Paying to be listed on link directories... a little help?
-
So, I was perusing SEOMoz's suggested link directory list and noticed some sites there require paid links. I have a couple questions regarding this:
Is paying for directory listings a good idea? I'm not crazy enough to buy a bunch of links; I want to create a sustainable SEO strategy. But I do know that most everyone does at least a little paid linking. Is there a budget or percentage of ones total links you would recommend for this? Is it REALLY ok to do this at all?
Also, assuming I have about $200-$500/month I could spend purchasing links, what sites are best to get links for first?
Just a bit of background: we're starting a content marketing strategy for our business and are spending about $2,000 per month "buying" content (design, data, writing, etc.) so purchasing links is definitely NOT our strategy and never will be.
Thanks!
-
Hmm, OK thanks! I'm a bit confused looking at Yahoo!'s directory. Do you get to set the title and description, or do they just pull that all from your meta data. They have a place to describe your listing, but it's not evident that it will actually serve as the description.
-
Yup its like $200 or $300 a year . And the worst part is, sometimes they dont add you . NO JOKE. So its like a gamble but a gamble most people take i am guessing and Oleg is right i forgot about DMOZ but i would worry about it. Its more of a do it and forget it type of thing. So i would just do it and forget about it.
I mean your looking in the right place SeoMoz has a good list of directories.
But my opinion is same as Olegs, BOTW, DMOZ and YDIR.
Thats it. dont focus on anything else for now.
Later on its a different story
-
Thanks Oleg, I'll check out those directories and see what's in our budget for now.
-
Thanks. Again, we've got a content strategy nailed, we're just not kicking it off until February. I understand the value of investing in content, I don't need convincing on that front.
I'm just looking to learn more about purchasing SOME (not a lot) of paid links to get the right mix of link building going on. I see it as a pyramid with paid links at the top and content marketing at the bottom.
It looks like Yahoo! directory is $299/year... wow, is that right?
-
Thanks Chad, that's helpful. As I said, we already have a content strategy we're fleshing out. We kick it off on 2/4/2013 with a sweet infographic I've put a lot of time, research, and some cash into (about $1,500). We're currently working on a slightly fresher design and on-page optimization until the 4th. Hence, I'd like to do a couple link purchases before then, just to learn and start adding something to the mix.
-
Kibin, some good questions here and honestly it really depends on your strategy and your budget ( $200-$500 ) that you can say that a plan should fall in place.
A few things are evident.
That google really frowns upon paid links. ( but most of us still do some FORM of paid advertising ) .
So it all really depends on your strategy. You are 100% correct in saying that you want to create a sustainable strategy and that is SOOOO important in your link building strategy.
A few things i would look at is the Yahoo Directories, which a lot of people still sign up for which is $200 a year. ( although it does not hold much value today, people still do it )
Best of the Web is another good example, you can actually buy advertising from them as well )
Depending on what type or product, service or business you are trying to build links for, i would suggest spending money into giving things away for bloggers or spending money in create a widget or infographic which is easily a good link bait.
Honestly and i think everyone will agree with me, there is no right or wrong answer. Just best practices thats about it.
I hope i helped you a bit, let me know if you need anything else clarified.
Best Wishes,
Hampig M
-
Manual link outreach > guest blog posts > directories
Manual Link Outreach - find other websites in your industry, give them a reason to link to you, contact the webmasters and convince/entice them to. Hardest to do, best for SEO.
Guest Blog Posts - Find related websites that publish content, offer to write an exceptional piece of content for them, have link to your site. Medium, great for SEO.
Directories - DMOZ, BOTW, YDIR are the big ones. If you want to do directories, stick to niche specific and/or local directories. Easiest, okay for SEO.
Definitely hit up all 3 and budget accordingly. Variety is key.
Good luck!
-
Hi,
I am sure you have heard of Google Penguin Algorithm that rocked many of the webmasters that use paid links to try and connect their websites/blogs to certain keyword terms.
- The big issue was the amount of paid links set in their SEO Footprint. Google busted a truckload of websites that showed heavy footprint for paid links.
Don't be afraid to pay for links to high-end directories like Yahoo.Com, Business.Com or any of the directories SEOMOZ list. Also try to do only a few every 90 days.
