Is Link Building with Directories Dead?
Internet Marketing, Link Building, Search Engine Optimization Do-Follow CommentsBy, JR
Are directories a waste of time? Is that link building method worthless?
Let’s see…
I recently read a post from a blogger who slammed directories and went as far as to say that submitting to directories is for dumb-dumb’s.
I’ve said this before and I will say it again, DON’T FALL FOR HYPE! The best thing you can do in your Internet Marketing efforts and especially for Search Engine Optimization is to test and analyze what is working and what is not.
I did! And here is what I found.
I have two sites, Site 1and Site 2, and for both sites I used the EXACT same link building strategies EXCEPT on Site 2 I did not submit to directories and guess what? In this last Page Rank update from Google, site 1 went from PR0 to PR2 and Site 2 PR0 to PR1 and the only difference between them was about 800 backlinks from directory submissions.
It is true that Directory backlinks are not the best backlinks, but they are still a vital part of an overall link building strategy. When your site is new you need all the backlinks you can get, until you have a high PR site link building needs to be aggressive and diverse. So, while the clueless are sitting around bitching about what doesn’t work, I am building links!
Remember the Time Formula for Link Building:
40% - Article Marketing
25% - Reciprocal Link Exchange
25% - Social Bookmark Links/Forum Sig links/Blog comment links
10% - Directories
Also, this blogger went on to say that the only directories that matter are DMOZ, Yahoo Directory, Best of the Web and Business.com
Okay, let’s see…
DMOZ - Yes a very powerful backlink, and you should always submit to them and they are FREE, BUT approval time is about 1year IF they let you in.
Yahoo Directory - $299.00 per year! NON-REFUNDABLE and NO guarantee of approval.
Best of the Web - $99.95 per year! NON-REFUNDABLE and NO guarantee of approval.
Business.com - $299.00! NON-REFUNDABLE and NO guarantee of approval. (BTW, go to work.com and write a guide, work.com is the sister site of business.com, the guides rank high in G and if your guide is really popular and good it could end up featured on the business.com front page and then you get that $299 backlink for free!)
Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have THAT kind of money to spend on link building. Most of us, Affiliate Marketers are a one man/woman show, some working around day jobs, sitting at our computers and trying to grow an affiliate marketing business. We are not Donald Trump or Shoemoney.
How feasable are these costs if you have 2, 3 or more niche sites? Get Real!
Now, there are good and bad directories and yes Google did blast several bad directories in the past for creating directories for the sole purpose of manipulating SERPS. BUT, this does NOT mean that you stop submitting to directories all together, just be a little more selective of the ones you submit to.
The True Meaning of a Directory:
Main purpose of directories is to help people find something on the web, and they are supposed to be built for humans and not search engine manipulation. The main value to a webmaster to add their url is for traffic.
What Makes a Not so Good Directory:
- They blatantly advertise and promote that adding your link will boost your page rank and SEO and not the actual listings for visitors reference.
- They require a reciprocal link, many will suggest, but the good ones usually do not require.
- Bid for link placement. You have to bid for a higher placement of your link. Run for your life!
- They offer multiple links with your choice of anchor text, obviously this reeks of search engine manipulation and not a directory for humans. Run faster!
Also good directories do not allow adult and porn sites and they ask for your email address to have you verify your submission, this means they are vigilant about and monitor for spam.
Here are Some Good Directories:
- World Website Directory - PR4
- Elite Web - PR4
- My Green Corner - PR3
- Search Sight - PR5
- Exact Seek - PR4
- Can Links - PR5
- Free Website Directory - PR2
- DMegs - PR5 (this ones requires reciprocal, but it is a quality directory, and it shows up on page 1 without quotes in Google for website directories with 64,000,000 competing sites, this means that Google has not penalized it and so I’ll take the recip.)
- My Design Award - PR6 - This is not really a directory but is a site where you submit your sites and other members vote for best designs, gives a powerful permanent backlink.
Here is a hyperlinked list of 850 directories you can check out. Also, Directory Submitter Service is a really cheap human service that submits for your.
Also, Bad Neighborhood Checker is a tool that checks backlinks and alerts if any of them are coming from penalized sites and other bad neighborhoods, which Google strongly advises against.
Now don’t panic if you see the Blog Spam warning, these come up a lot when you link to and have links from blogs and it does not mean it is a bad neighborhood. Also warnings, like sexuality and gambling anchors may be flagged BUT look at the source of those, for example, Ezine Articles gets flagged as possibly bad because of Articles about Sex and Gambling, but we all know that Google certainly does NOT consider Ezine Articles a bad neighborhood!
Build Links! Build Links! Just build links everyday!
There will always be rumors and hype in the world of Internet and Affiliate Marketing. It is important to follow correct guides and it’s just as important to keep testing and analyzing!
What do you guys think? What has been your experience with directories? What do you think about testing?
Print Post
Get 1st month from the best website host for 1 Cent!
Coupon Code: 404PAGE
Have You Subscribed to Updates Yet? Get New Content Delivered via Email or RSS Reader Here!
Related Posts
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
That was a nice read. Directories submission is usually a big part of my SEO strategy when I’m starting new projects. I’ve tested it with similar techniques you did with “site 1 and 2″ and it’s worth it to submit to directories. As you said, it’s part of a full SEO strategy and there are other things to do for proper link building. I don’t waste my time on directory submission, I pay someone to do it. There are a lot of people offering services on DIgitalPoint forum and I usually pay something like 15$ for 1000 submissions.
