Hyperlinks in SERP descriptions-Yet another google...

Another Google plane just whiffed over my hair—The ever-changing Google search algorithm is giving sleepless nights to webmasters. But eureka, we searched for “limitations of Google analytics”…and I defied Archimedes principle…I did not jump out of the bath tub, because I wasn’t sleeping in one, but my eyes surely popped out and hit the computer screen.

Have a peek yourself

A hyperlink on limitations has surely crossed another border to provide users with more meaningful glance at the SERPs without entering the page. For a moment, the link appeared to be part of the site links, but there you go! As of now, we do not see if Google intends to have hyperlinks in the description for other sites (since we only see them happening for Wikipedia). Since we all believe –No, we know that Google plays it fair, it means that depending  on how Google decides to induct the hyperlinks in the text description—we might have something to look forward to.

So are they:

• Trying bringing more important links in purview of users?
• Trying to highlight some common important dictionary terms?

More comments are needed….

Directory submission philosophy...

You might wonder why lot of SEO services companies offer directory submission services. Majority of the search engines find you, is there still something useful about directory submissions? I had this doubt very early in my SEO ventures; not my fault, I did not come across something that could tell me the right things.

Philosophy: If you think directories aren’t useful, then you probably don’t know how to use them

Still useful? How?

• Directories can help to increase page rank and referrals.
• More links, so more chances of getting traffic
• Good directories are always valued by Google and other search engines

Philosophy: Best directories are selective—you can’t even bribe them!

Avoid very generic directories with lots of categories. Also, it is advisable to avoid directories that ask for reciprocal links. If you search around and find the directories useful for submission, you might come across few hundreds, and again, which one to submit to and not to, will be a question mark. There are few standard  “trusted” directories to which we can submit our case. Few of them are:

• DMOZ
• Best of the Web
• WOW directory
• Yahoo
• Blog search
• Bloggapedia for blogs

But again, our philosophy of being selective has to be kept in mind.

So apart from that how do you select a directory for submission. How do you find them?

An interesting tool called Web directory search can come in handy for such analysis.

The tool saves lot of time spent on searching for directories and also the time wasted on filling lengthy profiles in the blog directories, only to know that they are paid ones, or require some kind of reciprocal linking. Also, the tool gives you control over the regions for which you want the directories, so if your target audience is India, then you are better of submitting to the best directories that fall under that region.

Philosophy: localizing and narrowing your directories increases karma.

Like changing times, mantras change for time. Directories are no different and they too change over time. A Juicy link today may become dry after a year because of changes within the directory. But instead of canceling the link, nurture your link and renew it if it is possible.

Exit philosophy: Beauty lies in the eye of beholder…take your beautiful links out and show them around some gorgeous directories.