What is drectrees.com all about?
We love the web. We spend all our time using it and making money on it. We love SEO. We love directories as a means to that end. We wanted to analyze how good various directories are, and realized in doing so the information might be useful to others. We do all the hard work and find the good directories. You enjoy the fruits of our labors. For free. Maybe we'll charge for it in the future, but enjoy it free for now....
What does NOT make a good directory?
All directories are not created equal. There are common misconceptions. Here are some:
1. The higher the PageRank of the home page, the better. Anyone can buy home page PageRank. That authority only goes so far. And when Google outs the directory for paid links, you can kiss the whole thing goodbye.
2. The higher the PageRank of the page I want to be listed on, the better. This can be good, but PageRank is only one of over 200 factors in Google's algorithm. And PageRank changes continually. When Google torches a site, they'll take PageRank with them.
3. The cheaper, the better. Good directories require good editors or the directories turn into garbage. Good editors don't work for free.
4. The more expensive the directory, the better. That would be everyone's dream to charge $1000/listing and buy an island with the proceeds. But Google doesn't care about price, it cares about quality.
5. The older the directory, the better. Age is one factor of over 200, so remember there are over 200 other factors that are a part of it.
6. The ________, the better. Okay, just stop reading rumors and hearsay and what your mom's cousin's friend's daughter would have you believe. It's time for a better way to look at the quality of a directory.
1. The higher the PageRank of the home page, the better. Anyone can buy home page PageRank. That authority only goes so far. And when Google outs the directory for paid links, you can kiss the whole thing goodbye.
2. The higher the PageRank of the page I want to be listed on, the better. This can be good, but PageRank is only one of over 200 factors in Google's algorithm. And PageRank changes continually. When Google torches a site, they'll take PageRank with them.
3. The cheaper, the better. Good directories require good editors or the directories turn into garbage. Good editors don't work for free.
4. The more expensive the directory, the better. That would be everyone's dream to charge $1000/listing and buy an island with the proceeds. But Google doesn't care about price, it cares about quality.
5. The older the directory, the better. Age is one factor of over 200, so remember there are over 200 other factors that are a part of it.
6. The ________, the better. Okay, just stop reading rumors and hearsay and what your mom's cousin's friend's daughter would have you believe. It's time for a better way to look at the quality of a directory.
Okay, then what makes a GOOD directory?
Google doesn't rely on gut. It's an algorithm. Okay, there is some manual intervention there, but it's still a machine. That's the only way it can do what it does. It looks at data, and spits out a result. So we're taking a data-driven approach to determine the best directories. We boil it down to one clear principle:
The more Google caches the directory, the better it is.
What does this mean? If Google doesn't index the category page, your listing there is worthless. And the more frequently that Google indexes and caches the page, the higher the value it has in Google's eyes.
The more Google caches the directory, the better it is.
What does this mean? If Google doesn't index the category page, your listing there is worthless. And the more frequently that Google indexes and caches the page, the higher the value it has in Google's eyes.
Our Study
We sat down at our geek desks and created a combo web crawler + cache date analyzer to crawl directories, filter through the garbage, and analyze the cache dates on all the meaningful pages. No one is interested in the cache date of a submission page or an about us page - just the raw category they want their website listed on.
It took a bit of technical wizardry to write the software, but we're geniuses so we did it.
It took a bit of technical wizardry to write the software, but we're geniuses so we did it.
What's in the future for this study?
We plan on re-running the data several times a year, and updating with the results. Directories change over time, so it's important to see which are declining in value so you don't waste your time there. Additionally, we'll add new directories to the list as we see them and as users recommend them. If you have a recommendation, contact us and let us know.
