Trying to determine if a listing in web directory is worth the effort, Google provides you with some useful information to help make that decision.

The first indicator of a site’s quality is the page rank. Page rank is a number between one and ten that Google generates to let users know if the information they found on the site (plus some other 280 factors!) makes this a good site. Although Google denies that this is a quality rating, as they remain unbiased on the results they serve up, it can be used to tell you if a site is at least valid. To determine a site’s page rank, use http://www.prodava.com/PRindicator/EN/index.php.

Second, you want to make sure the site is well listed in Google. To do this you want to know how many pages Google has listed for a particular domain. If a directory says that have over 80 categories, but only has 10 listed in Google, than you know there are problems with the site and to move on. To find out how many pages Google has indexed for a site go to Google and in the search bar type in “site:www.theirdomain.com”. In the upper right hand corner Google will list the number of pages they have found for a particular site.

Third, Google provides what is known as a cache date for every site. That is the last time that Google has indexed a particular page. If the cache date is old for a site, chances are if you list link with them, Google will not find your link quickly and you will get no traffic from it. Again, go to Google and in the search bar type “cache:www.theirdomain.com” A site with a current date means Google could be crawling often.

Let’s evaluate http://www.kijiji.com/. This is a free local classifieds site. Whether classifieds would work for you, you have to decide.

Page rank – 7
indexed pages – 12,000,000
cache date – August 3

By these measurements, I would say that this site would be worth a look to see if you can work it into your Internet marketing effort.