to top 5 positions on page oneof the MSN SERP's following inclusion in the Yahoo Directory. Now we are submitting this same clientto the Open Directory for the 5th time in as many months hoping for elusive editors to add the site,leading to another jump in search position and PageRank if and when they get around to adding the siteto the DMOZ database.

You do know that Google uses that Open Directory listing in their own directory, don't you? It's worthsubmitting and resubmitting until they finally include your site. It really is worth the trouble to keeptrying, no matter how long they ignore your submissions.

One caveat always applies to Directory submissions! They must be done with great care applied to keywordphrases used in the site description. That single line of text you submit in the "Site Description" textbox on the submission page will strongly affect your keyword phrase ranking in OTHER search engines fora very long time.

Take care in crafting a keyword rich and effective description for your site. I always request that clientseither have me submit for them or use text I've written for them in that description. If you do it badly,it will be re-written by an editor who cares more for categorization than keyword rankings. Be Careful!

Before you run off begging for reciprocal links from slick webmasters or purchasing text links of dubiousvalue from text link outfits, submit to Yahoo Directory and pay the $299 (or $24.92 monthly) for themost undervalued text link available. Then swallow your pride and re-submit to the Open Directory untilthey finally include your site.

Rock your rank with dynamite text links! Yahoo Directory and the Open Directory Project.

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