Before submitting to a directory, what do you look for?
-
I'm going through one of my competitors links and of course I'm coming across some directories. Just wondering what you might look for in a quality directory.
I'm looking at one right now called SoMuch.com and it appears to be a quality directory but then I look down at the footer and I see "Search Engine Friendly Free Link Directory". The domain authority is 80.
Thanks
-
I remember aviva getting penalized by Google several years ago.
hotvsnot sells casino links http://www.hotvsnot.com/Games/Gambling/
this site nofollows http://central-payment-corporation.topcreditcardprocessors.com/
frcafe is a mess
chamberofcommerce looks legit but the intermal pages i looked at had no PR
-
Such as? I would be impressed if you list 10 directories that you got links on who meet the following SEO criteria:
a) not guaranteed inclusion (which is just a silly way of skirting around pretending that they are not selling you a paid link)
b) don't have any casino, adult or meds categories
c) the page you are listed on is indexed and has decent PR with dofollow link that uses your desired anchor text
d) page has a relatively low number of outgoing links on it so your PR is not completely diluted
e) Doesn't cost $300 like Yahoo
-
I agree with James in that directory listings still have a place in link building; that is, when used in moderation. You pointed out yourself, Brandon
Here's what I look for: Highly relevant niche directories that are human curated and selective. (Submissions are hand-edited and not everyone gets approved.)
Look at other listings in the directory you are considering. Do they look like they naturally belong in the directory? Do they link to high-quality, authoritative sites that you would want to be associated with? The same goes for the directory's brand, as James noted. Do you want to be associated it?
All listings should add value to the directory and its users. If yours belongs there as well, it will too. Good luck!
-
I don't think you should forget them altogether. You aren't going to get penalized for directory listings with Yahoo, Manta, etc. I would use your best judgement as to whether you believe the directory is user friendly enough that you would use it and decide if you want a link there. I think of it more as putting your brand on another brands site, do you want to be positioned with that brand? I personally don't want links from shitty brands or sites, I think it's too risky.
-
Another check I'll usually do is plug the url that I get from Open Site Explorer and plug it into Google to see if it's indexed.
So even if I do get a link from this directory, it's probably not going to carry much weight if any at all.
Think I'll skip it.
-
This isn't an answer to your question as such but more of an observation of SoMuch.com.
It would appear that every category page is PR0. In fact, I've just clicked a dozen pages at random and they all appear to be PR0 despite the homepage being PR6. Despite being advertised as a 'search engine friendly link directory', I don't think Google like them.
Just an observation.
-
Niche Directories are fine if you think users will find your service in it
(ask yourself do expect that link to get clicks & If search engines didnt exist would you still want that link) - such as a directories of seo companies based in Settle.
-
So just forget directories all together? Even SEOmoz offers a list of web directories to consider.
Directories isn't my only strategy put just a small piece of it.
I also just read an article that supports using open site explorer and get the same links that your competitors have.
-
Directories are no longer a recommended link building strategy.
EDIT: haha three thumbs down for speaking the truth!
Keep posting in directories and soon you'll be contacting (and possibly paying again) the same directories to remove your links in an effort to unwind your Google penalty. Directories provide ZERO benefit to users and all benefit to SEOs and Google has taken action on these YEARS ago.
Why are you submitting these links, to affect your sites rankings in Google or generate traffic? **You are doing it to affect your search positions! and are therefore in violations of Google's guidelines. And Google hates directory sites. **
Better you spend your time working on a link building strategy that has not already been smacked down and flagged by Google. I stopped linking on directories in 2007 when Google started penalizing directories. That was 5 years ago.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=465342
Good luck.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Looking for a reliable SEO company at a reasonable budget
Good day I've tried to contact most the recommended seo companies MOZ has but loads of them are mostly for MID-LARGE business and are out of my budget I have a monthly budget of 750-1,500 USD The niche is related not competitive and should be easy to rank, stoped doing seo 11 months ago and still rank 4-8th for the keywords im interested in anybody knows any good company for my budget? thanks a lot
Link Building | | recreoviral1 -
Looking for Resources for Broken backlink Building With My Team
I've been doing some reading on broken backlink building but have not had much success with implementing a fine tuned process with my team. I've already read the moz post about broken backlink building. I've also used the www.<a>brokenlinkbuilding</a><a>.com</a> tool by citation labs but found it to be kind of clunky. Could have just been me though : ). Any helpful resources would be appreciated to automate the process better?
Link Building | | Keith-Eneix0 -
Article submission to multiple directories
We know the general consensus among the crowd here is to avoid free article submission directories. But we have to do this as part of our overall deliverables and have hit a roadblock. A couple of our agencies are insisting that we submit one article to multiple sites - which we contend would trigger duplicate content issue and render all links useless. Any feedback on submitting one article to multiple article sites?
Link Building | | eBrandz0 -
Yahoo directory inclusion
Does anyone know what the odds are of a website getting rejected from the yahoo directory. I don't want to pay $300 to have my site declined. They have very basic inclusion requirements but I'm not sure how selective they are with accepting websites. From personal experience does anyone have any idea of how hard/easy/likely you are to get listed if you pay the $300?
Link Building | | shiftins0 -
Which are the best directory submission sites: UBL.org, localeeze.com, web-listings.net, other?
Manual sumbissions are a PAIN IN THE B, why good directory submission management sites are great. However, which ones are the best ones?
Link Building | | yvonneq0 -
Is there any value to writing articles for Article Directories such as EzineArticles anymore?
Is there any benefit to SERPs of writing content for EzineArticles anymore or is it pointless?
Link Building | | harrygardiner0 -
Backlink's using duplicate content in article directories
I've had a link build report of all the links an SEO company have got us but a simple search for some of the content in Google with phrase match brings up about 3 pages of the same content posted to different article sites. I think it is doing something but will it just be penalised over time?
Link Building | | acs1110