Directories - Bad or Good for Link Building (Discussion on Penguin)

[BobGW]

Hello,

I would like to hear everybodies opinion on directories for link building now that penguin is out.

Here's a good background post: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/web-directory-submission-danger

Do you think their out?

How do you still use them?

Which ones do you stick to?

[BobGW]

Thanks Cyrus. That's close to what my intuition told me. I'll try to keep the niche directories in the 4:1 or 3:1 ballpark.

[Boodreaux]

Excellent!  Thanks for the further explanation.  I knew what I did worked but was not sure if it was short term.  I did make the mistake of submitted to a few non editorial directories early on but I will not get any more of those.  Industry specific makes the most sense and I have two real good general directories.

I will have to research were else I can get links.  I am guessing blogs are huge so we are developing a blog on our website over the next 2 months.  Also we are adding social sharing to our content in hopes of getting additional links.

Boo

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Bob,

Great question. I wrote a post a few months back about this when SEOmoz re-released it's Directory List - most of the advice still applies today:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices

I don't think directories are inherently bad for SEO, although their value has certainly diminished over the years. That said, I generally stay away from "general" directories and stick with niche specific directories. Some general rules to follow:

1. Make sure the directory is editorial - if they accept anyone, you don't want to be there.
2. Be sure to make directories only a small part of your overall link building effort. An old rule of thumb used to be 2 regular links for every directory link. I might go 4 to 1 just to be safe.
3. Be wary of directories that let you choose your own anchor text. Not only are these directories usually lower quality, but over-optimized anchor text can lead to penguin dangers.
4. Check the ratio of MozRank to Page Rank. The closer this ratio is to 1, the less likely the directory has been penalized. For example, a directory with a homepage Mozrank of 6, but a PageRank of 1, probably has had an algorithmic or manual action taken against it by Google.
5. Niche specific directories are best. If you run a nursing home, try to get in directories of nursing homes.

In short, it's fine to use directories, but be cautious, and use them in moderation. Think of them like sprinkling salt over your larger link building efforts.

[BeytzNet]

Bob, your question is irrelevan "How do you get enough links without including some directories" because today it's ALL about quality and not quantity.

Now on a different note based on my experience. We did lots of directories way back and many of them show in the WMT as if they are pointing hundreds of links to my site. These sites are very simple and made to the point of links, they don't use rels properly (next, prev, canonical etc.) so Google thinks I have cross sites links from them - I only want to remove these links these days... Only use directories that you think are serious.

[Boodreaux]

Based on results for my "new website" that didn't have but a few links..... and being new to seo for my company....... I highly recommend industry specific directories and some high quality general directories.  Not being experienced I may be walking the edge but for a new website it gave our website a very big jump across all SEOmoz factors.

My Domain authority(doubled) and Page Authority (33%)  just shot through the roof because I added several new reputable high ranking directories.  I also added two or three industry specific links.

Two of the best general directories BOTW.com and Business.com and one industry directory have not been added yet for some reason.  . Hopefully those will show up soon and help me a improve a little next month.  It has been an exciting journey so far on this new adventure in SEO.

[BobGW]

with the exception of a few real sites like BBB or yahoo (who does not guarantee inclusion) I would stay away from directories.<<

I like your line of thinking. How do you get enough links without including some directories?

[irvingw]

no directories provide traffic. google is a directory, why would they want to show crappy directories inside their directory. it's strictly a SEO play and with the exception of a few real sites like BBB or yahoo (who does not guarantee inclusion) I would stay away from directories.

[BobGW]

sign up due to the potential value of traffic from it<<

Could you give a couple of specific examples or explain this

[My-Favourite-Holiday-Cottages]

Meny directories are still providing link juice, and it tends to be the least spammy ones.

I would say the best rule of thumb is any directory you would sign up due to the potential value of traffic from it is going to be relitivly safe to go for as it will be providing real value and thus less likly to be crushed by google.

Directories for links sake is more risky.