Directory Critic

Times have changed and with it, SEO has also evolved in the last decade. It is  already the 3rd quarter of 2021 and 2022 is just knocking at our doors. But are we ready for SEO 2021? Have we thought of strategies to include in our plan for the next year?

Well, worry not if you have not  still drafted an SEO strategy for 2021. This article will help you do just that.

We are very happy to bring you a fresh and new look for Directory Critic – your ultimate resource for directory lists.  Our design and development teams have been working on this new design for a few months and we are very proud of the team behind this chic, pleasant new look.

When we started with this task, our idea was to make the site look clutter free and make it easier for users to access what they want with minimal clicks. The homepage has been redesigned with this objective in mind. Now we have made your sought after lists, be it the list of free directories, list of niche directories or paid directory list, accessible with much more ease. The advertising space also has been redefined to give more eyeballs to the banners of our advertisers, without whose support we would not be able to maintain this site.

Displaying a vast list of resources like ours is a challenge for any designer, and we hope we have made the list pages more user friendly with the new design.  We haven’t made any changes to the directory related information such as Page Rank, directory type, category, rating etc. so you continue to get all those valuable bits information about each directory as it used to be. Same goes with the functionality like sort the lists – based on Page Rank, ratings, date of submission etc.; we’ve retained all that functionality.

Our most recent service additions, where we allow you to order from our various directory submission services, have also undergone a design change to make your directory submission ordering process quick and easy.

SEO in general and link building in particular have evolved a lot over the last few years, but the effectiveness of quality backlinks hasn’t changed much. There are numerous examples of the usefulness  of getting listed in directories even now, yes even after the algorithmic updates like Penguin. But you need to know how to identify good directories and submit your sites to them. As always, Directory Critic will continue to be a helpful resource for webmasters across the world.

We hope you too would like the new design. We would like to hear your thoughts about this design change, let us know with your comments below 🙂

Submitting your site to directories with the objective of getting listed in them has two benefits. First, if the directories are good, you can attract targeted traffic to your site. Though the traffic volume is less, the relevance and conversion is likely to be high. Second, each listing is a backlink which is important from Search Engine optimization point of view. The more links your site has, the better your chances are for ranking better.

However, this way of building links has been exploited by many and is not as effective as it used to be before. You need to follow a number of guidelines when submitting your site to directories. Here are some tips and recommendations from us –

1. Make sure the directories are indexed and cached by major search engines like Google, Bing etc. If the directory itself is not indexed, there is no point in getting listed in it.

2. Don’t submit to large network of directories hosted on one or few ip addresses.

3. Vary your anchor text by writing as many titles and description as possible.

4. Target various terms – main keywords, your brand name, exact match domain name, synonyms of main keywords, related keywords, long tail keywords etc in the titles and descriptions.

5. Never use automated submission tools which makes 1000 submissions in one minute. Submit to each directory manually or use the services of a manual directory submission service provider.

6. Submit to directories over a long period of time by spreading it across several months.

7. Make sure the directory is actively managed. Check the quality of other sites listed in it.

8. Submit to various types of directories – general, niche, regional, country specific, industry specific, premium directories etc.

9. Some directories allow linking to home page as well as inner page, make use of that.

10. Last, don’t depend entirely on directory submissions. Use other link building tactics like guest blogging, infographics, social bookmarking etc. along with directory submission.

In search engine optimization, the measurement of certain metrics is critical to success. These include data about rankings, referrals, links and more. Analytics software gives marketers powerful insights into their search, social, brand, and content marketing. The challenge is that this wealth of information comes at a price. Sometimes, because there is so much information, numbers and reports that you need to sift through, marketers get overwhelmed in trying to see the light of day through it all.

But data overload should hardly be the reason stopping you from using analytics to improve your marketing effectiveness! Remember that successful marketers and SEOs alike don’t make decisions based on feelings. You shouldn’t either. Your decisions should be based on data and cold hard facts.

And where do you get that data come from?

– Your marketing analytics, of course!

The Concept of Closed-loop Marketing

Successful marketers have a trick up their sleeve that not many of us know about. They tie every single lead, customer and dollar back to the marketing initiative that led to them in the first place.