If you want great traction to your website, you need to start a content algorithm. Meaning you need to do some research and determine what pain-points your potential target audience has and start figuring out a conversation you need to have with them. That means both implicit and explicit thoughts.
Build out a frame-work of content first and then come up with a plan for syndicating the content.
Find communities or follow experts in your niche and reach-out to them to host or sample your content to start generating natural links.
Overall to answer your question. You can do paid links. However, do paid links of quality. Directories, Press Releases. Vary your anchor terms and do not a ton of paid links every 90 days.
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
-
Disvowing Links?
I ran a report through SEM rush and it came back with 174 toxic links ( score 100-60). I have been reading mixed reviews about what to do. Most of the websites are not relevant and appear to be linking to the images. Should I disavow these links? Would it help SEO? Or should I leave it be?
Link Building | | higherimages0 -
AllTop Linking Me to Other Sites Feeds, Webmasters Reporting Lots of Broken Links
I submitted my blog to All Top awhile ago and something seems to be wrong with their feed. They're sending people to mysite.com/truth-o-meter.com/this-is-a-post. It's not just truth-o-meter either. I'm getting links that are supposed to go to all kinds of political blogs. As a result, I'm getting a ton of broken links reported on Google Webmasters. I couldn't find any real support option on alltop.com, and when I log in, there are no sites for me to manage. Instead, I resubmitted the site with the correct feed address and in the comments, I mentioned the problem. All I got was a message saying the site was rejected. I believe because I already added the site. But I'm thinking they didn't pay attention to the comments. (In fact the message may have gone through an auto-filter considering how quickly it was rejected.) Is there a way to solve this? Is this a situation in which I would use the disavow tool? If All Top continues to create bad links, how do I stop the issue once and for all? Thanks!
Link Building | | eglove0 -
UK Times Pay wall effect on links?
Hi all Our PR agency has obtained a few inbound links from the UK's Times website. This is a great website with a very high DA, however they have a pay wall. My question is does the paywall counteract the efficacy of the links into our site? It would be good to know because if they aren't having the desired effect on rankings then I'll ask our PR agency to focus their efforts on other national newsapers. Thanks
Link Building | | gavinr
Gavin0 -
Bearshare links?
I am doing competitor link research and so far 4 of the 4 have had links from search.bearshare.net What kind of site is this? I am sure it isn't valuable but I can't figure out how it is getting crawled.
Link Building | | EcommerceSite0 -
Resource linking
Is a resource linking page a good way to build backlinks? Do I need to ask permission of the site I am linking? & If do build a resource page do I have to keep in mind keyword density rule, not to stuff too many links on page? I see one of my competitors using a "resource page" and linking to some high athority sites, (which I know they have not asked permission) b/c they are big name site, NFL, NHL, ESPN etc. Any suggestions much appreciated! Thank you!!!
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
What do you consider a low authority link directory
Dear All, I would like to weed out the low authority link directories that harm my site. Can someone explain me how you determine a low authority link directory? Do you look at "page auth." and "domain auth"? And do you consider all the links pointing to your site with a "page auth." and "domain auth" lower then - let's say 40 - as a low authority link directory? Thank you for your answers in advance! Regards, Thomas
Link Building | | ThomasH0 -
Advetorial links
How do you scientifically value advertorial links. I have a site who is willing to buy advertorial in large online sites which will contain links. (I would prefer they invested in content on their own site). The DA on these sites is universally extremely strong. the PA of the examples I've seen is pretty low. The site has strong DA matching it's main competition and is performing pretty well in terms of ranking. Question: how do you value this kind of link in terms of the amount of £ the publications want to charge. Anybody have a formula or a logical process which would provide solid advice rather than don't infringe Google's T&C's which I've already mentioned to them. Any thoughts appreciated.
Link Building | | Shivvyt0 -
Backlink booster - boosts and helps to index links?
Hello all, We are using a tool called backlink booster that works in the following way: you view a page with a backlink to your site click on a boost link saved in favourites the link is pinged to rss directories and web 2.0 sites The idea is to get your links indexed faster. Has anyone used this or something like this and had any benefit from it? Thanks Shehzad.
Link Building | | Gareth_Cartman0