How Google differentiates web sites like directories?
-
Hi,
I want to ask how google differentiates web sites like directories or company listing websites? How it understands that is a normal thing to have many links in a directory site? Are there some guides links about what to do and avoid and how to make SEO optimization for a directory web site.
-
I'm afraid I've seen issues with even decent quality directories. I have a client who originally published a print directory and then moved it to the web - they have relationships with all of the companies whose "products" they list (it's not a product directory, but that doesn't matter much for this discussion), they use unique descriptions, and they really focus on quality. Still, they've seen gradual declines, as the OEMs (essentially) rank higher and higher.
I think Google is just starting to view the directory model in general with more and more suspicion. They'd rather land someone directly on a result or answer then go through what's essentially another search engine. That's not to say you're automatically penalized, but it's a tougher model to succeed at than it was even 5 years ago.
I think, ultimately, you've really got to show some kind of unique value. If you're basically just listing other people's information, your chances of making much of a splash in the rankings aren't great these days.
-
Right now, I can tell you that I have a message proving that directories will indeed get you penalized. I had a pr4 51 authority link on a directory site that was very popular. Google doesn't generally give you an hints on links, but they did and I have proof. They told me to take specific directory links down that we built to very relevant sections. Not only that, but even told me that my main url of my site I used as the keywords was still spam.
So, Google I feel is hand picking the directory sites like DMOZ, etc, etc. I also don't feel directory sites are that high of a quality in a link anyways. What can you really say in 30 or so words about your site.
I am not saying to stay away from them all, I am just saying be very careful, because I thought they were ok to use if you picked good ones too, but it's not.
Have a great night.
MB
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
-
I have a site with jokes. What schema markup could I use?
My site is about jokes. I wonder what schema markup could I use to be more visible in the search results.
On-Page Optimization | | MichaelJanik0 -
Site wide content like "why choose us" just above the footer on every single page
Hi Guys, I know that is not good having any kind of duplicate content on your site, but SEO is above all "competition", so I have to see what my competitor are doing to find the best way to outrank them. So this is my question: is it good or not having site wide content like "why choose us" just above the footer on every single page? At the moment, I can see many - too many - of my client competitors having the "Why choose us" as site wide content above the footer. The funny thing they don't use a couple of sentences, they have placed many words and 10/20 internal links, in other words, they have enough stuff to put down a stand alone page. What do you think: this is just a bad SEO practice or it may work, as I can see so many sites ranking well with this kind of piece of junk on each page. I am not going to recommend this to my client, but as am trying to detail every decision I make showing what the competitors are currently doing, my concern is that my client finds it and therefore will ask to have the same shiny piece of garbage above the footer. Thanks, Pierpaolo
On-Page Optimization | | madcow780 -
How to rank in Google during domain name search?
We have received one requirement for this website. http://www.coldcasebeer.com/ We would like to rank in Google during domain name search. If we are going to search following search terms in Google then We are not able to see this domain on first page of Google search result. cold case beer coldcasebeer We have done quick research on this issue. And, We have decided to implement following tasks to make it happen.But, We are quite excited to read certain inputs on this question from experts! 1. Upload default Robots.txt file 2. Verify website on Google webmaster tools 3. Set up USA region on Google webmaster tools 4. Submit Google crawl request on Google webmaster tools 5. Title tag and Meta description optimization for all pages (There are 5 pages only on website) 6. Audit Google local listing 7. Develop quality links with domain name
On-Page Optimization | | CommercePundit0 -
Any scripts for automated interlinking of sites?
I have heard about similar plugins for Wordpress, but I need something like this to run on all kind of sites, no matter the CSM. Are there universal scripts capable of doing automatic interlinking of pages to rise their weight for SEO purposes? Could you share links to such scripts/sites?
On-Page Optimization | | poiseo0 -
Changing site title
I'm wondering what the procedure and implications are of changing my sites tile? I realise that my Having my keyword in my sites title whilst chasing the same keyword in articles may be causing over optimization. The slug also takes on the article title too, in effect giving me the keyword three times before I've even written my article. Example below. Imaginary site title : soap benefits.org Article: The essential guide to making homemade soap Slug: The-essential-guide-to-making-homemade-soap As you can see, soap has now been mentioned three times, not including excerpt/meta description or image alt tags. As most of the article titles would contain my supposed keyword "soap" I'm thinking the best option would be to change site title with allinoneseo (that possible?) and change the slug to something relevant, giving me more room to escape over optimization. Does this sound sensible? I don't have that many articles so if I had to change other things it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. It seems a pity to loose my sites title I picked, but if I end up writing hundreds of articles this would be a problem. Help appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | marangus0 -
Getting Google to see major changes?
I am making some big changes to my site based on Moz's advice. How can I get google to see all of them? I submitted them to Google Webmasters. Is that the best thing to do? How long until Google updates all my pages?
On-Page Optimization | | dealblogger0 -
Should I Remove This Subdirectory From Google?
On my site, I have a subdirectory. It posts articles from a bunch of websites that my readers are interested in & links back to all of those sites. There is no original content in it. There are over 1700 indexed pages in this subdirectory. The rest of my site has about 500 (all original content). The search engine traffic for this subdirectory only accounts for 3.9% of my sites overall visits. Should I consider removing this subdirectory? Could all the duplicate content be hurting the rankings of my legit pages? What do you all think?
On-Page Optimization | | PedroAndJobu0 -
My site has been dropping, not sure why!
My site has been dropping in the rankings, not sure - my metrics seem better than my competitors. Historically I have been a very stable #2 for my main term, but now it's down to 7! According to SEO Moz, my domain authority is 32, while my better performing competitors are are 26, 11, and 1! Have more links than they do. Trying to think it through, not sure what is happening. My home page bounces at a low 20%-ish, other Google Analytics are good. I have a company Facebook account, occasionally upload YouTube vids, do online press releases, etc. I do have to target several metros scattered across the state, while my competitors usually focus on one major metro. I do have some SEO Moz errors, which focus on dup content due to our web editor's naming system. An example would be domain.com/keyword-keyword-i-14 vs. domain/differnet keyword-different better keyword-i-14. 14 would be the actual page number. Our system lets me change the page title keywords, as I've added new links and pages over the years there are some dupes. The only major change is I've added a password protected section for sales rep materials. The hosting/web guru firm we use has assured me Google doesn't see pages behind the password portection. Not sure if Google is testing a new SERP formula. All social media or non-website results seem to have dropped out of search for my terms. Just local business sites like mine and some directory sites remain. Any advice or private consult would be greatly appreciated as I am a ... self taught 'OneManBand' for high tech marketing in our company. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | OneManBand0