Off-page Search Engine Optimization: Link Building by Directory Submission

In off-page Search Engine Optimization (SEO), link building can be done to improve your website's link popularity. There are many ways to build backlinks to your website. One of them is by way of doing directory submissions.

Directories are edited by their human editors. So to get your company or website listed in any of these directories, you must pass the criteria set by their respective editors. Otherwise, your submitted content will get rejected and your time wasted. They have submission rules and/or guidelines available on these directory sites. They basically say and mean the same thing: no spamming or spammers will be allowed on their lists, and, if you ever get branded as a spammer, you’ll be banned from their directory forever.

I’ve enumerated below five good habits to always practice whenever you do your directory submissions.

1. Avoid using all capitalized words anywhere in the content that you are going to submit.
2. Always slightly reword the title and description to avoid any rejections due to duplicate content submissions.
3. When you get to the directory website, be sure to first dig deep into the categories available to find the exact relevant category where your content should belong - before clicking on "submit link".
4. Do your best to compose descriptions that do not blatantly promote or pitch your product or website. If you’re not sure what to submit as the appropriate description, you can simply read first your competitors’ indexed content and you’ll soon realize why and how they were able to pass the editors’ review.
5. Be sure to check your email after every submission. You do not want any of your directory submissions to fail just because you didn’t verify your email with them.

I’m sure that just by adapting these five good habits, you’ll never fail a directory submission ever again.