Article Discussion: Blogs and Internet Directories: The Same and Different

Submitting your business-related blog for inclusion in the various exclusively blog and mainstream Internet directories is a good idea. After a few months in the search engine indexes, your blog will find a boost in the SERPs as a result of the added incoming links.


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How is this different from adding your link to guestbook entries? Seems to me that something like this should be avoided.

zoidsoft

link your blog to your main site and the PR from the directories will seep across

Inclusion in directories is in no way related to guestbook signings.

By that comparison, the DMOZ or Yahoo directories would be ignored by the search engines. That is simply not the case, as directories are highly regarded by the search engines.

A quick check of the backlinks to blogs, will show the various blog directories, where the blogs are listed. Google certainly values them, counts them as incoming links, and passes along their PageRank.

On the other hand, Google appears to be ignoring most guest book signings entirely.

I understand that link directories are important, but I've always considered blogs to be similar to guestbooks. I should have been clearer the first time.

zoidsoft

Wayne,

Nice article, Thank you.


You talked me into it... I just got onto blogger.com and set myself a blogspot. I might even do better than others, as I searched a lot and found nothing that covers my subject area! Maybe that's of no consequence!

Two questions:
Is there a difference in between having the blog hosted on blogger's site or independently?

Is it better to set up a Forum?


Thanks again,
raz

I see more similarities between blogs and forums, rather than directories. A blog is a forum of your own.

Maintaining the blog as a stand alone site has some advantages. You can simply add incoming links to the blog and link it over to your main website. It will pass some PageRank over there for you.

On the other hand, you can FTP the posts over to an existing site and take advantage of the links right on your site. Make certain that you have a good internal linking system to pass around the blog's accruning PageRank.

The blog's constant flow of fresh content will work for you either stand alone or FTP to your existing site.

With a blog, it's important to keep adding fresh posts at least three times a week, and preferably every day at first to build traffic.

A forum is a different item from a blog and needs a separate approach. As stated, a blog is indeed a "forum for one".

Wayne Hurlbert