Current Thoughts on Directories?
-
I have heard pros and cons on directories forever, just wanted to check in to see what everyone is saying about them currently.
-
Thank you for your very detailed answer.
-
I agree with what Ryan has already said., but i would also suggest local directories, i triied to find the Matt Cutts video where he stated local mixed with a few quaility links is a good idea but i could not find it, you will have to trsut me. To me it makes sence to get a local link pattern, if you are a local business.
If a directory is nich then by nature not everyone is included, and can be usefull
Matt Cutts has stated that they still give weight to directoreis that dont accept eveyone -
When you mention directories I presume you are referring to Link Directories as opposed to Article or other directories. Some examples would be DMOZ, Yahoo, Business.com and BOTW.
In the mid 90s, link directories were a helpful way for sites to be discovered. Search engines didn't exist and when they started, the results were low quality. People could visit a directory site, type in a topic and find a list of sites with information about that topic.
Fast forward to present day and most directories have absolutely no value. Generally speaking, the value of a link can be measured by how difficult it is to obtain. Free directories normally have no value as anyone can get a link. The pay directories offer no value since paid links are not trusted by search engines and therefore do not pass link juice.
That leaves two types of directories which have value:
1. Pay for review directories. Sites such as Yahoo directory, BOTW.org, Business.com charge for a REVIEW of your site. The fee must be paid in advance and is NON REFUNDABLE. The review is a quality check of your business and website. If you do not pass the review, your site is not listed and you are out the fee. If your site passes the review, you earn a listing.
2. Niche directories. Some niche directories require a fee for a review and others are free. The only general free directory I am aware of which usually offers value is DMOZ. There are directories which focus a specific topic such as Wines or Particle Physics which can be valuable. Other niche directories charge for a review or have various requirements which, upon meeting, your site can be listed. The BBB would one example while Verified by Visa is another.
As with most of SEO, there are many factors to consider when weighing the value of a directory. You can't just say "blogs are good" or "social network sites are good" as a blanket statement. It is their proper implementation as a strategy which has tremendous potential. Along the same lines, directories are neither good nor bad but the overwhelming majority of directories are bad for various reasons. SEOmoz has offered a list of quality directories. Please not the list is NOT perfect. There are some directories on the list which may not offer value, and there are likely some good directories which have not made this list.
There are tons of articles on this topic already on SEOmoz. You are welcome to use the Search function and you will find many opinions. I would suggest focusing the more recent articles first.
The most valued web directory is DMOZ as it's home page has a PR of 10 and it is has been specifically favored by Google in the past. Even so, there are pages in that directory so deep that Google doesn't even crawl them and therefore the links have no ranking value.
One sign of a quality directory: imagine search engines did not exist. Will membership in this directory lead to any direct traffic? If the answer is yes, it is likely a "good" directory.
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
-
Where can I find either web directories or decent sites that will link back to me...without paying thru the nose?
Hi Community! For starters, from my question, you can probably determine that I am either a novice, or very low intermediate SEO person. We all know, links are king with our friends at Google. I am a recently-retired IT person with a very small freelance IT company (just me), and I'd like to generate more leads/business. I'd be thrilled with one or two small jobs per week to supplement my pension. I've used the MOZ tools only to determine the majority of my competitors have like a thousand links, whereas Google reports me as having 97 links. My on-page grades are all upper 90s and a couple are at 100%. I am not targeting really competitive keywords, so that's not my problem. My problem is my DA, which is sitting at a mere 20...pause to laugh! I don't want to pay thru the nose for high DA links for the obvious reasons. I submitted my URLs to as many directories as I could find. Would anyone have a decent list of sites where I could submit my URL to get some more links? Thanks guys and Gals! Willy
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | NewSEOguy0 -
Moz recommends submitting to directories?
In the Moz Beginners Checklist for Small Business SEO, it's recommended to "Add your client's website to industry specific directories" That's not recommended anymore, right?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | CFSSEO0 -
Link Removal and Disavow - Is Page Rank a sign directory is okay with Google
Hi, Currently cleaning up a clients link profile in preparation for disavow file and I have reached the stage where I am undecided on some directories as I don't want to remove all links. Is Page Rank an indication that Google is okay with a particular directory? For example the following domain is questionable, but has a PR of 3. Do I need to consider scrapping all such links in anticipation of future updates? http://www.easyfinddirectory.com/shopping-and-services/clothing http://www.toplocallistings.co.uk/Apparel/West_Midlands/Shropshire/ Thanks in advance Andy
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | MarzVentures0 -
Should I ask for Nofollow on directory URLs?
Hi, I'm just putting pizza restaurant on various very relevant 'eating out' directories. Just noticed one directory then proceeds to place your listing on around 40 other sub-directories (each with own URL). They don't put <no follow="">tags on any of the 40 odd backlinking URLs.</no> I currently have around 300 existing backlinks, to this pizza restaurant, from a diverse range of sites. Should I ask them to put a nofollow on these 40 odd new backlinking directory URLs?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | McTaggart0 -
Ethical question about setting up a local business directory...
I've just launched a local business directory that allows the small businesses in my local area to get noticed by a very targeted audience. People such as self-employed builders, painters and decorators and the like. As well as helping them out, they'll be helping me out by testing the waters of local keywords and seeing just how difficult and how much traffic they'll get. Kind of like spreading myself across 100's of keywords without the need for domains etc. All the links on there are nofollow, but what are the ethics behind letting my clients have a dofollow link from it? I wouldn't use this directory as a marketing tool for my self and my business, but if I acquired a client from my website or other source, but they would benefit from a dofollow link?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | jasonwdexter0 -
Check For Bad Directory Backlinks For Free
I used http://deletebacklinks.com/ yesterday to search 7 of the directories they have access to for searching bad links. I found one of my sites had links on these directories and I was able to remove them for fairly reasonable price. Thought this is a good tool to do a free quick check for any bad linkbacks on deindexed directories. I know this may be a small portion but every little bit helps.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | TheSEODR0 -
Using an auto directory submission
Has anyone used easysubmits.com and what's your experience with it? Any other directory submission or link building tools that help automate and manage the process like easysubmits.com says they can do? I'm just looking at it currenlty and wanted to hear others thoughts before I get taken in by some black hat method that hurts my websites instead.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Twinbytes0