Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Paid Directory - Whitehat or Blackhat?
-
Dear community,
Just a quick question:
Would you consider a directory as this one whitehat or blackhat SEO? http://mixyellowpages.com/cncat_add.php
You can add link to 50 web directories.
- No reciprocal link.
- 100% approved within 48 hours.
- Do follow link.
- Get one way link from quality sites.
- Pay only $ 15 No monthly fee.
Our SEO-agency is using these kinds of directories, so I just wanted to make sure, that this is a) Whitehat-SEO and b) will not harm our rankings.
Thanks,
David -
Hi David,
Directories are a difficult one. The recent Penguin updates (and to some degree, Panda) have pretty much destroyed the generic directories. However, the benefits of local directories and citations are still there! (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10322/The-Ultimate-List-50-Local-Business-Directories.aspx)
With regards to the particular directory that you're querying. The quality is low, even for directory standards. You're probably doing more harm than good by mass submitting to 50 directories that are linking out to all sorts of drop-shipping / foreign / low quality sites.
Matt Cutts also made a video explaining how Google treats Paid Directories. There are a few good directories that request a review fee that may be worth it - BOTW, Business.com, Yahoo, but the rest are just paid links.
What your agency are doing isn't the darkest of black-hat SEO, but it's definitely low quality, lazy and against Google guidelines. 50 directories probably won't harm your site. However if the majority of your backlink profile is made up of directories, it definitely won't be doing your site any favours.
tl;dr
- Local Directories - Good
- Genuine Review Fee Based Directories - Possible Benefits
- Mass Submissions / Paid Directories - Bad
If you'd like to read more, I wrote a post about my thoughts on directories back in September that I feel still rings true!
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
-
Are directories still a valid practice? If so what are some of your favorite and most authoritative directories?
After combing over several competitor sites I have found many if not the majority of their links are from directories. I am curious to know if individuals/companies/seos etc. still use directories, if so what are some of the favorites?
Link Building | Sep 2, 2014, 3:20 PM | Firestarter-SEO1 -
Paid Directory Links
To my surprise, I couldn't find a clear answer to the questions "Do paid directory links violate Google guidelines?" I know Matt Cutt's recently had a video on paid links, but it didn't really cover paid directory links. Are well-curated directory sites that charge for inclusion violate Google's guidelines? A good example would be the business.com directory.
Link Building | Apr 24, 2014, 3:31 PM | RickyShockley0 -
This directory looks great - would you agree?
I know people have mixed feelings towards submitting their sites to directories, but this one really seemed special, so I decided to share the opportunity with the Moz community, as well as open up a discussion on the value of being a part of this directory (and similar ones.) We recently submitted our site to Dial a Human (www.dialahuman.com) It is a directory of companies' phone numbers, which go directly to a person (bypassing the machines.) I think this directory actually does provide users with value, and is far from your typical link farm. The Page Authority is 56 and the Domain Authority is 47, and it is a PR5 site. The other companies listed are all extremely reputable (most of them are fortune 500 companies.) The fee to join is $75-$150, but to be included with this group of companies, we felt it was very worthwhile. We would join this type of directory over and over again. Would you? If you have any other directories which are of the same caliber please share!
Link Building | Aug 27, 2013, 5:59 PM | JMacSupply0 -
Which one - Article Directories or Web 2.0 Sites ?
I have lots of unique article and ready for spreading but want to know which one is more effecting in SERP. Currently i am adding articles to Ezine and Hubpages, please let me know your suggestion ?
Link Building | Aug 17, 2012, 9:46 AM | mamuti0 -
Which is the best directory submission service?
Which is the best directory submission service out there? And which are the key directories to get your site listed in?
Link Building | Jun 12, 2013, 7:35 PM | harrygardiner0 -
How do paid directories like thomasnet.com do so well in the serps? Aren't the Panda updates supposed to be moving us away from this?
With all of the updates/changes to Google's algo, I assumed that paid listings & links like those on thomasnet.com would have less merit. Is this an incorrect assumption?
Link Building | Aug 29, 2011, 2:26 PM | PropelMike0 -
Has anyone seen positive results from using Submiteaze to submit to directories? I know an SEM agency that uses it for clients' link building campaigns, but I don't know if it is worth buying. Are there better alternatives?
I would like to start a link building initiative at my company for a new website, and would like to know if the value of the links built using Submiteaze would be worth the money.
Link Building | Jun 18, 2011, 12:53 AM | pbhatt0 -
Which Directory Sites to Choose?
Hi All I am a newbie to SEO and have a quick Q. Assuming that appropriate steps would be to; a) Ensure all onsite matters are are correct, title tags, meta descriptions, redirects, canonical issues. b) Submit to Directories c) Build Links I am approaching step b) Which Directories are worth submitting to? For those which require payment, how can I decide which are value for money or should I just use SEOMOZ list of links and assume that theyre worth the $50 - $100 if my higher ranking competitors have links from these directories. Also, can this be looked opon as grey/black hat 'buying of links'? Thank you Sean www.pretavoir.co.uk
Link Building | Sep 28, 2011, 7:24 PM | seanmccauley0