SEOMoz Link Directory - As Silly as I think it is?
-
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE SEOmoz, but their "Link Directory" (www.seomoz.org/directories) is a bit deceiving.
I was looking for a list of DIRECTORIES that Moz recommends, not a bunch of places where you can pay for advertising.
On top of that, it also lists dmoz as one of the spots to get links from, but have you ever actually ever been able to get a link from dmoz? I know I haven't, and we've been trying to get a link for years.
Anyone else disappointed in this list? Does anyone have a good list of directories?
-Andy
P.S. I love you SEOmoz! Don't hate me for this critique!
-
Just wanted to leave a quick note saying that SEOmoz has upgraded the Link Directory! You can view a post Cyrus wrote with more information at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices.
-
Im with IanTheScot, I have been successful getting a link with DMoz, but I have also been trying to get one for 3 years with another client.
-
We've been trying to get a dmoz link for 9 years.
-
How much time and effort can you spend in obtaining a link from DMoz. I was of the opinion that its just a submit and waiting game?
-
SEOmoz knows and has acknowledged that this resource requires a good bit of TLC. That being said, there are still a couple of good directories in that list - it's not a terrible starting point.
In general, I would try to minimize the importance of directory submissions in your link building process. For my clients and my personal projects, I target perhaps 10-20 high value general directories (some paid, like Yahoo and JoeAnt), as many high quality niche directories as I can find, and then I move on. It's not a huge part of my process, and I don't think it should be a huge part of yours. The fact is that these websites have thousands upon thousands of outbound links that dilute the power of the link to your website, which is already buried deep on some sub-topic page below hundreds of other links. There are directories that are the exception to the rule and do indeed provide great links and good click-through traffic, but in my experience, those are usually industry-specific.
Now, I'm sure a lot of other SEOs on this forum do way more directory submissions than I do (I'm definitely on the low side), but I think most people here will agree that you don't want to make them a big part of your link building strategy. Pour your time and energy into creating great content, networking with bloggers and auhority figures on Twitter, writing guest posts, etc. I'll take one GREAT link from one of the above methods over 1,000 directory links in a heartbeat - and I think that you should too.
-
Well it is obviously out-dated, most links are from 2007-2008. While DMoz is hard to get, if you can get a link from that directory it is worth the time and effort. Some are also expensive, like BBB, but there have been posts on SEOMoz about the worth of a BBB link.
I guess the whole list is out-dated because there are not that many trust-worthy link directories in general. It is also an older tactic, whereas finding and earning natural links seems to be the better way to get links pointing to your site.
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
-
Will link juice still be passed if you have the same links in multiple, outreach articles?
We are developing high quality, unique content and sending them out to bloggers to for guest posts. In these articles we have links to 2 to 3 sites. While the links are completely relevant, each article points to the same 2 to 3 sites. The link text varies slightly from article to article, but the linked-to site/URLs remain the same. We have read that it is best to have 2 to 3 external links, not all pointing to the same site. We have followed this rule, but the 2 to 3 external sites are the same sites on the other articles. I'm having a hard time explaining this, so I hope this makes sense. My concern is, will Google see this as a pattern and link juice won't be passed to the linked-to URLs, or worst penalize all/some of the sites being linked to or linked from? Someone I spoke to had suggest that my "link scheme" describes a "link wheel" and the site(s) will be penalized by Penguin. Is there any truth to this statement?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Cutopia0 -
Paid Links on Credible Sites
Hi people. I'm wondering, what would be the effects of having a paid link on a credible site. The site would feature a brand page about my site and link to it. The site has a good domain authority and they are credible with quality content. Ultimately though the link would be paid. Would Google treat this negatively? Or would they pick up on it at all? Thanks, Paul
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kevinliao0 -
Problem with internal links
Hello! Our domain, http://www.unionroom.com/, is having a strange issue with OSE in that it is telling us our internal pages aren't linking to one another. An example of this is that it is showing our About page ( http://www.unionroom.com/about/ ) only having three links, but this link appears twice on every single page on the website (~200 pages) in the header and footer. We've hung around for a little while to see if OSE would correct itself, but it hasn't and this now suggests that it may be an issue with our in-linking structure. Can anyone spot any issues with our build? The rest of the websites that we produce, that are all built in the same way, all have healthy internal linking structures according to OSE. Very confusing! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | unionroom0 -
Links from non-indexed pages
Whilst looking for link opportunities, I have noticed that the website has a few profiles from suppliers or accredited organisations. However, a search form is required to access these pages and when I type cache:"webpage.com" the page is showing up as non-indexed. These are good websites, not spammy directory sites, but is it worth trying to get Google to index the pages? If so, what is the best method to use?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | maxweb0 -
Directory VS Article Directory
Which got hit harder in penguin update. I was looking at SEER Interactive backlink profile (the SEO company that didn't rank for it's main keyword phrases) and noticed a pretty big trend on why it might not rank for its domain name. SEER was in a majority of anchor text, many coming from directories. i'm guessing THEY were effected because they matched the exact match domain link profile rule I'm not an expert programmer, but if i was playing "Google Programmer" I would think the Algo update went something like. If ((exact match domain) & (certain % anchor text==domain) & (certain % of anchor text== partial domain + services/company)) { tank the rankings } So back to the question, do you think that this update had a lot to do with directories, article directories, or neither. Is article directories still a legit way to get links. (not ezine)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | imageworks-2612900 -
Seasonal links, seasonal ranks
As the garden season begins to wane I notice yet again how my ranking for some garden specific terms - eg ' garden tealight holders' start to rise again.Since I am doing nothing much I can only assume that my competitors have moved their focus to more winter based merchandise. Does anyone have a good understanding of how some websites are able to acheive high rankings during peak season only? I am assuming they are buying advertising (with the follow) for say 3 months before the season peak and manipulating internal linking to direct link juice from one section of the website to the other. Is this strategy risky. Has Google ever made mention of this issue?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | GardenBeet0 -
Links from Directories
We are currently listed in a number of Association Buyer's Guides. We signed up for these last year in an effort to increase our external links. With recent Panda changes, do these links carry any value for us? Here are some examples: http://buyersguideforeducators.com/ http://wasteindustrymarketplace.com/ http://wefbuyersguide.com/ We're in about 40-50 of these different directories. Thanks, Ben
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Colbys0 -
Google, Links and Javascript
So today I was taking a look at http://www.seomoz.org/top500 page and saw that the AddThis page is currently at the position 19. I think the main reason for that is because their plugin create, through javascript, linkbacks to their page where their share buttons reside. So any page with AddThis installed would easily have 4/5 linbacks to their site, creating that huge amount of linkbacks they have. Ok, that pretty much shows that Google doesn´t care if the link is created in the HTML (on the backend) or through Javascript (frontend). But heres the catch. If someones create a free plugin for wordpress/drupal or any other huge cms platform out there with a feature that linkbacks to the page of the creator of the plugin (thats pretty common, I know) but instead of inserting the link in the plugin source code they put it somewhere else, wich then is loaded with a javascript code (exactly how AddThis works). This would allow the owner of the plugin to change the link showed at anytime he wants. The main reason for that would be, dont know, an URL address update for his blog or businness or something. However that could easily be used to link to whatever tha hell the owner of the plugin wants to. What your thoughts about this, I think this could be easily classified as White or Black hat depending on what the owners do. However, would google think the same way about it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bemcapaz0