Large Paid Directories - Still Worth It?
-
Hi,
So we've heard all the updates from Google lately: don't get involved in buying links, link networks etc etc.
My question is, does buying a link from one of the traditional large directories get penalised by Google? If I was to buy a link from Best of the Web - http://botw.org/ - would this be a waste of time? Would I get penalised?
If we are only buying 2-3 high value links for our site from very high quality directories, do you think this is fine?
I'm asking because BOTW is having a sale today (tomorrow US time), half price submission.
Thanks!
Edit: Paid directories such as this are still featured on SEOmoz - http://www.seomoz.org/directories - so I'm thinking they still have value if used sparingly?
-
You are correct, BOTW isnt one of them- it is currently marked in LinkDetox as a "toxic" link
-
Getting links from directories like Yohoo and BOTW are not considered paid links by Google due to their authority and also because the amount they charge is towards editorial fee and they still reserve the right to reject any spam site.
Having said that, due to recent changes in the way Google uses incoming links in determining ranking these links might have no to little effect in rankings. They still might get some direct traffic.
-
Don't expect too much improvement from those directory links. They're good to start a project but you'll need a lot more to achieve good rankings.
-
Google knows that there are high quality directories out there, and BOTW is one of them. Since Google knows that real humans are reviewing the sites that are submitted and allowed to appear on the site, it's a quality service that benefits the web.
While the list of high quality directories is small, they are certainly worth getting for any link building campaign.
-
We will see...I just got BOTW and Business.com a couple weeks ago...looking forward to the April 27th crawl for updated rankings.
-
As far I know, registering your business in these well known directories is not considered as "link buying". These are "quality" business directories and (according to them) they do filter dodgy, spammy, low quality websites.
I've registered a large number of websites in BOTW, Yahoo, Business.com, etc and never had any penalties.
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
-
Tons of Links from Low-Quality Image Directories?
Hi Mozzers, I've been receiving a ton of links from low-quality websites that look like image directories or search engines? They are displaying the images that are hosted on our own website. They all seem very similar. Has anyone experienced this and are these harmful? Should they be left alone or disavowed or..? Here are a few examples: http://myimagecollection.net http://pix-collection.com http://theimagess.org/ http://123coolpictures.com etc. Thanks in advance!
Link Building | | SylviaH1 -
Do the bots crawl the top of the page first - directory listing question
Hi all, I've purchased a link from a good PR4 website, but they added my link to the bottom of a lengthy page. They offered to up-sell me to get to the top of the page, where I'll be 10 or 12 links down. One of my direct competitors is at the top, so I'm happy with the directory choice (they spank me in rankings). The only reason I'm on this directory is to purely capture link juice. So knowing all of that, my question is, should I go ahead and pay to be on the top, assuming that Google bots crawl a page from the top down? It's important to me for the bot to log this link quickly. Or is paying to be at the top pointless, because the bot will just as quickly crawl to the bottom of the page and pick up the link anyway? Thanks! T
Link Building | | 800GoldLaw0 -
Are niche directories still helpful as good links to have to help ranking in the serps?
Are niche directories still helpful as good links to have to help ranking in the serps or has Google discounted directories? The Niche directories that i would be using are not spammy at all and are quality sources of info. Thanks mozzers!
Link Building | | Ron100 -
HELP - Should I Disavow SEO, Site Analysis, and Website Worth Links?
I have a gadget site and have MANY links to my site from sites that offer web analysis or SEO tools. For example, the site chkme.com has over 1,000 links to my home page. I don't know who they are, why they are linking to my site, and their site is irrelevant to my industry. Should I disavow links from sites like these? My site seems to be linked to from a lot of "website worth" type sites as well. I think I may have been hit with an unnatural site penalty but I do NO blackhat or any type of link building whatsoever. Thanks in advance 😉
Link Building | | Humanovation0 -
Is Blog Commenting still an acceptable way of linking
Hi, Is it still acceptable to blog comment as a way of build keyword related links to your site? I see a lot of it and of and 98% looks spammy and obvious.. But I just wondered as so many people seem to do it and they seem to get results within google, However my feeling is that they will get burnt sooner or later Thakns,
Link Building | | Robdob20130 -
Article submission to multiple directories
We know the general consensus among the crowd here is to avoid free article submission directories. But we have to do this as part of our overall deliverables and have hit a roadblock. A couple of our agencies are insisting that we submit one article to multiple sites - which we contend would trigger duplicate content issue and render all links useless. Any feedback on submitting one article to multiple article sites?