This is called closed-loop marketing.

Closed-loop marketing, in essence, cuts through the widespread vagueness of marketing as we know it and reveals real information and numbers and data about the success or failure of any marketing effort, lending insight into your entire customer life cycle.

The significance of closed-loop marketing is that many actionable improvements will rely on data from these analytics. With closed-loop marketing data, you can track a lead from the moment they first interact with you until that lead becomes your customer. Powered with the acquisition of this information, you can then revisit your marketing channels including your business blog and social media accounts to make them more effective in generating customers at the lowest cost.

The Analytics Software that’s Right for You

Are you looking for a way to easily measure and track those metrics that matter to your business? Where marketing is concerned, creating road maps for success is easier when everything is in one place.

By measuring the right metrics you can:

– Improve landing pages

– Improve SEO

– Improve business blogging

– Improve social media

– Improve email marketing

– Improve lead nurturing

Moz

Moz offers four Moz Pro subscription plans priced at $99/month (for the Standard plan), $149/month (for the Medium plan), $249/month (for the Large option) and $599/month for the Premium package.

The standard plan covers:

– 5 Moz Analytics Campaigns

– 300 keywords

– 250,000 crawled pages

– 15 social accounts

–  Going annual saves you $237. So the subscription comes to $950.00 + applicable tax

The Premium subscription covers:

– 100 Moz Analytics Campaigns

– 7,500 keywords

– 1,250,000 crawled pages

– Includes branded reports

– 150 social accounts

– Going annual means that you save $1,437. The price is $5750.00 + applicable tax

The other two subscription plans fall on a gradation between these two extremes.

The product

With Moz Pro, you can:

– Measure and improve your marketing campaigns. This includes search, social, branding and content marketing

– Perform research and keep a tab on your competitors

– Moz Pro subscriber benefits also include educational resources and access to Moz’s community of seasoned marketers and Mozzers

About Moz Analytics

– Dashboard

At a glance, the Moz Analytics Dashboard gives you a quick insight into your performance on the inbound marketing front. With a single view, you can find patterns in your traffic, track where it’s coming from and see how quickly it’s growing.

The measured metrics include: Traffic, Attention, Authority and Data Snapshot.

– Search

In marketing, it’s important to know whether or not your audience is finding you. With Moz Analytics Search, you can view your total traffic from organic search, find out which search engines and keywords are bringing in the most traffic and discover new keywords to target.

The measured metrics include: Organic Search Volume, Keyword Rankings, Keyword Opportunities, On-Page Optimization and Crawl Diagnostics.

– Social

What’s the point of engaging with fans and followers on social media if your efforts are not paying off? With Moz Analytics Social, you can analyze the total size and weekly growth of your social presence. You can also scope out the competition. This allows you to analyze what your competitors are doing and to assess their reach.

The measured metrics include: Total Network Size, Traffic & Links from Social Channels, Twitter, Facebook, Most Engaging Posts & Tweets.

– Links

In any marketing campaign, link analysis is an important part of the process. With Moz Analytics Links, you can now view which links in your link profile are driving the most traffic. You can also find out where on the web you’re mentioned without a link.

The measured metrics include: Competition, Established Links and Opportunities.

– Mentions

With Moz Analytics Mentions, you can find out whenever someone mentions your brand. Monitoring where on the web your brand is being talked about can provide you with the unique window of opportunity to take advantage of new opportunities, marketing prospects and ways to connect.

The measured metrics include: Brand Mentions, Traffic from Brand, Competitor Mentions and Industry Mentions. You can also customize your mention tracking to your heart’s desire with Manage Queries.

– Research Tools

And finally, with the Moz Pro Research Tools, you can perform in-depth research on your site and your competitors’.

1. Keyword Tools: Helps you track rankings and analyze keywords. You can also, using the same tool, check any page to see if it is optimized for a specific keyword you think will bring in traffic.

2. Link Analysis: Using Open Site Explorer, you can view any site’s links, top pages, link metrics, and social data.

3. Web Mentions: Use this tool to track mentions of anything you want.

4. Social Analytics: Using Followerwonk, dig deep into your Twitter analytics and match your activities to gains and losses.

