Links can be an important part of your SEO strategy and if you put in a little effort when you're in the process of building your website, this can go a long way.

When you launch a new website, it's just that - brand new. It takes a while for search engines to start trusting it, so for the first few months it can sometimes be hard to rank a brand new website. The things that can contribute to you ranking well right off the bat are really targeted content in a niche (that's not diluted with other websites), and backlinks to your website.

Both Yahoo! and Google rely heavily on backlinks to help build trust with websites. Google in particular have their PageRank® algorithm to help them decipher what websites have good quality backlinks and what websites don't.

So what has all this got to do with listing your website with free online directories? Results. Fast Results. When you've launched a new website it's sometimes nice to see some quick wins on the board. If you're a marketing manager or a small business owner you need to justify the money spent on your new website in the way of traffic, leads and sales.

Please keep in mind it's really important to make sure you list your website in the right way. Going out and slapping up your details with no thought or reason will not work. If you want some great ideas on how to list your website properly with free directories check out our article Using directories for SEO.