Directory subission post penguin
-
Does anyone have thoughts on doing mass directory submissions post penguin?
I know the value of the links are pretty worthless I am considering a submission service for nothing more than to get my number of different c-blocks up
Will directories be looked upon as link networks?
Is worth it?
-
Thanks dohertyf. I do get your point, but this isn’t the site I’m talking about and I have never had any warnings for this site.
The site that I am referring to does have a few crappy directory links pointing at it from years back and certainly nowhere near the amount I see pointing back to competing sites. And if these links were a problem why didn’t I get the notice earlier? It seems a big coincidence that I got the warning immediately after I submitted to these new directories.
-
Hey Shauny -
I'm not seeing those directory links you're talking about in either OSE or Majestic. What I do see, though, is these links which appear to be from a link network (since all the links are the same) -
http://www.directorio.internet.com.pe/Top/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/England/Manchester/Worsley http://www.smart-dir.com/dir/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/England/Manchester/Worsley http://www.gosearchfor.com/directory/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/England/Manchester/Worsley
I'd go and remove those links, if your rankings dropped.
In my opinion, right now directories are too risky for my clients and my own sites. The only ones that I would do are BetterBusinessBureau (in the US), DMOZ, and Yahoo directory. Other than that, I steer clear of them and have moved my clients away from them.
-
Directory Submission Update
I decided to give a few directories a go.
Here’s what happened:
1. I manually submitted my site to 25 directories
2. I chose from the list of directories on moz. All the directories I submitted to were pr2 – pr6 with good moz rank (I checked them all out individually).
3. I used variations of brand anchors and different descriptions for each listing
4. I used the paid option for all the directories for guaranteed/faster review
5. I spread the submissions out over 10 days from 24<sup>th</sup>aug up until 3<sup>rd</sup> sept
On the 7th of September I received a “notice of detected unnatural links” from G. all of my homepage keywords have dropped about 10 places but inner pages are still pretty much the same
Any thoughts on how I should move forwards?
-
When I look at the competitors that rank above me the on-page optimisation and content quality is just about the same as mine and in some cases I feel not as good.
When I look at their link profile I see pretty much the same good quality backlinks as my own the only difference is that they all seem to have in common (and I don’t) is lots of low quality directory links which is boosting the amount of c-blocks pointing to their sites
I know that articles, guest posts etc. (which I already do) will build the extra c-block links but my theory is get the crappy directory links just to increase the number of c-blocks pointing back to me?
-
A good point
-
While i posted something contrary a few minutes ago..MANUAL directory submission cannot hurt. However, I doubt it helps much these days.
At this time, we have many 1-5 ranked keywords, and have given up directory submission altogether on it.
Recommendation (that we are still trying to figure out..)Write articles, post blogs build a Tribe that follows you - its a new world! Forget the tricks.
-
Good answers here. I would also like to suggest spreading your directory submissions out over a period of time. This way you don't have a bunch of links pointing to your site - it will look unnatural.
Submissions to human edited, niche- or geographically-related directories is best practice.
-
I'd agree with Keven, there is nothing wrong with directory submissions as long as they are relevant and manually reviewed by an editor. Also look into local and niche directories that suit your site business.
The problems with directory submissions for me begin with mass submissions where the work is outsourced or automated - I cant see you getting any value from this.
There is a great list of decent directories right here on moz, with a guide.
-
I personally have no issue with directory submission. I have grave concerns about MASS submission and won't do it (some people do and don't seem to get 'hammered' by Google, but I'm not risking a short gain against long term pain if G ever gets its algo to match the rhetoric).
The only directories I list in are those that have a reasonable chance to actually bring traffic for my customers.
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
-
Displaying 10 blog-posts from website homepage: Any loss in-terms of link juice?
Hi community, We started showing 10 blog-posts from our blog on our website homepage. Will this hurts us anyway by taking away link juice? Thanks
Link Building | | vtmoz0 -
Is it OK to disavow directory submissions?
I'm currently working on a website that has had a load of spammy links built in the past. From what I can see, it would be most efficient and effective to disavow everything that's there as all work performed previously is low quality, except for some local directory submissions. These local directory submissions are likely "no follow" and therefore, I'm wondering is it OK to disavow everything including these local directory submissions, seeing they are no follow anyway?
Link Building | | Gavo0 -
In a post penguin world, what would be your widget rollout strategy?
We have some very useful calculators. Should the branded text link be follow or no follow? Is a genuine, value ad widget helpful in post penguin SEO world
Link Building | | stevanl0 -
Avoiding the penguin slap in the face.
I work with a web design / SEO company and when we complete a site we want the credit for it, a link at the bottom of the page we build does suffice... Problem is this causes irrelevant linking / unnatural linking. If we "nofollow" these are we ducking the penguin? Are we better off not linking at all?
Link Building | | SEODinosaur0 -
Is purchasing internal page links from directories worth it?
Since data suggests that only the first link on a page to a singular URL is counted, are the deep links purchased from directories worth the money/provide any value?
Link Building | | mj7750 -
What's your favourite SEO directory?
We're having a bit of a debate in the office today about SEO directories. We all seem to have our favourites here - Octopedia, AbiLogic and JoeAnt to name a few that have been mentioned. Just wondering what everyone else's favourite directories for SEO are? Which pass the best link juice? Which offer the best value for money? Would love to know everyone's thoughts...
Link Building | | Digirank1 -
How can influence a directory backling page on your website ?
Hi, Some good directories asked a backlink for having ours listed in their categories. But of course, I am not fan of putting their link on the home page, but creating a page exclusively for these backlinks is a bad thing to mister google ? thanks in advance !
Link Building | | thuraminho750 -
Suspicious Link Directory
I found a link directory with good PageRank and MozRank. The page I would be featured on has good page authority of about 41. Their editorial guidelines appear sound. However, I just discovered that they have a family of directories (about 7-8) that all look very similar in site appearance. I suspect that they are all hosted on the same servers and run by the same company. Would this family of directories be at risk of being flagged by Google as a link network and have all their links devalued? Thanks Mozzers!
Link Building | | SparkplugDigital0