Deciding on directories

[Leo_Woodhead]

Hi guys, I've read lots of different opinions on directories and it seems that directories are still a useful part of an SEO strategy.

What I'm struggling to understand however is how to know which directories are worth listing with and which may get the company a slapped wrist from Google.

Is there an easy way to know such as its domain authority?

Cheers in advance for your help!

Leo

[MarieHaynes]

This may help:

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2360254/is-that-directory-link-unnatural

I often see people going crazy disavowing directory links that are actually good, valid citations.  When trying to decide whether a directory is good, I'll ask the following questions:

-Is there any chance I'd get some clients to me from this directory?

-Would I still want a link here if nofollowed?

-Is this a valid industry directory or just one that is set up to link out?

-Does the directory allow you to control your anchor text? (That's usually a bad sign)

[Alick300]

Hi Leo,

There are only a few directory that actually pass significant SEO value to your sites.

There are few metrics that you have to keep in mind during selection of directory website.

1>Must have good DA

2>Must have good MozRank (because PR has not been updated since December 2013)

3>The stronger the directory domain the better the backlink

Here are few good directories where you can submit your website

Free

========================

1>www.dmoz.org

2>http://directory.r-tt.com/Submit_Site/

3>https://www.somuch.com/submit-links/?TopicID=&CategoryID=

4>http://www.directoryworld.net/

5>http://www.allthewebsites.org/

Paid

=====

http://familyfriendlysites.com/ffStatipPages.asp?stindex=3

Hope this helps

Thanks

[Linda-Vassily]

I just came across this article, which sums it up.

[Linda-Vassily]

The site will tell you when you go to submit your site. Here are some examples from JoeAnt and DMOZ.

[Leo_Woodhead]

Thanks for replying Linda. There may be a completely obvious answer to this question but how can you tell if it is a curated list or not?

[Linda-Vassily]

Moz used to have such a list, but found keeping it up was beyond the time and resources they had available. The general advice given about getting listed in directories is that they should be good quality curated directories, relevant to your business.

In general, directory links are not as valuable as they used to be, and there are many low-quality ones out there, so be careful with this type of linking.