SEO Horrors last blog post..Top of the week
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Hmmm, thanks for this very informative article. I’ve been ignoring this link strategy since I was also feeling that directories were irrelevant these days but you’ve made some good points. I’m not sure about the percentage’s you’ve got for link building. Article marketing has been much more effective for me than directories.
Eunices last blog post..Aug 1, Internet Business Ideas
JR reply on August 2nd, 2008 4:34 pm:
@Eunice
I totally agree, Article Marketing is great, that is why I have it under 40% of your time as opposed to 10% for directories.
Eunice reply on August 2nd, 2008 5:38 pm:
Oops….I must check my dyslexia….thought you
recommended 50% for directories! My bad…. :-/
Eunices last blog post..Aug 1, Internet Business Ideas
JR reply on August 2nd, 2008 11:46 pm:
@ Eunice
No Problem
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
i have been very lazy to submit my sites to free directories, It is just too many but just now, i came to realize, 5-10 submissions wont hurt. thanks for the list. had a nice read here.
jayls last blog post..Permalinks and htaccess Setup Made Easy
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Well, I think directory submission is important part of SEO strategy. I have one site with PR4 and most of the links are from directories. I believe that you should always diversify your sources of incoming links. Some from directories, article dirs., soc. sites, css galleries if you have original design and other sources.
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:11 am
I have one website that I use directory submission as the only link building method, in the last PR update it got PR1
JR reply on August 3rd, 2008 2:36 am:
@Alli
Congrats! There you have it the proof is always in the results!
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I’ve used directory submissions as one part of my diverse strategy of obtaining links: the others include blog comments, forum posts (and forum siggy anchor text), listings with Related sites, article writing, UGC’s (yelp, city search, merchant circle, insider pages), free classified ads with followed links.
Net increase of 500 links at GWT/YSE in last 27 days. Several of them were directory additions.
Many are the remnants of a directory submission campaign back in Feb-March-April of this year. There are quite a few that will drag their feet in accepting you, but ultimately (with a PR 3 like mine) they let you in. (after all, its to their benefit to have relevant sites with high PR in their respective categories).
Bottom Line: BE PATIENT and the links will come. I’m not actively pursuing links at the present time, but the residuals keep pumping in, like oil royalties. (wish it was oil……LOL)
August 4th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I do use directories. At least the ones I can find that are decent. I do not pay either for submissions. Generally you can slide into Yahoo once your site has been online for a bit. I have never paid to be included into the Yahoo directory, but all of my sites have been indexed.
WAHM Taras last blog post..5 Ways Not To Go Insane Working From Home
August 8th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Links is links and the more of them the better off you’ll be. Of course, some links have a higher value than others, that’s a given. But if you pursue only the top quality links you’ll soon find yourself being beaten out by a less picky competitor.
Frank Cs last blog post..Samsung MyShot SCH-R430 Review
JR reply on August 9th, 2008 6:04 pm:
@Frank
You are totally right! Those who diversify their link building will always win over those that are too picky!
August 9th, 2008 at 3:25 am
what about social bookmarking links (do follow), forums (forum signatures that are on topic) and non spammy blog commenting…where would those fit in?
JR reply on August 9th, 2008 6:11 pm:
@prestamos
Social links, forum links and blog comments are all great links and should be a part of the overall link building strategy. I guess I left those out of the time formula, thanks for the heads up I will edit the post. Also, I have written a separate post on this at: 13 Ways to Link Building that Also Increase Traffic, but I spend about 1/2 the time on those of the blogroll 50%, I find the social bookmark, forum and blog comments are crucial in that you not only get the link juice but they are also a great source of traffic.
August 10th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
You are correct. Link directories do still work, besides, like article directories you can get natural traffic from them for long tail searches. Thanks for your post.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Yup, you are right,
niche article is the best way to grab unique visitor
October 12th, 2008 at 6:03 am
[...] easier more technical tasks, like link building and article writing, blog post and link building, directory submissions and forum posting, website content and keyword research, [...]
October 26th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Bid directory are good if you run one well
JR reply on October 26th, 2008 6:03 pm:
Hello Paul,
Yes but there is a risk, if Google knows that directory is selling links you can get slammed for buying links that pass page rank.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Directories are far from dead. However, to get the most bang for the buck, it’s important to pick out directories that are not sparse in the niche you’re trying to promote.
For example, if you’re trying to promote Web design and SEO services, most directories will be chock full of these kinds of listings. The theme of those pages is heavily slanted toward technology, which helps the relevancy of the backlink. Try promoting on directories for something like “food nutrition” and it’s a different story - there will be few to no pages in the directory for that theme, and getting a backlink from there will be less effective.
December 24th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
[...] Is Link Building with Directories Dead? [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for the tips. I’m new to article submissions and after choosing and submitting to a few sites at random I’m glad I’ve now seen your tips on site selection. Fortunately I haven’t submitted to a ‘bad’ article site. The links in your article will be my next target. Many thanks.
JR reply on January 19th, 2009 5:34 pm:
@Chris
You are welcome!
March 31st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Great article. I bookmarked it so I can get back to your directory list. I’m just getting into SEO and always heard from people I worked with that directory submitting was pretty valuable. But recently I’ve seen a ton of blogs online that really knock it. After reading your article I think it’s definitely worthwhile. I like your percentages graph. Thanks again!
Mike @ CSS Perks last blog post..Trust
JR reply on March 31st, 2009 4:02 pm:
@Mike
Thanks and welcome!
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:18 am
[...] site, Site A, I built links with the usual techniques of reciprocals, social sites, some one-ways, directories, do-follow blog comments and articles. Site B got the same links as Site A, except without [...]