Paid for Directory Listings and no-follows
-
Was just about to book an advert in a directory until the salesperson told me that the directory listing would be replicated over 40 times, from different websites (they white label the directory to different sites, who then sell their own adverts in the directory).
I asked them whether they did nofollows - they didn't know what they were, so clearly not.
I'm thinking 40 plus identical links coming through (over 10% of total links to site) could attract punishment from Google. Your thoughts would be welcome.
Thanking you in advance, Luke
-
I have been in a similar situation myself and it is a judgement call - I always tend to air on the side of caution. How I look at it with a lot of the paid directories is the fact that they aren't purposefully manipulating search doesn't mean they aren't going to be hit at some point and when they are you don't really want to be associated with it in my opinion. A lot of business directories purely exist on customers paying for entry and advertising and are not therefore overly concerned with their SEO.
You could, as I have done, ask to talk to their development team/technical - you could also analyse whether they are using no follows on links and ask for examples of their white label sites. Depends how much time you want to put into it and whether you think it could be truly worth using them if you weren't endangering your SEO work..
-
Thanks for the useful feedback Matt - It sure is a tough one - they are ranked in top 3 for a specific business category, they are relevant to client, and they channel large numbers of bookings to target geographical region.
That said, booking with them could undo my SEO work, so not worth the risk. My impression is they're not being purposefully manipulative - it's just they don't get the SEO implications of what they're doing.
-
I would stay away Luke because they are:
-
Likely to be low value.
-
If they have links between their directories this is basically a link network and you don't want any part of it.
-
With link profiles being under more scrutiny than ever and spam link tactics are being monitored more thoroughly you are likely to suffer a punishment from Google because this would strike as a clear attempt at manipulation of search rankings.
The penguin will be visiting.
These are my thoughts and I wouldn't risk it if I were you - plus I definitely wouldn't pay for the privilege!!
-
-
My personal view is that directory listings don't help if they are not from very reputable and topical ones. Even if they are, their affect is very low. However, most of the paid listings are no-follow because in case Google detects link buying to affect PageRank, it penalize the buyer as well as the seller.
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
-
Sub-directory pages must be optimised well?
Hi all, We have help pages as sub-directory which have been linked from our website pages (3 clicks depth). But these pages are not well optimised with minor issues like header tags, image alts, etc...Moreover some of these pages are dead-end pages. Will these things hurt us? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Footer menu links: Header tags or list items?
Hi, I would like to know header tags (h5 or h6) or list items ( ) works better for footer menu links for the best linking structure. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz1 -
Why have my external followed links risen from 271 to 9961 in three weeks?
I've noticed a massive increase in the number of external followed links to my root domain (from 271 to 9961) - has anyone else experienced this?
Algorithm Updates | | HeatherBakerTopLine0 -
Has anyone experienced a dramatic decrease in Google rankings followed by a dramatic increase in the past few days?
I don't want to be one of those whiny people always asking about rankings, but for the first time in a while, I've seen some crazy fluctuations in Google rankings. I was wondering if anyone had any similar experiences lately.
Algorithm Updates | | innovationsimple0 -
Any PR Lose? Google Made a Update ! Heavy Traffic, Followed SEOmoz Tips - Dropped to PR4 ?
I followed the rules to minimize the links in the page. Getting Same Traffic to my blog and increased only. But my PR5 to PR4 ? why even 404 Error was reduced o 5 or 6 which i updated now ! not accepting any Text Link ads ! too past 6 months also !
Algorithm Updates | | Esaky0 -
Should social widgets be the kind that shares/likes a page, or the kind that adds followers to a brand social page?
I'm wondering if the social widgets on my blog should create a share/like referencing the page or should the social widget create a follower to my brands page on a particular social network? Any ideas?
Algorithm Updates | | salesduke0 -
PR Directory Vs Non PR Directory
Hello Guys, i thought to do some directory submission for my website, i am little confused. I have list of page rank directory and non pr directory. Can anyone suggest me which one shall i prefer most. **Getting approved by pr directory takes long time, so shall i prefer non pr directory to get my listing approved fast. ** please suggest me which one i have to prefer, if anyone have fast pr approval directory list please share. Thanks In Advance
Algorithm Updates | | sumit600 -
Are you guys finding more No Follows being counted as links?
Wonding if anyone is finding more and more no follows actually being counted as links.
Algorithm Updates | | barrystix30