Just about every business today has a website, and just about everyone wants to increase their page rankings for that website. To do this, they have to optimize it to make it easier for the search engines to find. In order to do that they have to employ different search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Online directories are a great way to do this.
Online directories typically have a higher page authority than other websites. This authority allows them to appear on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP), typically in one of the top spots. When a business is listed in that directory, they and their website also appear in the top spots of the SERP. This is one of the best ways online directories help improve a business’ SEO.
All directories will allow a business to place their website address somewhere within the listing. This link in the online directory will count as a vote for that website. The more votes a website has, the higher it will appear in the SERP. When businesses have multiple listings across different directories, each listing is then essentially considered a vote, because it contains the link to the business website. This can help the website appear higher in the search engines, even when the user is not looking in a directory.
The amount of SEO benefits your online directory listings bring to your business will depend on the directory you use. Some are ranked higher than others, and some are ranked so low creating a listing there could actually hamper your SEO efforts. However, just having a listing on Google Business Profile is said to increase a website’s ranking by 1.5 points.
SEO may not be at the top of every business owner’s mind. For those with a website though, it should be. Creating listings in online directories is one of the easiest ways to improve it.
