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.
-
You shouldn't be getting that many, so shouldn't be hard to track. Just go for a few with the most authority. I have a list here.
-
The measurement Google uses to determine if a directory is ok or not is not whether or not the directory submission is automated, although I would share I am not aware of any directory which accepts automated entries that is compliant with Google Guidelines.
The question Google will ask...is this link you created on the directory truly helpful to users? Would you have created the link even if search engines did not exist? Or does this link seem like it was created mainly to manipulate page rank?
-
Francisco is dead right.
On a personal level, I do not like the BBB. A few years ago they had a scandal where it was uncovered they were basically selling ratings. If you paid them money, you received a good rating, negative feedback could disappear, etc. Since that time they claim to have cleaned up their act.
The BBB is NOT a non-profit organization. Sure, the head office might be, but all the local offices are privately owned franchisees who operate for-profit businesses. Once again, I don't care for the lack of transparency where they present themselves as a non-profit business.
With the above said, I encourage clients to join the BBB. Why? Because the public sees the BBB as a positive organization and for the reasons Francisco shared.
-
Your clients don't understand the value of BBB. I use the BBB on nearly every page of my site to lend credibility. In addition, I use it in the SERPs to show credibility. A+ BBB Rating!
-
Yes, I was with BBB at one point then a few clients said it was just a money grab and waste of my money. I agreed at the time and cancelled my membership. I never thought of it at the time about the value of the web link side of the membership. I will certainly reconsider renewing my membership. I am with the local chamber commerce for many years now.
-
One $400 link from BBB will be better than all those put together! Spend some money on BBB, your local chamber of commerce, and Yahoo Directory. "REAL" businesses have those (well maybe not Yahoo Directory).
-
Very interesting...This creates so many more questions. How can you find these particular directories in the first place? It's hard enough to find a massive number of directories to submit to just to start building some link backs, but to be picky about them will take even longer just to find one to post to. I figured, if it's posted manually, that would be ok, as long as it's not fully automated, which the one I mentioned is not fully automated, but it helps find the directories and track which ones you've submitted to and if you've been approved or not. I'm thinking it's ok as long as I don't buy into their automated services.
-
Daniel,
I highly advise against any such method of link building. The proper link building technique is to earn links. If the links are given away free to anyone, you did not earn them. Google often views free directory links as manipulative and "inorganic".
You need to closely examine each directory. Is it a quality directory? Can anyone get in or are there authentic standards which cause a percentage of websites to be rejected? Does the directory comply with Google's Guidelines?
I have worked with multiple clients who have been penalized as a direct result of similar links to what you are describing. The result is the clients had to contact each linking site and request the links be removed. This process is very time consuming and expensive. It costs many times more to remove the links then to get them in the first place. Once again, I strongly advise against ever using any directory submission site. Even if you do not earn a penalty, the links simply offer no value.
-
I use BuzzStream to track link building in the way you mention but there are other services out there. Even a simple Excel spreadsheet can do the trick.
-
www.knowem.com is a username checker. Their list is very extensive, but as Ben points out, I wouldn't suggest making submissions en masse. I hope that helps!
-
This particular service for directory submission is not an automatic submission, but it provides a list of directories to submit to, and it tracks what sites you've already visited/submitted to, and which ones of those approved your listing. It's good for keeping track of your link building as far as directory submissions go, it would be great if I can find one that tracks link building in general in a similar way. Anyone know of something like this?
-
You'd be hard pressed to find any automated directory submission that's white hat. In fact auto directory submissions are pretty much the definition of crap hat SEO.
This soon after Panda you'd have to be particularly brave to try en-masse directory submission. I'm not saying that it won't work or that it will have a negative impact on your site but I certainly wouldn't try it.
