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
-
Lawyer Directories
I am doing some SEO work for a lawyer and I am wondering if there are good legal directories I should be using to help improve SERP's.
Link Building | | kevgrand0 -
Directory Listing without Permission... Was your company listed here also likes ours?
We just found a backlink for our site from a brand spanking new, week-old directory site. We did not create this, so aside from submitting a request to remove it through their contact form (which we already did), do you have any other tips to get this removed beside submitting a disavow request. http://seo-company-in.com//United_States/North_Carolina/whiteboard-creations-cary-and-raleigh-nc-web-design-and-seo-service-267 Also, check to make sure your company isn't listed as well without your permission (not providing a functioning link back for them, but enter in their domain to check it out. Let me know your thoughts. - Patrick
Link Building | | WhiteboardCreations0 -
Exact match and Penguin
After penguin, exact match keywords are not supposed to be used too much, in case you are selling a product and you are backlinking for its product page. Does this mean that exact match keyword for that product should also not to be used much. Or its just about website. For example i have a product named as "Test Product" and for it i have a keyword "Test Keyword", should i always use Test keyword to provide backlink to this product or should i use brand name as well or variant ot this keyword in anchor text. What do you suggest?
Link Building | | MozAddict0 -
Are link exchanges bad for SEO these days? Also, is adding my site to free yet relevent directory sites a bad idea?
I operate a computer services company in Eugene, Oregon called "Eugene Computer Geeks". We do a lot of web design, and need incoming links to my site very badly. Lately I've been asking clients if they would link to me, but they almost always ask for a link in return. If we exchange links, does Google penalize my site? Would the incoming link be better for SEO if I'm not linking back to the other site? ALSO Is it possible that manually submitting my site to free, yet relevant web directories would hurt my rankings? It's not a big deal to me if it doesn't help my rankings, as I see a benefit to having my site listed, but wanted to make sure there wasn't a chance that it would hurt my rankings. As far as I know all the directories are free from SPAM, porn, warez, or anything like that. Thanks!
Link Building | | eugenecomputergeeks0 -
Why are major directories missing from link report
Why are back links like dir.yahoo.com not listed in the link report for sites that are listed in dir.yahoo.com? For a site with 18 back links and a DA of 28, how much affect, if any, would a paid listing in a directory like yahoo have on the sites DA?
Link Building | | ChristopherGlaeser0 -
Does Anyone Have Evidence of the Effectiveness of Guest Posts?
I think the tactic of guest posts is a good way to earn links to a site. But I have a few concerns: -Links are usually at the very end of the page.
Link Building | | SparkplugDigital
-Guest posts are on blog posts which usually have much less link juice than top level pages.
-A lot of sites abuse guest posting for spammy anchor text, e.g. "cheap auto loans"
-Some SEOs have said that Google will devalue guest post links in the future (due to abuse) Does anyone have examples, tests, or case studies of guest posting helping a site improve their rankings? (or an opinion on the value of guest posting)0 -
Doing Local Directories for Online Stores?
I am working with some customers on SEO and wonder what to do about directories when they have an online store only. They do not want to list their home address (if they did would this be a good idea?). I know the big push now is for local directories so I'm wondering if anyone has tips for other types of directories to get into that aren't spammy. Or tips for doing SEO for sites that are online only? I know Rand talked a lot about the importance of being "real" with an about us page, contact us, etc. on his Future of Link Building Webinar and I'm wondering how to best make that work in this situation when they can't show themselves as real by being in local directories.
Link Building | | hwade0 -
Are paid directories considered paid links?
I've only ever submitted my sites to tons of free directories, not the paid ones. I'm thinking of getting into a few paid directories now, but just wondering, anyone had experience with a paid directory link being treated like a paid links an penalized or anything? Has it helped you? My competitors has a lot of backlinks from paid directories, so I"m thinking of doing the same thing. But if Google thinks of paid directories as paid links, I would be better off just turning him in 🙂
Link Building | | DanDeceuster1