5. SEO Toolbar: The MozBar for Chrome and Firefox can be used to research any site on the web.

Raven

As compared to Moz, Raven only has two different subscription plans priced at $99/month for Raven Pro and $249/month for Raven Agency. Raven Pro is directed towards marketing consultants and small businesses. Raven Agency, on the other hand, is more appropriate for midsize to large teams/businesses.

Raven Pro covers:

– 4 users

– Unlimited marketing campaigns

– Unlimited access to 20+ SEO, social and content marketing tools

– Includes branded reports

– 20 social accounts

– Includes email marketing help and training

Raven Agency covers:

– Unlimited users

– Unlimited marketing campaigns

– Unlimited access to 20+ SEO, social and content marketing tools

– Includes branded reports

– 50 social accounts

– Includes email marketing help and training

The product

Raven specifically focuses on:

– Custom branding

– Campaign management

– Team collaboration

– It integrates Google Analytics, AdWords and Webmaster Tools for an ultimate management and reporting experience

– Business development

About Raven

– SEO tools

Any new marketing and SEO campaign needs a baseline and a road map to success. For example, what’s the pulse of your website like? Does it have any technical issues? How are your competitors performing as compared to you?

With tools like Site Auditor and Site Performance, you can answer these questions. In addition, using Raven’s Keyword Ranking tool, at a single glance you can analyze your ranking data that comes directly from Google and Bing Webmaster tools. Research Central and Link Manager, on the other hand, provide all the information you need about the quality of your site and the links pointing to it.

– Social media tools

Raven makes managing social media easy. See, social media marketing is a challenge to most marketers. There are so many networks and each network differs significantly from the immediate next. Marketing on Facebook is nothing like marketing on Twitter. The audience is different, the community is different and the best practices are different. You can also not be everywhere at the same time.

With Raven’s Social Stream, you can view, in real-time, all the social media conversations you can join. Alternatively, if you’re in a research or stalker mode, dig into your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account or that of your most successful competitor to stay on top of the social media game.

– Content marketing tools

Faster research results in better content. With Raven’s Content Manager and CRM tools, managing your content and contacts becomes easier. If you’re running low on ideas, Research Central is a good place to get inspired or you can alternatively access the Order content for SEO tool to order original content suitable for SEO from Textbroker.

– PPC tools

Raven makes it easier for users to identify PPC keyword opportunities. The tool for this is once again Research Central, which gathers data from multiple keyword research resources including but not limited to AdWords data. Raven also has an AdWords Insights tool that allows for users to identify quality issues. These could be costing you money!

– Marketing reports

Marketers always have to draw up comprehensive marketing reports. With Raven’s Report Wizard tool, this part of your job description will cease to be as daunting as before. Users can create a report with any combination of SEO, social and Google Analytics data in a matter of minutes. You can also brand your marketing reports for a personalized, custom feel.

Mondovo

With the right insights into the performance of your business and website, you can:

– Visualize behavior

– Optimize your online customer experience

– Improve customer interaction with your pages

– Increase conversion rates

– Improve critical elements of your page

– Increase your ROI

With Mondovo, you can get instant access to critical business information to maximize revenues. Mondovo is priced at $49-$99/month.

Mondovo covers:

– 10 users

– Unlimited campaigns

– Variable number of keywords based on your subscription plan

– 10,000 crawled pages/website

– Includes branded reports (but currently under development)

– Variable number of social accounts based on your subscription.

About Mondovo, the product

– SEO tools

– Social media tools

– Analytics

– The Dashboard

– SEO tools

Mondovo has the capability to do a wide range of things. This single tool can be used to manage all aspects of your website’s SEO. From keyword research to a site-wide audit, it covers all bases.

One of the cool things about Mondovo is that it allows you to check on your competitors as well, so that on top of doing your own SEO; you can copy what they are doing as well to boost your rankings. In a nutshell, you can see:

– What keywords they are targeting

– What their best performing keywords are

– Where they are getting their links from

You can also keep track of the status of your old backlinks: if they are still live or if they have been taken down. This way you can decide if you should create more backlinks to compensate, or try to get the lost links back by contacting the webmasters.

– Social media tools

This platform provides an easy way to manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts, right from its own dashboard. You can monitor pretty much everything.

