In an effort to promote its SEO for Business Growth program, April Pad Online has expanded its free directory listings on its SEO platform. The project will allow small businesses to improve their backlink profiles and increase their traffic.
Recently, the purchase of backlinks and other black-hat link-building methods has become a popular trend. However, these practices can generate penalties from search engines or even increase spam scores. Website owners are turning to cleaner optimization options.
Among these alternatives is directory listing. Many of these are old and renowned to SEOs and carry high authority with search engines. Adding your website to their index can enhance your SEO.
Why are Directory Listings Still Important to SEO?
Directory listings are still important to SEO. Some search engines pull answers from these sites, and answer engines source them in their answers. They serve five principal purposes:
- Source for validation and trust: search engines like Google and Bing rely on directories to verify NAPs (Name, Address, and Phone number). When local directories list the same information for your brand, it becomes validated data. Validated websites are placed higher in search results.
- Increase local and specialized traffic: Although traffic from these directories is not much, they contribute to the overall SEO growth of your business. Directories like Jade, Best of the Web, etc, can send quality traffic.
- Build brand reputation with reviews: Some of these directories, like Yelp, allow users to leave reviews. These serve as the best references for your local presence. Businesses with strong reviews are often selected.
- Core Referral Hubs: Directories tend to harbor their own followings and loyal users. They prefer to search them instead of Bing or Google. This transforms these indices into referral hubs, sending clients directly to your business.
- Local SEO best shot: When it comes to delivering local customers and beating the competition, directories are your allies. They lead people directly to your door, coverting in the best sales agents.
However, there is something you understand about how this works.
Modern optimization strategies have moved away from the centralized keyword focus. Search engines are pushing creators to be more realistic with user intent. For example, instead of optimizing for Elton Ellis, broad, general, with no intent, Google wants answers to queries.
Old school SEO: Elton Ellis
Modern SEO: 7 Best Selling Elton Ellis Hits
So when search engines seek answers to users’ queries, they also consider intent. So, if the user asks Google: Did Elton Ellis sing the weeping willow song? The modern listing will be considered above the old school style focus. Why? User intent.
This is a real example. A few weeks ago. I did this exact search on Bing, trying to find the name and singer of the song. Copilot pulled an answer from the Train Spirits blog, using the listing on the Blogorama directory.
Directories are still valuable to your SEO.
Who Can Use the New Directories on the April Pad Online SEO Platform?
As promised, these directories are available to users, both free and premium. However, some of these directories, like Jade, are best used with a paid listing, as there is no guarantee with the free option.
Users who decide to go with directories that offer paid listings can complete their submissions using April Pad Online. Most of the new platforms are free, and users can bypass paid listings.
How to Get Started
Adding your website to the new directories is automatic and shouldn’t take too much of your time.
- Register to the SEO platform and verify your April Pad account
- Set up your website by typing in your URL under settings. Then click the crawl button to fetch your meta tags.
- Under Tools, select Directory submission.
- Select your website and hit Submit.
- The website will now ask you for details such as the category for your website.
- Once you have filled in all the fields, hit the start button.
Using small directories continues to play an important role in converting SEO into revenue, especially for local businesses. However, international directories can influence search rankings and drive new traffic.
Adding your website data to one hundred new sources will strengthen your NAP standing to both search and answer engines. This April Pad Online’s addition to its SEO platform is a must-have for small businesses.
