BOTW is constantly evolving the web directory

For years at SEJ, we’ve been a proponent of listing site web directories as a form of traditional organic link building. And over the years, many web directories have followed one another. Since links are less geared towards brute-force anchor text overload and take more of a natural approach, it can sometimes be very easy to overlook the fundamentals.

There are three directories that I believe are the building blocks of developing a solid foundation in a site’s initial backlinks, and these are the best on the web (affectionately known in the SEO industry as BOTW – “bot-wa”), the Yahoo directory (how long is this going to last?) And DMOZ (someone is running the ship?).

One thing I love about BOTW is that I know the folks behind it are really strong, stand up and from a directory guidelines standpoint, stick to their guns and end up reject almost as many sites as they approve. What this means to me is that I am indeed reassured that the pages that link to my site will not be littered with spam and questionable backlinks in the future. The Best of the Web team keeps things up to date and uses their paid review service to employ staff with great respect for quality assurance.

Unlike Yahoo and DMOZ, I know BOTW will be around in the future, so an investment in advertising or listing a site is worth it, and with their quick turnaround times to approve or reject submissions, I know that my investment more or less also gives me peace of mind – unlike the DMOZ black hole that many good sites fall into.

The BOTW team is always trying new things and innovating which is cool to see too. They took the initiative to take on YellowPages.com and Google Places with BOTW Local and now they are entering the online education channel with the BOTW Online Degree Directory. If a business like this gets aggressive to compete in two of the web’s most competitive spaces; local and education, so that tells me they know their stuff and get the deal.

Take the time to check out BOTW and look for a relevant category to caption your site (if it isn’t already listed) or become an editor in their blog directory.