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
-
The use of a ghost site for SEO purposes
Hi Guys, Have just taken on a new client (.co.uk domain) and during our research have identified they also have a .com domain which is a replica of the existing site but all links lead to the .co.uk domain. As a result of this, the .com replica is pushing 5,000,000+ links to the .co.uk site. After speaking to the client, it appears they were approached by a company who said that they could get the .com site ranking for local search queries and then push all that traffic to .co.uk. From analytics we can see that very little referrer traffic is coming from the .com. It sounds remarkably dodgy to us - surely the duplicate site is an issue anyway for obvious reasons, these links could also be deemed as being created for SEO gain? Does anyone have any experience of this as a tactic? Thanks, Dan
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SEOBirmingham810 -
I have a recipe food blog and use wordpress, but my recipes are usually in more than one category...?
The recipes are in most cases in more than one category (usually two) each. Do and (and if so how) need to set each post to one canicol url? E.g A recipe on Peas is in healthy foods (which is the default wordpress cat.) and also Vegetarian Dishes. I use YOAST for wordpress
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Kelly33300 -
Competitors in directories according to OSE, should I submit for the same?
Hey Mozers! I have just began my link building process, firstly creating unique and quality content and looking at my competitors. I have found that much of my competitors are in listed in many directories. Some are paid and some are not. I noticed the paid ones had higher DA which seems appealing, however I'm stuck to think wether or not it is relevant to my site and if my audience will go there to search my services. But then I'm thinking well if my competitors are there then why is it so? etc Does anyone know if this is something I should look at? My site has been live since november last year and we only have 1 backlink at the moment according to moz...We are on the writing wagon to filter our content and make sure were writing good engaging content however I'm seeing this obviously not the only way. I have also read the beginners guide to backlinks via moz and researched and read other interesting ways, including blogger outreach within my niche. Any advice around this approach?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | edward-may0 -
I've purchased a PR 6 domain what will be best use of it ?
I've purchased a PR 6 domain what will be best use of it ? Should make a new site or redirect it to my low pr sites? Or I wasted my $100 ?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | IndiaFPS0 -
How should I use the 2nd link if a site allows 2 in the body of a guest post?
I've been doing some guest posting, and some sites allow one link, others allow more. I'm worried I might be getting too many guest posts with multiple links. I'd appreciate your thoughts on the following: 1. If there are 50+ guest posts going to my website (posted over the span of several months), each with 2 links pointing back only to my site is that too much of a pattern? How would you use the 2nd link in a guest post if not to link to your own site? 2. Does linking to .edu or .gov in the guest post make the post more valuable in terms of SEO? Some people recommend using the 2nd link to do this. Thanks!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | pbhatt0 -
Using competitor brand names. How far is too far?
We are a small company competing for traffic in an industry with more or less one other very large brand. I'm noticing we are getting a descent amount of organic traffic for the competitor's brand name however I haven't done any on-page inclusion or link building for the term. We are using their brand as a keyword in our paid campaigns and seeing potential. I firmly believe we have a superior product. I'm tempted to start going after our competitor's brand as a keyword to skim some of their traffic. My question is how far it too far? Do I actively try to obtain a few anchor text specific backlinks? Dare I use their brand name as a term on our page? Maybe just a simple blog post comparing our two products is more appropriate? Any suggestions are appreciated.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | CaliB0 -
Can you use the image description for IMG ALT?
ello ello! We're running an ecommerce site with thousands of products. None of the product pages have an IMG ALT. We're been thinking about an IMG ALT rule to apply to all product page images. Every image currently has a detailed caption so the thought was, why don't we use the description as the IMG ALT? It's perfect as it explains the image. Now the thing is, the length of the description, some of them come to 150 - 200 characters with spaces. Do you think this is too much? Also, would having a caption and the IMG ALT be the same cause issues? Have you guys employed any rules for IMG ALT in a bulk way?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Bio-RadAbs0 -
Are links from directories good or bad?
I've done a lot of competitive link analysis lately and found that a lot of my competitors links for a certain keyword are coming from low quality directory sites and they're outranking my site. This leads me to my question which may or may not have an answer(I at least hope it fuels a good discussion)... Are links from directory sites good or bad for SEO?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | TylerReardon0