A List of 100 Free Directories

by Tom Howlett on 12th December 2011

Free directories are still a good way of building links to your website. There are some good quality free and paid directories out there, here we have listed 100 free directories that tend to actively review and accept submissions. We know it is frustrating when the ones you find are low quality and rarely or never review the submissions.

Please note that some of these may not be applicable for your business whether they are industry specific, missing a related category or country specific. However, this should give you a few ideas and hopefully a number of decent links too.

General Directories

General directories offer a quick and easy way of receiving a link back to your website. Not all directories are of the highest quality but a quick review will highlight ones that offer a decent link. Here is what to look out for:

A human edited directory lets others know that the owners of the directory are quality conscious. They do not want to accept any link submitted to the directory, a sign that they are trying to create or maintain a quality resource.
A directory that has strict guidelines also suggests they are looking to build a quality resource. Ones that disallow gambling, adult and illegal websites will suggest they care for the quality of the directory.
A clean and simple navigational structure will improve the usefulness and quality of the directory.
It is preferred that a directory doesn’t have more than 100 external links per page, anymore than this will almost make your link worthless.
It is preferred that the directory is not created using a template that is used by thousands of other directories. It is not always easy to find these and a directory created from a template can still be a quality directory.

Try and submit your website to a category that is closely related to your business or website as this will help improve the relevancy of the link.

Look out for niche directories relating to your business. These will provide a much higher quality link than a generic directory.

Local/Business Directories

Local business directories will only be applicable to your website if you have a physical address and provide a service in a specific area. These directories tend to be of a high quality and usually have a reasonable amount of authority. Some will specialise in a small area such as a town or city, others are country specific and allow you to submit your business to a category relating to where you are based. Most local business directories retain authority by focussing on a niche, whether that is location specific or industry specific.

You are much less likely to receive an anchor optimised link back to your website by using a local business directory. However if you take the time to add a detailed company description and list of services, this can help improve the value of the page and the backlink. Here are some things to look out for:

Submit to directories that are related to an area you do business. If you have a secondary office, this will uncover more opportunities to find business directories relating to that area.
You may not be able to submit to some if you don’t have a physical address, or an address you do not want in the public domain.

Local business directories have the added benefit of improving your local focus. If you already have a Google places listing, these additional profiles should help improve your relevance for locally related keyword terms and may help towards improving your search engine rankings for local search terms:

http://www.brownbook.net
http://www.bview.co.uk
http://www.city-visitor.com
http://www.citylocal.co.uk
http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk
http://www.scoot.co.uk
http://www.smilelocal.com
http://www.thebestof.co.uk
http://www.thomsonlocal.com
http://www.tipped.co.uk
http://www.yell.com

Blog Directories

Blog directories are just that, directories that you can submit your Blog to. You can submit your site if your site is a Blog, alternatively you can submit your Blog page if you run a Blog on your site. These should be treated the same as general directories in terms of quality guidelines, and you should seek out the best category for your Blog/website.

Blog directory links are another type of quality links that you can receive for free, for sites with a Blog page; this can be helpful for creating deep links and promoting your Blog.

Some directories will also allow you to submit your RSS feed to the directory, other types include RSS directories who are just interested in the feed linked to your Blog.

http://blogsitelist.com
http://www.blloggs.com
http://www.blog-directory.org
http://www.blogarama.com
http://www.blogcatalog.com
http://www.bloggapedia.com
http://www.blogged.com
http://www.bloggernity.com
http://www.blogtoplist.com
http://www.icerocket.com
http://www.leighrss.com
http://www.lsblogs.com

Tom Howlett

If you’re looking for information on Link Building then read Tom Howlett’s posts. Tom has a specialist insight into link building strategies designed to improve website’s visibility and ranking. He will help you become a master in finding new link sources.

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6 Comments

Charlotte roofing 17th December 2011

Thanks so much for the links. Always helpful for us roofing contractors especially in charlotte nc where we have had a lot of hail damage so any boost in SEO helps.

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Muhammad Saleem 10th February 2013

It is a nice list, but some of the free ones aren’t free at all, they try to charge you after you sign up!

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Tom Howlett 11th February 2013

Hi Muhammad,

Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately this may well be the case for some because since this list was created (over a year ago), some may have decided to charge for submission.

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Muhammad Saleem 12th February 2013

Thanks for reply. but very nice list.

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