Directory Marketing is a little known term which gets kicked around a lot and can be taken to mean different things. Internet marketers would call Directory Marketing an avenue to make money by building many different types of niche directories and embedding them with Google Adsense Ads and making money from it. While this is an effective practice, there is another way to look at Directory Marketing. You can build quality backlinks with web directories and they will help market your website by enhancing your search engine rank and position.

Directories might seem like nothing but a link farm to some, but in reality, a well maintained SEO Friendly web directory can be an effective tool in your SEO arsenal. Why? The reason why is a directory which hand approves listings can create a quality web resource for internet surfers; and Google and other search engines know this. Thus, when you list your site with a web directory, it is instantly recognized as a quality backlink to your site.

What constitutes a high quality or good backlink? By checking the Pagerank (PR) of the directories you submit to, you can guage the value of your backlink. The key is submitting to a wide variety of sites which vary in Pagerank to give your backlinks a natural appearance and not a systematic or formulated look. You want more PR5′s than PR0′s, but there is a reason for the variety.

Variety in your linking plan will help in the long run. Most directory owners are very aggressive about building their own Pagerank and will stop at nothing to reach a higher rank. This is great when you get in on the ground floor of a directory which goes from a PR0 listing to a PR5 in a year. Instant credibility for your listing and a natural enhancement of your site’s status. Plus, you might get in on a site, like the Aviva Directory which only accepts paid listings and has a 14,000 rank in Alexa and a PR6 rating.

List your site in as many directories as you can. The key here is not to do it too fast. Meaning, do not hire a freelancer or submission service and have them submit your site to 1000 directories in 4 days. Google looks at this like SPAM. Search engines will think you are manipulating the system to get a higher rank and then downgrade your site, effectively rendering your hard earned backlinks to mean nothing.

Submit your site mainly to Free Directories, but also use Paid Directories, especially Bid for Position Directories as the value in these types of directories is only starting to be seen. When submitting your site, remember the importance of using anchor text. Identify you site’s specific string of keywords and start with about 5 solid word combinations which fit. DO not just use one word listings. ALway use 3-7 words as this creates keyword doorways to your site via the search engines.

Remember, building backlinks is simple. Just ensure you have a plan and understand it takes time. Backlinks cannot be built overnight, but building them through Directory Marketing will help you build better ones.

Michael Manley is the Owner of the Total WebPro Solutions Network; a highly regarded Directory Marketing and SEO Network. For more information on Directory Marketing go to DirectoryBot.