You probably already know that, generally speaking, the more quality links there are back to your website, the better your Google rankings will be.

First, what do I mean by “quality”?

3 basic attributes of “quality” websites include:

1. Have content that is very useful to people
2. Well established in a well defined or uncontested niche with lots of web traffic
3. Reputable and official in some way like Government extensions like gov or govt (eg if you were an accountant, a link to your website from ird.govt.nz would be awesome)

If your website is good, you’ll probably get lots of links back to your site (“backlinks”) anyway, but it is tempting to accelerate the process.

I get email spam from Indian/Indonesian based firms offering link building services every day (my Gmail spam filter struggles to keep up).

They make big promises “#1 Google ranking guaranteed” and they use industry jargon (llike “whitehat” and “PageRank”) and specific promises to try to impress “20 links on PageRank 3 blogs + 20x PR4 + 10x PR5…”

You must be wondering:

• Can you trust them?
• Do you need them?
• Are their link building techniques legitimate?

No, no and no.

Here are 5 reasons why you should never hire anyone to build links to your website:

1. As a rule, never support any offer delivered via SPAM. It just encourages more spam.
2. If they are spamming you, they are offering this deal to the whole planet therefore if they get thousands of customers the techniques they use lose effectiveness
3. Think ahead: Would thousands of links back to you on random blogs be useful to your potential customers? If not, Google will ignore them eventually if they don’t already
4. It could actually damage your Google rankings, if they use “black hat” techniques for you which Google has identifies as attempts to game the system
5. Google is trying very hard to deliver increasingly localised search results so a link to your website from a website in Cambodia about chickens is becoming more and more irrelevant

So what can you do?

Do it yourself:

1. Write useful articles on your website that people will want to link to and share
2. Register your website with New Zealand based online business directories
3. Write useful and value-adding comments to blog articles about your industry

Never hire anyone to do it for you, they will just take your money, and any benefits you get from the work they do will last 5 minutes.

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. 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
7. 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)
8. NZWebZ.co.nz
   • Ok
9. ZipLeaf.co.nz
• “In growing stages, clean/sharp graphics, up to date functions. Promising” – [Thanks to James for his review]

Quality Non-NZ Directories That ARE Worth Your Time:

1. Squidoo.com
2. …

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.
3. NZDirectory.co.nz
• Demands a reciprocal link
• “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]
4. 2cu.co.nz
• Error at very end of process which deleted all my work
5. DirectoryNZ.net
• Hideous

NZ Directories That Have Died

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. Gopher.co.nz (Worth a closer look)
2. SosNow.co.nz (For tradespeople)
3. NZsbDirectory.co.nz (NZ Small Business Directory and Travel Guide)
4. WebsiteDirectory.co.nz (looks ok, but asks for reciprocal link)
5. NewZealandWebsites.com
6. IndexNZ.com (Ghastly!)
7. LinkNow.co.nz (Hideous)
8. BizDirectoryNZ.com
9. GoNZoz.com
10. Go4NewZealandBusiness.com
11. FindMe.net.nz
12. FindItOnline.co.nz
13. mKiwi.com
14. Finden.co.nz
15. ZoomIn.co.nz (map based directory)

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
4. GoSmart.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