Do You Risk A Penalty From Local Paid Directories in 2022?
-
Hi there, I have a client who wants to advertise in a local directory along the lines of "find your nearest plumber". The directory only has paid listings and they are follow links and they also mention your site or generated landing page may get a nice bump on google.
Is there a risk that they may get a penalty for using this directory? The client wants to use it regardless of if it gives them an SEO boost but obviously wants to avoid any penalties at all costs.
Thoughts on this?
Thanks in advance
-
Using local paid directories may result in penalties, depending on the directory's activities and adherence to search engine criteria. To avoid potential penalties, such directories must be thoroughly assessed for reliability and legality.
Here is a list that I use which you may find useful:
https://www.iloveaussie.com/
https://shoutinaustralia.com/
https://dayinaustralia.com/
https://aussieplace
https://lookoutaustralia.com/
https://australiadayout.com/ -
I have using directories platform for last 5 years. It works well and good source of referral traffic. I have a question why we can't cover adult, casion. gambling, cbd companies on directory platforms.
For example - I had tried to list a one company Sell Feet Pic. Basically this site cover money making ideas. Shutterstock, Freepik, Unsplash are offering the same service for users. Then why this site was rejected by platforms?
-
@Scottlinklater Web design services and SEO [Webdesign services and SEO/(https://www.webduhsign.com)
-
Hi , i am a seo Specialist for many years now. I really think that people are sometimes so scared about penalty from Google. meanwhile everyone is busy getting backlinks . It doesn't matter whether you buy them or trade them. I would say read the manual what google has to say about this
Google literally says writes that you have to write good content and if you do your best, someone will automatically link to you. I finished reading very quickly. While every Seo Specialist just knows that you just have to link to reach your position .I would say keep it tidy and take a good Seo Specialist who knows what he is doing and knows where to get his links. You can always ask me if you want .
With kind regards Anthony -
I just want to make sure everyone in here is careful and understands Google's policies on paid advertising linking back through an advertisement to your site. That's a direct Google webmaster violation.
If it's a paid ad any directory that shows as an ad but does not show as a sponsored link you can be penalized for that. Now if the entire directory requires you to pay to have a link back to your site that is a paid back link and is also a Google webmaster violation.
Generally the best place to get backlinks is going to be from natural spreading of quality content around your niche.
Here's a copy of an article I recently published in the last few days for our solar installers client Florida solar East.
[https://myfloridasolar.com/batteries/how-long-will-a-100ah-battery-run-a-tv-2065/]
I like to put a personal spin on my content and I really appreciate it if anyone could actually check out that article and give me some pointers because I'm not sure if I'm in the right direction of humor with some of my jokes.
I really appreciate it
-
As long as you use unique titles and descriptions, the chances of a penalty are greatly reduced. Also, try submitting to directories that don't get a lot of submissions regularly. Here is a list that I use which you may find useful:
https://www.directory.express/
http://www.kizex.com/
https://www.ayroo.com/
http://www.rowma.com/
http://www.wayry.com/
https://www.linkvertex.com/
https://www.ultimatedir.com/Again, make sure you always use unique titles and descriptions as much as possible. And if you are trying to rank for a certain phrase, spin it with different words.
For example, if you wanted to rank for "Directory List", you would use titles like: "Best Directory List", "General Directory List", and so on.
-
@scottlinklater said in Do You Risk A Penalty From Local Paid Directories in 2022?:
An interesting question @scottlinklater, and an even more interesting response @miriamellis.
I know a bit about those directories. Yes, they are paid advertising, much in the same way as all the 'free' directories out there. The difference is that advertisers are not relegated to all but invisible listings below 'premium' advertisers. It's all very well adding your business to these free directories, but they are not subject relevant and pretty much only provide a non-relevant backlink.
The intention with these sites is to provide industry specific directories so that the exposure the advertiser gets is far more valuable, and directly relevant to what people are searching for. It's not just about a 'backlink'.
Furthermore, it's designed to be local, hence the geo-sensitivity. All this is intended to help the small businesses out there that do not have huge marketing budgets but want to have access to potential business from online customers.I understand your concerns, and I am happy to address them directly if given the opportunity. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
-
It depends on directories, some directories perform very well like clutch.co and goodfirm.com, my website www.seodiscovery.com gets good leads and traffic from this directory, and same lot of others help to drive the traffic.
-
@scottlinklater if we make with best directoires which are high authority and good, that help lot.
-
Hi,
It almost surely won't trigger any penalty (maybe if you did hundreds of links from directories, but one link in a directory is perfectly fine).
The issue is that Google probably doesn't take into account that type of links, so it would be a waste of money. But in any case, it won't have a negative impact. It is standard procedure for many websites to appear in many directories, and if that triggered a penalty, half of Internet's websites would be penalized.
So no penalties, but waste of money probably. Hope that helps!
-
@prettyyoung Thanks for that. Much appreciated and agreed!
