Directory submission glossary

In a link written as a name that you can click, the clickable words are the anchor text. Search engines read it as a short description of the page being linked to, alongside everything else on the page.

Most directory listings link with your product name or a plain address, which is natural and safe. Packing many links with the same keyword-rich anchor text looks manipulative and is best avoided.

A backlink is created when a page on one site links to a page on another. For the receiving site, backlinks are a way for people and search engines to find it. Search engines also treat links from relevant, trusted pages as a sign that a site is worth showing.

Quality matters more than quantity. A few relevant links from real pages are worth more than a pile of links from pages nobody reads. Directory listings are one source of backlinks, useful as a foundation and as a place where people actually look for tools.

You buy a plan once and receive credits. Each directory you pick uses one credit. Credits never expire, so you can use them now or later, on one product or several.

If a directory rejects a submission, the credit is returned to your account automatically. If you cancel a submission while it is still queued, the credit also comes back. Credits are returned as credits, not as money. Unused credits can be refunded within 30 days of purchase, as the refund policy explains.

To submit to a directory you fill in a form with your product name, address, description, category, logo and often screenshots. The directory reviews it and publishes a listing page that links to your site. Each directory has its own form, rules and waiting time.

Done by hand, it is repetitive: dozens of forms and accounts, and a record to keep. SubmitRocket does that work for you. You prepare one project profile, pick directories, and our team submits and records the result. The outcome of each submission is the directory's decision, so approval is never guaranteed.

There is no attribute called dofollow. The word describes the default: a link with no rel attribute that tells crawlers to treat it differently. Search engines can follow it, discover the page it points to and use it as one signal among many.

A dofollow link is usually more valuable than a nofollow one in theory, but the label alone says little. A followed link from a relevant, trusted page matters. A followed link from an irrelevant or low-quality page matters much less. A healthy link profile contains followed and nofollow links in a natural mix.

Domain Rating, usually shortened to DR, compares the backlink profile of a website with the profiles of others. A higher number suggests a stronger profile. It is calculated by an SEO tool, not by Google or any other search engine, and search engines do not use it to rank pages.

People use DR to compare directories and to track their own progress, because it is easy to read. It is an estimate: it can move up or down for reasons nobody controls, it does not measure traffic, and it says little about whether a specific listing sends visitors. At SubmitRocket, DR values are measured and entered by our team, never estimated, and we do not promise a change in your DR.

After you complete a project and send it for review, our team checks that it is ready for directories: that the website works, the text is clear and honest, and the images and category are right. If something needs fixing, we tell you exactly what.

The fit check protects your credits. Catching a problem before submission avoids rejections that would otherwise come back weeks later. Once the project is approved you can pick directories.

Search engines discover pages by following links, then decide whether to add each one to their index. A page that is not indexed cannot appear in search results. Indexing is not instant and not guaranteed, and a search engine may choose not to index a page it considers thin or duplicated.

A live directory listing can be indexed, and a link from an indexed page helps a crawler find your site. How quickly this happens depends on the search engine and the page, which is why we never promise a time or a result.

The rel attribute of a link can hold values such as nofollow, sponsored (for paid or advertising links) and ugc (for links in user-generated content). Values can be combined. A link with none of them is an ordinary followed link.

You can check a live listing yourself: inspect the link that points to your site in your browser's developer tools and read its rel attribute. The live page is the only source that counts.

A site owner adds rel="nofollow" to a link when they want to link without endorsing the target. Many platforms add it automatically to every outbound link. Search engines describe the attribute as a hint rather than a command, so they may still use such links in some ways, for example to discover pages.

A nofollow listing is not a failed listing. It can still bring visitors, brand mentions and a page that shows up when people search for your name. That is why we show the link type of each directory, so you can decide with the facts in front of you.

A report is the record of what was done for you. It lists each directory, the status, the date, the link to the live listing and the screenshot taken when it went live. You can download it as a PDF or a CSV file.

You can also share a project report with a link that works without an account, for example to show a colleague or an investor. You can switch the link off at any time.

If one site links to you fifty times, you have fifty backlinks but one referring domain. SEO tools often count referring domains because they show how many different sites mention you, which is harder to fake than a raw link count.

When you submit to directories, each live listing normally adds one referring domain. That is why a report lists the directory behind every link: it shows breadth, not just a number.

Every submission moves through the same steps. Queued means it waits for our team. In progress means we are filling in the form. Submitted means it was sent. Pending review means the directory is checking it. Live means the listing is published. Rejected means the directory declined it. Cancelled means you stopped it before it started.

You see each change in your dashboard. When a listing is live you also get its link and a proof screenshot, and the status history is part of your report.