In a bid to build links that will attract the search engines, site owners forget another audience that uses the topical tools. Most people say that links from Yahoo and DMOZ are crucial to a site, and to some point, I concur. This is because no one would mind being listed with the most popular directories worldwide. It is bound to have a positive effect on the search engine ranking. The main problem with this idea is the activities that take place after the Yahoo and DMOZ links. The actions of marketers once they get listed with the world’s best can turn the whole idea into a fiasco. I wish that the pursuit of links for Pagerank and Link popularity in the search engines will end, but is seems this is not about to go away soon. This might have begun in previous years or now but the main thing is that sites are looking for links for other reasons apart from relevancy. Therefore, it becomes hard to trust any site. Don’t you think so?
But lets put the ethics of link building and pagerank aside. Niche and topical search engines and directories can bring the right traffic to your site. They will attract the users you have been looking for, though it may not draw then in droves at first. This is contrary to claims by most marketers that niche search engines cannot assist a site in any way. I have been in this industry for a long time and with my ten-year experience, I can assure you that this idea has uncountable benefits. You might find search engines that are dedicated to specific topics that have a wide audience. For instance, financial web sites or even fish web sites. One of the sites that prove search engines are taking a vertical approach is the ElvisFind. This search engine and directory indexes content that relates to Elvis Presley. By the time I was writing this, it had 320 sites about Elvis in nine categories. Any content requesting for links to the ElvisFind site must have something that relates to the renowned musician. For instance, if the site in question offers vacation packages to Memphis and even has a day package titled’ spend a day in Graceland, the ElvisFind editors will think about it.
Other specialty search engines deal with more areas, for instance, SearchEdu.com. It indexes pages from the educational websites n .edu dormains. I use it when I want to get links to pages in the educational sites. This is because my clients require educational links pages and this helps improve the pagerank as well. In most cases, the specialty search engines do not charge, though some of them have begun lately. In addition, they add links and index the sites faster than other search engines that do not specialize.
There are so many specialty search engines, but the main problem is finding the best in the subject area. In my case, I have a few tricks up my sleeve, which I do not mind sharing. Once you get the specialty search engine, the link request or site submission process is clear-cut. Look for the ‘add you site’ link and then follow the instructions. You can get options for paid links or for sponsored links.
Some of the online tools to help you find specialty search engines are listed here.
