Our website has seen a steady decline in rankings over the past few months, is there any merit to paid bulk directory submission? Or could it potentially harm our campaign.

[Peter.Huxley59]

Our website has been experiencing a slow but steady decline in rankings despite our activity on social media platforms, is there any value in paying a large sum for bulk directory submission? Or will this only result in our overall website authority decreasing further due to unnatural links.

Would really appreciate any help.

[lavellester]

I think the pest control space offers huge potential for link bait and viral marketing as well! The papers here in London are always writing articles on the rat population exploding and "taking over the city".  I guess people just love reading about that stuff.

[KnutDSvendsen]

I used Localeze in the past and they include most major directories you want to be featured in. But you want to make sure that you check and, where possible, tailor Google Places and other major listings. I also used to benchmark the most popular services and tweak keywords they use to make sure I would rank higher for my key terms.

[Peter.Huxley59]

Thank you all.

[EGOL]

You could be experiencing soft hits from the Panda algo.

Do you have problems with....

--- duplicate content

--- thin content

--- heavy ad density

--- very little content above the fold

--- slow response

[Karen_Dauncey]

Hi Peter

If you are working with a website that has a local audience make sure you are taking advantage of Google Places as well and adding the business to some local websites such as Yellow Pages, Start Local, True Local and Hot Frog. Make sure you use the same address in all instances and this address in on the website.

Also try Googling Australian Business Directory, Sydney Business Directory, 'Local town' business directory and also Pest Control Directory as it is good to get links within your vertical both industry and geographically although doing solely directory link building isn't the answer it's a good start and you may find some quality links this way.

I think you will have more success if you target more Australian websites than the more international list on Seomoz and wouldn't recommend the bulk submission option, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

[oline123]

Bulk paid directory submission is not the answer you are looking for. Not to say that you won't necessarily receive a boost from this, in some cases paid directory submissions do help. However, the boost may be temporary, especially if you are playing in a competitive market.

I agree with Lavellester - start reviewing your competitor's link profile, and look for quality link opportunities on a regular basis (link velocity) rather than one-off hits.

[lavellester]

I'd be tempted to first look at your competitors and evaluate their link profiles and link strategy amongst other things to get a handle on why they are currently ahead of you.  Once you have this info you can decide on your next move.