It also comes with its Facebook Competitor Analyzer and Twitter Competitor Analyzer; 2 modules that allow you to spy on your competitors’ social marketing strategy! Analyze what, when and how they are posting things and engaging with their followers – all in one place.

– Analytics

Google Analytics is the engine Mondovo uses to collect valuable data from your visitors; identify your best traffic sources, see what your visitors are spending the most of their time on, and more.

All-In-One Dashboard

Tracking metrics is like a game with Mondovo’s dashboard. Unlike other software where everything is where their designer thought it would best fit, Mondovo allows you to move your data around, in a way that pleases you. This way, you can put all your favorite metrics on top, and get the rest of the metrics that don’t interest you out of the way. This is especially useful for those of us who are not only big on data, but also big on visuals.

With Directory Submissions in the line of fire and people shying away from it, there has been a general misconception that submitting to directories is harmful for your site. Can somebody get me the guy who was kind enough to spread this baseless allegation on directory submissions!! For people who are wondering why I am advocating submitting to directories, it’s to state a universal truth. If directory submissions were harmful, it would be real simple to kill competition. Submit your competitor’s site to directories and later attend the funeral!

Lets face it, directory submissions are one of the main sources of links apart from various other methods. It’s effective especially when building links for niche and not so competitive search terms. I have seen the results myself and if you’re not too greedy with the terms you target in your directory submissions, you could be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Here’s an example of one of the sites tested: http://www.statisticalforecasting.com was submitted to directories using 5 different titles and descriptions. The titles used were ‘Forecasting & Statistics in Business’, ‘Statistical Forecasting’, ‘Methods of Forecasting’, ‘Statistical Techniques’ and ‘Statistics and Forecasting’. If individual searches are conducted in Google for each of these titles, you would see that the site ranks in the top 10 for some of these terms (not mentioning the rankings out here since they might change with time). What’s important to note is that this site has never been promoted by any method other than directory submissions and they’re still ranking on top!

A manual submission service, Directory Maximizer, was used for the submissions and the results are there for all to see. So I would advise all NOT to ignore directory submissions on mere hearsay, it can work if you rotate your titles, think about the target terms and take the time to do your submissions properly. If you don’t have the time to do submissions yourself, I would recommend taking a look at Directory Maximizer, they have some great features. If you choose to do submissions yourself, you can find a huge resource of free directories on our site, so feel free to use them.

The SEO scenario, having undergone its regular phase of periodic overhauling with Google’s Panda & Penguin updates, presents a completely different picture now from what it used to be in the earlier days. Old SEO rituals have paved way for not only newer but smarter ways to build quality links to one’s websites.

But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the years and still practiced by webmasters across the globe – Directory Submissions. Directory Maximizer has been a pioneer in this field for over 6 years now having served thousands of webmasters and businesses worldwide.

To cater to the diverse needs of its clients, Directory Maximizer has also diversified its portfolio of offerings and now offers some other SEO services – Guest Posting, Local SEO etc at a really low and affordable cost. We decided to do a quick search on what others had to say on Directory Maximizer and their services.  In this article, we have compiled some of them for you.

• For a local business, I think the Directory Maximizer service gets two thumbs up. Ultimately, I’ll probably find I’ve paid less than $1 a link. All in all, I’m happy with the service. For $120, I saved hours (days?) of time – A user in Digital Point Forums

• I started my site last year around March & was referred to Directory Maximizer by a friend. I’ve been using them for my site ever since. Haven’t used any other services but my site has got many links now, got indexed & is even showing up for the search terms!!  Directory Maximizer & their sister concern, Social Maximizer has proved beneficial for me. Don’t mind the price of 14 cents coz it’s quite cheap actually. Their directory list has also changed and you guys should try it out – Real Estate Web Masters Forum

• I couldn’t figure out how to change my comments, but when a company reaches out and does the right thing. You feel obligated to the company/this community to respond. It seems their email program was not receiving my emails, which makes total sense, because I literally didn’t get responses. They have fixed the problem, continued the project, and gave me a generous credit. Their humanity to accept a bad situation, and provide great customer service, leads me to change my grade to “A”. Emails are working fine now, good work done, and I will continue to use them… It’s cool that they actually cared about my feedback – A Review on IM Report Card – October, 2011

