Competitors and Directory Links

[PaulDylan]

Hi guys, wanted to get some input and thoughts here. I'm analyzing many competitor links for a specific client (even other clients actually as well) and come across a pretty heavy directory backlink profiles.

has anyone here had success with directory listings? Seem many of the competitors backlinks are coming from directories.

What say you?

[Doctone]

Hi Ryan.

Glad to hear someone talking sense! In researching sites' linking patterns I have also often come across sites that are linked to that should really have no logical relationship back to the site in question, yet the link still counts. Sometimes these are from blog sites that seo companies have set up themselves, that have little content, and not terribly interesting content either, yet this still seems to work in 2011, which is baffling.

I agree that one day this will all be devalued, but you wonder when.

[RyanKent]

@Doctone, you are absolutely correct. The results we see show directory links are a factor and work. I also see a lot of links from high DA/PA asian blogs and other sites providing followed links to sites and topics they have no logical relationship towards.

These type of links have existed for a long time, and do offer benefits to the sites on the receiving end.

With the above noted, it seems clear that if it is obvious to us, then they are also obvious to Google. It's only a matter of time until these links are penalized in the form of another Panda-type update. I would suggest not crossing the line and instead focusing on adding value to your users, adding better content users will want to naturally link to, and then you will be standing tall after your competitors get hit with the update that kills these links.

[Doctone]

Hi there

I recently approached 6 different seo companies to give me a proposal to improve our rankings. Some were "cheaper", some were very expensive and well know here in the Uk. Guess what? They all still suggest adding directory links as part of a linking strategy, in fact one of them would have added 100 per month!

Looking at our competition I sadly have conclude that they are correct. We all hold google in high esteem and think it's extremely clever (and probably we're all probably a bit afraid of google, as none of us want to be penalised), but from my reasonably extensive own research using seo site explorer, I have to conclude that using directory links still really works, provided said directories are in good health, if you know what I mean, but you can easily tell by using a PR tool as well as the siteexplorer numbers.

[RyanKent]

With respect to blogs, you can use those comments along with forum posts for link value. However, you should check after the first time you use this method. Many blogs have their comments set up to automatically apply the nofollow attribute.

For link directories, I would recommend using the free directories. ODP is great but takes a very long time to get into. Many other directories wish to exchange links which isn't the best idea for many sites. The links shouldn't hurt but I would suggest not paying for a listing in the directory unless you have a high value site and the directory is of high value as well such as Yahoo's.

[blackballonline]

I think you're already on the right track. I use the Keyword Difficulty Tool and get a list of top ranking sites. Then I put those sites into Open Site Explorer and analyze their link profiles to get prospective link opportunities.

[PaulDylan]

Good response guys, thanks

@ Dave: What research do you use to look into the directories? It seems most of these directories where you may submit one too may submit to many others. I've always stayed away from directories to make the link portfolio as organic as possible but coming across an incredible amount of backlink porfolios with directory links.

@Becampaz: Yes, I see blog comments do serve well in some of these backlink ports.

[blackballonline]

Directory Links most certainly still work. If you use this strategy make it a part of your overall link-building campaign but not the be all and end all. Also check the value and relevance of the directories as they may be subject to scrutiny by Google in the future. Good research here will serve you well. Make sure the page you're listing will potentially go on is strong and not loaded with other links as the power gets diluted with the number of links per page.

I like to call it building a diversified link portfolio using many tactics to guard against any major hiccups with a change in the algorithms of the Search Engines. Check out the webinars under the Learn SEO tab and the SEOMoz blog under the Community tab for great detailed info on tactics.

[bemcapaz]

Well, lately all competitor sites that i have been looking seems to get the majority of their links from mainly two sources: Directories and Blog Comments.

They rank well (position 1 to 5) for medium (sometimes high) competitive keywords, so I would say that this works and is something easy to execute. However, this is not probably the best way to achieve an high authority for your site.