Let’s be with Google

                Presently, I am working with Net IT Systems. Usually, I have to interview the candidates come for the job of SEO. I got a really different experience two three days back. A girl, who recently passed her graduation in computers, came for the interview. She was topper of her class and had got many scholarships because of her excellence.

                Anyhow, there nothing technical (SEO related) for me to ask her as she was fresher. So, I started with some questions about general terms, some bit related to what she studied and some bit from SEO. Finally, I asked her; ‘what is Google rather than the statement that Google is a search engine and used to find the answers of our queries.’

                And what she replied was a speech of at least 6-7 minutes. ‘It was the idea of that person……, started by those ones……., in that year…, Modified in this n this year; blah blah blah.

Actually, I was really impressed with her capacity of learning lots of names, years and changes. The thing which I realized is what we know about Google. It is a search engine which has 80% share in the market. We know about its updates; we blame Google if our website is dropped and also, we praise it if our website is boosted up in SE rankings. But the thing is we don’t know how to become friendly with Google. Google is working hard on the issues of spam and duplicity. It is making itself more accurate and user friendly and we should contribute in it. Obviously, it will be beneficial for us too but it is necessary to be the part of revolution of spam free searches so that our users or, we can say Google’s users, could easily get high quality, fresh and spam free content.

Value of Directores in SEO

Directory is basically a bunch of information about a particular thing kept together in a proper order so that anyone can find required information easily. Phone directory is a good example and we use it in our daily lives. 

                If we talk about the websites; there was a time in the history of internet when directories were the most used tool to find out required website. Many search engines were invented as directories and the converted to search engines. Directory, itself is a small Search Engine because it is used to find the necessary information. In some cases, I think, directories are better than Search Engines because all the information is kept in an appropriate order, dividing in different categories so that anyone could easily access the data he wants.

                Directory submission can be seen from two different perspectives; one is, it is used to submit a website which creates a link to the site. And, second is, users can easily find the sites according to their needs. Directory Submission is basically a task of SEO and considered as an off-page SEO technique. I think this is the oldest and most used (at some time) technique of website promotion. You can submit your website in the directories according to your theme. Some of the directories are paid and some are free. Even some of those want reciprocal link in return of adding your site’s link.

The main aim of directory submission is to create back links for the website. The process includes submitting the URL with other details like Title and description etc in the most relevant category. Webmaster can do it themselves or can hire the one who is expert in it.

The process of directory submission includes searching good quality directories and finding relevant categories among those. Then add your site’s information; Title, URL, Description, keywords etc. and submit. The approval can be instant but in most vases Directories take minimum one week to approve the submissions.

The most common websites or directories include Dmoz.org which is Google’s directory (as said) and the websites are manually edited before submission. So, it is not easy to get link on this directory site.

Now a days, directory submission is not a ‘must’ task of Off-page SEO. No doubt, it provides back links and traffic but excessive submission could get your website penalized. Directory links with same Anchor Text are considered spam by Google. I ‘m not saying that webmaster should not do directory submission but it should be done in a limit so that it should not got in spam.

Techniques of Off-page SEO

I know, some people still think off-page SEO means directory submission and social bookmarking. I ‘m not saying that these off-page techniques don’t have any value at all but yes, these activities can tend to penalize your website if done in bulk. 

Off-page doesn’t mean adding your website in different directories and social bookmarking sites without bothering about its relevancy and quality. 

I define off-page SEO as an activity to share your website with others in any way. Some of the quality and beneficial activities include sharing videos, pictures and documents of the website. Creating blogs is also a good idea because you can share your website and can provide fresh content to the visitors. The list of off-page SEO techniques is as below: 

1. Directory Submission
2. Video Promotion
3. Picture Sharing
4. Article Submission
5. Blog Submission
6. Forum Posting
7. Document Sharing
8. Social Bookmarking
9. Press Release Submission
10. Creating community pages on social sites
11. RSS Submissions, etc.