• Started using Directory Maximizer for my sites (I’m an SEO specialist) since last year & have seen the results. I like their email handling, spread out submissions & more titles features. Gives me a lot of flexibility as to how I want my order to go through… in fact, I’ve also used their social bookmarking service – A Review on IM Report Card

• Though most of the web directories are free to submit, submitting your website is a tedious process as you have to fill out scores of web forms and choose categories for your website/blog. However, a reputable directory submission service can be used like what is offered by Directory Maximizer wherein the work will be done for you. Directory Maximizer is very affordable, it’s comprehensive and it takes the hassle out of getting your website or blog seen by the search engines. www.getrank.org

• How is Directory Maximizer Submission service different? It is their Quality. These guys are SEO experts themselves so they know what works and what doesn’t. So instead of alluring you with cheap “one thousand submissions in 30 days” campaigns, they just focus on high quality directories and quality backlinks. www.dailybloggr.com

• Directory Maximizer has some of the cheapest prices in the industry, in irony however, seeing as their directory submission value remains unmatched. Anyone is able to place an order for as little as 5$ and on a submission by submission basis, each directory only is only 14 cents. Most people can find 14 cents walking down their street and if that can be turned into a powerful backlink, you can’t really beat that. www.seojournalist.com

• A good manual directory submission service is provided by Directory Maximizer. They care for the submission quality and they will analyze every directory where they submit your link to so you can be assured that the link you get will provide you good seo value. They maintain a list of good web directories, and they can submit your website only to directories related to your niche or to all directories. Because every directory guidelines are respected, the approval rate is very high – www.flamescorpion.com

• They are a professional link building company who can help submit your site to general web directories, to niche industry specific directories, to high PR paid directories at discounted prices and they also offer customized directory submissions – www.freemakemoneyadvice.com

• I am really not a very tech savvy person so when I got my site built, I didn’t really know where to start with the marketing. I read about Directory Maximizer in a forum & decided to give it a try. Not sure about the results, I just started with a small $25 order but the service they gave & the links that I got gave me the confidence to go ahead with them for bigger orders. I have since placed 5 more orders with them over a period of about a year & the experience has been nothing but pleasant. Their customer service is excellent, one of the best I have seen, really. I am very happy with Directory Maximizer & think they should get their due! – A review on IM Report Card July, 2011

• It’s a little hit and misses however. As some commenters have said – they did not see much improvement in rankings when they used it. For me, I saw a bit of both – some very good improvement for some of my keywords, where others didn’t move much at all. Very odd! Nevertheless, if nothing else, it’s a solid tool to be used in mixing up the type of backlinks, and submission rates are very manageable – drip 100 over a week, or drip 100 over 5 weeks or whatever you like, really. One of the better services out there right now, I would like to add – Joseph from josepharchibald.com, March, 2012

• Tried the niche submissions for my real estate site and they were awesome all showed up on WMT. Trying now for my local SEO business site the internet niche directories – josepharchibald.com, May 2012

• You know 40% approvals is not bad really considering they are good PR links and that % could still rise as some directories take longer to approve submissions. It’s also good that you follow the guidelines closely. I will be using your service again! – daveapproved.com, July 2011 Check Dave’s Directory Maximizer Video Testimonial here.

• I have been using all of their services and they are the best! They provide wonderful social and directory services that have given me excellent results. I am too busy to handle such things and they are doing great for very little pay. And they stay in contact interacting with me to make sure everything is going accordingly. I highly recommend them to everyone! – seoabc.com, May 2009

• I’ve been using Directory Maximizer only for link building & am seeing results like improvement in search rankings & increase in traffic. My site’s doing quite well because of them actually. Will continue using them – no-bs-marketing.com, December 2009

• I just started using Directory Maximizer and it looks like it will work pretty good. I have been looking to build more links to my niche sites, so hopefully this will be the thing that puts them on the first page for good. Earlier it was a headache for me to submit my links on each and every directory. But I think with this Directory Maximizer I’ll be able to do it easily – zacjohnson.com, May 2012

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