-
@miriamellis Thank you very much for taking the time to have a look for me. The same concerns i had were confirmed in your reply. Thank you for the sound advice..
Cheers
Scott
-
Paid link building is not worth it. I agree with the guy who suggested that the advertiser used the word "off Google" rather than "on Google". Also, there is no way anyone can guarantee to get you on the first page of Google. There is a lot that goes into reaching the top page - Backlinks, superb SEO, age of the domain and so much more. Good luck to your client.
-
@scottlinklater So great you were able to share. So, my advice after reviewing this would be no, do not pay for this. It is totally fine to pay for advertising, so long as it is disclosed as paid advertising. If it's not disclosed, that is where you would have concern like those you mentioned in your original post.
While I am unfamiliar with this directory (I don't know very much about SEO in Australia) there are a few things about the site that are causing me a bit of concern. Among them is this language:
"Guaranteed Exposure Directly Off Google Page 1"
I'm assuming they mean "on" Google Page 1 and I am not sure how any company can guarantee search engine rankings of their pages, since none of us control Google.
There are other signals that are concerning that I won't go into, but at the end of the day, I would recommend building out your listings on free directories that area relevant to your customer base and saving your ad budget for disclosed advertising.
-
@miriamellis Hi there, sure no problem,
the directory is made up of 150 domains like this one
https://mechanicsnearme.com.au/
Then there are 149 more industries and then pages for each suburb in Australia.
You can see them here:
https://mechanicsnearme.com.au/providers
https://mechanicsnearme.com.au/locations
and advertising info is here:
https://mechanicsnearme.com.au/advertise
Thank you very much in advance.
-
@scottlinklater Hi Scott, are you able to share the identity of the directory so our community can give opinions? Without that information, it's a bit of a guess.
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
-
My website DA is decreasing Day by Day
I am working on my site mbWhatshub http://mbwhatshub.com/ and I am worried because site DA decreased when I checked in MOZ and I am trying to find out the reason I failed please is there any bug?
Link Building | | anwarsahil00 -
Is it worth buying an entry on Wikipedia-type sites?
Recently I've come across a few websites offering (for a fee) to research, write and publish an entry on the likes of Wikipedia, Citizendium or Wikitia - I thought this might be helpful when it comes to marketing and link building for a brand or individual. Purchasing guest blog posts is a standard way to obtain a high domain authority in-context backlink, but I wondered if purchasing an entry on one of these human edited encyclopedias would be as effective, better or not worth the money? It costs quite a bit more than guest posting and blog outreach, but on the other hand they are authoritative websites that also include backlinks. Any thoughts would be most welcome.
SEO Tactics | | JCN-SBWD0 -
Need Help with Link Building Outreach Program
Hello Follks, We are a B2B company, and we are planning for a link building outreach program with Tier-2 and Tier-3 tech publication sites. Are there any SEO agencies who can help us only with the Link Building service? Please let me know. I can provide more details once we catch up. Thanks!
Link Building | | Rajesh.Nair0 -
Directory Listings no longer counted in Backlinks?
Interesting situation when I looked at Google Search Console this morning, I found that back-links from directories had dropped off and am wondering if anyone else is seeing this? Specifically, I am in Australia and had links from Yellowpages.com.au and Truelocal.com.au to my primary domain. Interestingly, Yellow Pages had gone a bit crazy recently in that the number of links to my site seemed to balloon exponentially from about 50 when I first listed to 700+ to 1500+ to 1800+ and then the balloon popped. Truelocal in contrast was only ever showing the 1 link. There have not been any changes from my end, and I only ever had one listing in these directories so not sure what generated all these extra links in Yellow Pages. Anyone else in Australia noticed a sudden drop off in Google Backlinks from Directories? If not it may just be a temporary blip.
Link Building | | Excal0 -
Large Paid Directories - Still Worth It?
Hi, So we've heard all the updates from Google lately: don't get involved in buying links, link networks etc etc. My question is, does buying a link from one of the traditional large directories get penalised by Google? If I was to buy a link from Best of the Web - http://botw.org/ - would this be a waste of time? Would I get penalised? If we are only buying 2-3 high value links for our site from very high quality directories, do you think this is fine? I'm asking because BOTW is having a sale today (tomorrow US time), half price submission. Thanks! Edit: Paid directories such as this are still featured on SEOmoz - http://www.seomoz.org/directories - so I'm thinking they still have value if used sparingly?
Link Building | | bradkrussell0 -
Question on Directory submission
If I am submitting to directories for our site. Should I submit them as www.mycompany.com or http://www.mycompany.com or some other way. Any best practices? Or does it even matter? I am a novice.
Link Building | | Boodreaux0 -
Can Low Quality Directories Hurt?
I realize that links from low quality directories aren't of much value. Having said that, can doing this kind of linking actually penalize a site?
Link Building | | waynekolenchuk1