Should we pay for this attorney directory?
-
I'm aware of how most directories don't matter and/or have lost significance over the past few years, but in the legal world, it sure seems like this one does: http://www.martindale.com/ I doubt we will ever get many cases from this directory, but it would be a nice link to have...I think. The DA is 88 and the page we would be listed in is a 39. Almost all of our competitors who outrank us have this link as well. Granted, it's not the only link, but it's one I could afford to obtain. Any thoughts or experiences?
***If any of you market for attorneys, and you're outside the Tampa area (don't want to cause any professional conflicts) have you recommended this directory to your clients?
Thanks,
Ruben
-
That's a good point. It's a residual, so the first year may not be horrific. However, if I compile over 5 years, I could definitely see where we could better target our efforts.
Thanks for the insights and the clarification!
- Ruben
-
I'm sorry if I didn't clarify - what I meant was that the money put toward that directory, be it a one-time payment or a residual, would almost always be better spent toward other marketing or SEO efforts. If this doesn't greatly effect your budget, then it's worth considering (especially if OSE say's it's a quality link).
Most of my customers are SMBs, so I tend to counsel against paid listings/directories - but I didn't take into consideration that you might not have a similar budget.
Let's append my answer to: if you have the money to test the value of this, then do it.
-
I appreciate your response, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the first point. While l agree with the idea that if I can pay for it so can anyone else, and therefore it wouldn't help me against anyone who already has that link. However, my problem is that if the link passes value, (and according to OSE it is a quality link) and I don't have it, so doesn't that mean it's hurting me vis-a-vis my competition?
-
From experience with clients of my own (for which we develop websites and counsel), I can say that paying for a spot on a blanket directory is usually not worth it. The ideology behind that is twofold.
- If you can pay for it, so can anyone else. That makes the intended value moot.
- It's a common misconception that all directories benefit SEO or presence. Some actually hurt SEO. I don't know if the one you've mentioned would help or hinder, but the first point still stands.
I suggest that if you join directories, you handle that process by either asking clients (past or current) how they found you, or by researching which directories - if any - tend to bring traffic to groups similar to yours.
As an aside, I'm always suspicious/wary of any website that's poorly designed, and martindale.com is no exception.
Good luck, and I hope this has been helpful for you!
-
The other and more important way to look at this is would a user find the directory helpful? if yes then its worth it. the other factors are a bonus ontop of the user flow.
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
-
Making a custom web directory
I am wondering if it is beneficial to launch a social bookmarking website based on Semantic Scuttle [http://semanticscuttle.sourceforge.net/demo] in order to gain inbound links. For the sake of example, say my industry is ebooks. I would of course add links to all of my products to the site. In addition, I would want to add links to competitors products to the site to make the site actually useful and not look like spam. On the face of it, is this a good idea? Secondly, I of course wouldn't want to be helping out competitors, so would any of these actions be advisable? add nofollow links to all links except those pointing to my site. ads or featured listings pointing to my links. I make it so only voted on links are dofollow. Thus, competitors could actually get links from my site. Naturally, I would vote on all my submissions. The idea of the site would actually be to provide a meaningful service. Once it's done I would want to get people linking to it. Any advice? Thanks! Edit: I added scenario #3 which I think is probably the best option, if this is even a good idea. I would also make some static content to really make this a good resource!
Link Building | | Jbeaty0 -
Does paying a reviewer for an impartial review violate Google's guidelines?
When a company pays for an impartial review from a website, should these links be no-followed? I am confident that paid positive reviews are seen as a manipulation of search, but is paying for an impartial review okay?
Link Building | | RG_SEO0 -
Need Directories list
I need free high page rank directories list. I know about this list http://www.seomoz.org/directories/+ need more sources. Thanks
Link Building | | GM0070 -
Are directories worth my time?
So I just came across SEOMoz's directory list. And I wanted to ask what people think about directories. I hear for new sites, they are good. For old sites, not so much. We are launching a new project next week. Should I start submitting it to some directories? Look forward to opinions. I really love this forum, everyone is so helpful!
Link Building | | endlessrange0 -
Are directories still an option for linkbuilding
I know that after the recent slate of Google updates, many free directories got taken down. We've typically used the list of directories placed on SEOmoz (www.seomoz.org/directories). Before adding a site to a directory, we always check to see if it is indexed by Google. Is this still a safe option or should directories be avoided?
Link Building | | TopFloor0 -
How do I remove bad web directory listings?
I am starting SEO for an E commerce website. I guess like 1 year or two ago they had another SEO company working for them. After looking in Site explorer I realized that they have like 2000 links (almost all from website directories) that have the correct anchor text but are all in the wrong categories, and most from countries like china and india. Many of the Titles are even in Chinese. This company sells packaging supplies and they are in categories like real estate, animals, and so on. I am changing the domain name, so I guess any links to internal pages will be lost, however I have to forward the main domain to my new domain, so any links to the home page will still be there. Does anyone know how I can remove these links??
Link Building | | DTOSI0 -
Directories and Link Building
I was reading a post by Eric Enge, http://www.seomoz.org/blog/role-of-directories-in-link-building and nobody talked about in the comments, so I want to see what you think: Considering that get some bad links from punished directories is bad for your site, it's worth to use site submissions softwares, like SubmitEaze, that promisses a 1,000 submits?
Link Building | | seomasterbrasil
Do you use it, what you think about it? [title edited by staff for clarity]0 -
Does it pay to change link text internally?
Most of my internal pages have their best links from within our site (of course we are trying to change that). Is it worth the effort to sculpt the link text to show varied text instead of most all showing the same link text? Or is that only important from external links?
Link Building | | joemas990