Your Search Engine Optimisation Expert – Sheldon Nesdale

Today I was asked for my secret list of the best free online New Zealand directories.

Since I just started giving away my Search Engine Optimisation ebook for free, I might as well share my list of NZ directories too.

The funny thing about free online directories is that they might be free to get a link on them back to your website, but it can cost you the most precious resource of all – TIME.

Some registration processes can take up to 30 minutes to work through.

Is the pay-back (in terms of a high quality back-link) justify the cost of your labour?

Sometimes it doesn’t.

But you’re in luck, my list is here to help.

Why is it important to add your website to these directories?

Because every link back to your website is an indication to Google that your website is important.

This search engine optimisation technique is often called “link-building” or “back-linking”.

The best place to start your link building is by using human edited directories because Google favours them.

List of The Best FREE Online NZ Directories (In Priority Order):

1. Dmoz.org (New Zealand)
   • Worldwide directory actually, but has 2-thumbs-up from Google, so put a link to your website here first (and it can take ages before it is approved so you might as well start the process now)
2. Finda.co.nz
   • In my opinion the very best online directory in New Zealand. An official Google partner. Automatic submission to Google Maps, UBD.co.nz & Wises.co.nz. Easy to use. Good looking profile pages
3. NZS.com (“New Zealand Search”)
   • Really good quality. Great looking graphics. Good profile pages.
4. HotFrog.co.nz
   • Impressive presence in Google.co.nz for a variety of searches.
5. Zenbu.co.nz
   • Very cool map-based business directory.
6. MadeFromNewZealand.com
   • High quality. Lots of features.
7. NZPages.co.nz
   • Good, clean, “minimalist” directory.
8. Google Local Business Centre
   • After your free Finda listing has placed a marker on Google Maps for you, “claim” your business using Google LBC and add more details about your business
9. Yalwa.co.nz
   • Global directory, with dedicated subdomains to New Zealand cities.  Free text in the description field, you can add hyperlinks (this is rare)
10. NZWebZ.co.nz
    • Ok
11. ZipLeaf.co.nz
    • “In growing stages, clean/sharp graphics, up to date functions. Promising” – [Thanks to James for his review]
12. NZDirectory.co.nz
    • “Clean/sharp graphics, up to date functions, PR 5 with a lots of categories with PR 4/3, Alexa rank isn’t too bad either” – [Thanks to James for his review]

Quality Non-NZ Directories That ARE Worth Your Time:

1. AboutUs.org
2. Squidoo.com

Criteria For The Best NZ Directories:

To get on the official list above, the directory must meet most of these criteria:

1. Does Google like it?
   • Does the directory often appear in Google.co.nz Search Engine Results for a variety of NZ searches?
   • How good are the directories own Search Engine Rankings?
   • What SEO techniques does the directory use?
2. Is the process of adding my website to the directory easy, intuitive and quick?
3. Will it provide a clean hyperlink to my website?
   • “No-follow” hyperlinks are of little use to us
   • Redirection “tracker” hyperlinks are not as good
4. Is the website approval time short?
5. Are the other websites in the directory high quality? (Eg, have the webmasters let spammy websites through?)
6. Can I specify my own anchor text for my hyperlink?

Other NZ Directories That ARE NOT Worth Your Time

1. NZSearch.co.nz & SearchNZ.co.nz
   • 5 years ago these directories were great because there was little else to choose from, but the web developers abandoned it long ago and it has slowly rotted away.  Badly in need of an overhaul.
2. PiperPat.co.nz
   • Crude, old, but effective (Page Rank 6!). But I have had no response to my requests for additions for over 6 months.

Other NZ Directories I Haven’t Reviewed Yet

If you have used any of them, please write a short review of your own, in the comments below.

1. SearchZone.co.nz (Looks promising actually, worth a closer look)
2. Gopher.co.nz (Worth a closer look)
3. SosNow.co.nz
4. DirectoryNZ.net
5. NZWebs.co.nz
6. NZsbDirectory.co.nz (NZ Small Business Directory and Travel Guide)
7. WebsiteDirectory.co.nz
8. WebLinks.NewZealand.co.nz
9. AccessNZ.co.nz
10. BizNZ.com
11. NewZealandWebsites.com
12. IndexNZ.com (Ghastly!)
13. KiwiDirectory.co.nz
14. LinkNow.co.nz (Hideous)
15. BizDirectoryNZ.com
16. GoNZoz.com
17. Go4NewZealandBusiness.com
18. FindMe.net.nz
19. FindItOnline.co.nz
20. mKiwi.com

List of NZ Directories You Have To Pay For:

For the sake of completeness I thought I better start a list of “paid-inclusion” directories too, so here it is.

1. Yellow.co.nz
2. WorkBoot.co.nz
3. iLook.co.nz

Is There a New Zealand Directory Missing?

What other New Zealand directories do you think should be added to any of these lists? Add them in the comments below.

What are Back Links?

A back link (or “inbound link”) is any hyperlink coming back to your website.

From the Google Search Engine’s point of view, each backlink scores a point for your website.  In effect it is saying “this website is worth a visit, go and check it out!”.  After-all, the internet is built on hyperlinks.

The more significant the website that is linking to you, the more those points are worth.  For example if you manage to get a hyperlink from the home page of NZHerald.co.nz or TradeMe.co.nz to your website, in effect it is saying “hey listen up, we don’t make this decision lightly, you must check this website out, these guys are awesome!”.

So you can see that a single backlink from a high profile website is worth hundreds of backlinks from websites that no-one has ever heard of.

If you are interested in Search Engine Optimisation (or possess the new technology called an “email account”) you have probably come across email messages from Indian based companies who offer to generate back links for you.  Don’t be tempted to take them up on their offer.  You will get thousands of back links of such poor quality that they mean nothing to Google at all.

Are some back links better than others?

Oh yes.  Here are the 2 biggest factors in determining the quality of a back link:

1. Does the backlink to your website come from a webpage with a high PageRank? (PageRank is the system that Google uses to score every webpage between 0 and 10)
2. Is the content of that webpage is related to what you do? (eg if you’re a doctor and your link is on a carpenters website you get very few points, but if its on a popular medical website you get lots!)

So, how do you get high quality back links?

Start with listing your website on every New Zealand web directory you can find. Start with www.Finda.co.nz.

Don’t bother with the ones that ask for payment.  Stick with the free ones.

Then start searching for blogs, forums and community discussion boards where issues and ideas that are related to your products and services are talked about, and add your thoughts to the conversation.  For example, here’s how to generate a backlink from a blog:

How to add a backlink to your website from a blog

1. Your Name. Put your most important keywords here.  Not your brand name. Eg I put “Sheldon (Search Engine Optimisation Expert)”.  Most people just put “Bob”, that’s a waste.
2. Your Website Address. Either put the url for your home page, or to another landing page like your blog
3. Your Comment. Write something useful here. “Great post! Interesting article!” reeks of SPAM, and risks being deleted.  Read the article carefully and think of a way you can contribute by adding your ideas or framing things in a different way, or asking the author a question.

If you have the discipline to do that 5 times a week, you will get the satisfaction of watching your website climb the Search Engine rankings.

Try it today, by adding your comment below.

Need more help to improve the SEO of your website?

1. Either buy the Search Engine Optimisation ebook which has more information about back-links and 14 more SEO techniques
2. Hire me to generate a detailed report specific to your website that tells you exactly what changes to make (and the order in which you should make them)
3. Generate more traffic to your website with Search Engine Advertising with Google Adwords