Link Building | | eBrandz0 -
Hit with Panda, but still confused
Back on March 24th I was hit with Panda. Pretty much all but my main keywords were hit and I was wiped off the board. Luckily I kept my rank with my main keyword which was part of my URL. I have been since trying to figure out what Google thought was spammy with my site. I made changes, but nothing changed except my main keyword. I have been confused as to why I still ranked well with my main keyword, but nothing else. I have read from several posts of others complaining about the same issue. Seeing some keyword rankings go down, but not all. I also have read that if Google thinks even one page is spammy it might effect my whole site. Today I found a couple pages that might have been contributing to the low rankings. I am a scrabble based site and I had several pages that listed many words related to things like 2 letter words, 3 letter words, words that end and start with. These pages would contain from hundreds to over a thousand words and I was linking them all to my dictionary look up portion of my site. I have some other sites that do the same thing but not nearly as much as my main site and they were still doing just fine. I had over 3500 pages giving me warnings in my Pro Account about to many links on a page, but I have been ignoring it because I felt I was helping my users by giving them a less step in having to type the word to search. I have removed all these links except I found a couple pages that were still doing it. I just removed them so hopefully that helps this time. My question is do I have to wait till the next panda refresh or just until the next time Google crawls my site to see the changes. UPDATE: it is not 1.24.2013 It's been a while since I asked this question and just wanted to fill in on the updates and things I have done since then to maybe give some hope to all you penguinizers. My site https://www.wordgamedictionary.com/ has changed quite a bit since I posted this original question. I was hit on April 24th with Penguin and just was racking my brain trying to figure out what I did to get there. Here is some advice I have learned since then. Be Patient - Its going to be a long road to recover from it (I am still recovering almost 1 year later, but I am recovering) Don't Freak Out - Yeah it sucks when you income drops 50% in a matter of overnight, but you can change that. Check your back links (Yes this is beating a dead horse with a stick, but it's true) On page anchor link text - Are they over miss used keywords? Change that. Make it look natural For goodness sake! check for spelling errors ADD FRESH CONTENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would say about something new at least once a week. 3 to 4 is good (unless you are Q and A then you will have much more). Think to yourself "What would keep me coming back to my site?" If you don't have it, they add it Back links are not going to come to you unless you are creative. Sitting there thinking they are going to fall on your lap is dreaming. Back linking is nessary to stay ontop, but you can get them naturally. Experiment a ton and take risks. The more risks you take, the better chance you will eventually succeed. Today I have almost fully recovered from Penguin, but what is awesome is that by taking the natural and pro active method to SEO I have actually increased my overall traffic to my site by double since April 24th. I am still recovering from the original keywords that I was hit at, but whats awesome is that I have gained so much traffic from other keywords that I ended up doubling my traffic. The next time you think you know everything there is about SEO, slap yourself...because you don't 😉 Some nice Link building articles I have found to be good http://www.seobook.com/archives/001792.shtml http://www.slideshare.net/RossHudgens/link-building-strategies-2013-edition-15477553 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/advanced-link-building-strategies/53439/
Link Building | | cbielich0 -
How Long for Google Directory and Search.com to update with Current Dmoz.org Data?
So I recently had a site added to dmoz.org and I'm wondering if anyone knows when Google Directory & Search.com update their site with new Dmoz.org data? They both use dmoz.org for their directory listings. Regards,
Link Building | | qlkasdjfw0
