Is directory submission still a valid practice?
-
Hi Guys,
I have few doubts running in my mind on directory submission, do you think it is still a valid practice in link building?. If your answer is "YES", then please correct me..
-
How submitting to directories is a natural link practice?
-
According to Google, links should not be purchased, it should to be created naturally, but if you see, a lot of high authority directories charging amount from people to index links, why Google not stopping those directories (I mean penalizing) and stopping the people who are trying to get indexed by paying.
-
According to me directories holds only bunch of links to some external domains (I hope I am not wrong), then how submitting to them can bring rankings to me?.
Sorry, if I sound stupid in any of my points, but expecting some good answers from you folks..
-
-
"bunch of URLs which doesn't have even a single inbound link to them, but ranks #1 on Google for so many competitive keywords" ... competitive keywords ranking at #1 without ANY backlinks? I find this hard to believe, but I'll be happy to be proven wrong. Share some?
-
Yes, I think it works in some cases with the actually benefits of relevancy and authority of directory we going to take link from in the specific related category we might think a good FIT for us.
-
Bear in mind there are different types of directories. For example human edited directories. My testing seems to support these are defo valid. Without taking what Google recommend too literally, there is also a question of relevance and the fact that there is a marketing world outside SEO. For example if promoting a restaurant in York, a link in a directory of restaurants in York may not necessarily count in pure SEO terms but it would be unwise to not include.
In my view and experience certain directories will help SEO as part of a balanced mix of links.
-
Hi HDDEPT,
Just wanted to pop in and add that in Local SEO, directory listings are not only still valid, but are the core of citation building which is one of the main practices of Local Search Marketing. In this specific area, Google rewards rather than punishes inclusion in local business directories.
-
Honestly, I am not insulting your intelligence, but do you think they really rank higher because of those directories?. I have bunch of URLs which doesn't have even a single inbound link to them, but ranks #1 on Google for so many competitive keywords. If I am not wrong, then your links are ranking because of your page's content. Please correct me If I am wrong!.
-
Yes it's honestly still a valid practice. I have multiple keywords that rank number one on both Google and Bing where the only links are coming from directories.
-
no it is not. it doesn't work anymore.
-
If it is a valid practice, then how it is natural?, according to Google a link should be acquired, rather than created by a webmaster himself (Am i correct?), then how directory submission will satisfy this condition?. Also how a directory holds authority if it doesn't have great content, instead it was just stuffed with few bunch of links to some external domains?.
I agree with you on the local listings part, because local lists help find people about the local businesses (people might be naturally want to search there to find the local data accurately), but web directories works on the concept of indexing anything..
I believe in what I see, and whenever I search for something on Google or any other search engine I found some great useful blogs or businesses website with great content inside them, I never see any directories in those results (at least in 99% of the cases).
Please correct me if I am wrong!,
-
Yes in my opinion directory submission is a very valid SEO practice however there are ethical ways to do directory link building and the unethical/borderline black hat methods. Adding your client in sites like local and national directories related to the client's subject matter expertise is a recommended method for link building. A good list is the one recommended by SEOMOZ below:
www.seomoz.org/directories
Kurtis did a great post on this topic that you can read here http://www.seomoz.org/blog/web-directory-submission-danger
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
-
Why do the best ranking websites not seem to follow SEO best practice, particularly in terms of link building?
I work for an online retailer, which predominantly sells perfume products. In recent months, we have been spending more and more time on SEO, particularly in terms of improving our content, and as part of our strategy we have been working with beauty bloggers in particular (independent reviews, articles etc) to increase the number of links to our website. Whilst we’ve seen steady improvements, we are concerned that some of the key words/phrases we are targeting still aren’t ranking as high as we would like. Some weeks they will move up a few places, but more often than not, they will then move back down. We are more frustrated as we are seeing other websites, which are much poorer in terms of quality content, number of products, etc., ranking quite highly for these terms. From analysing these sites, it seems they are achieving their high ranking from having a considerable number of what appear to be poor quality links. We have been warned countless times to avoid link farms, etc., yet these sites have 100s even 1000s of links coming from suspect sites and it isn’t doing them any harm. Recently, we noticed a lot of our competitors are receiving links from websites such as LinkPartners. When we checked the website, we could see that whilst it appears to be a fairly SPAMMY website, its domain authority (67) is actually quite high. Should we base our decision about whether or not to place a link somewhere solely on how high their domain authority is, i.e. would it be more beneficial to us to have a link with what appears to be a link farm if their domain authority is high, than what appears to be a fantastic independent beauty blog with a low domain authority? Or should we avoid these sites whatever the circumstances? It’s slightly confusing for us as we are being warned about placing links on websites as google is apparently going to penalise us for it, but then we see our rival sites doing well by simply placing links everywhere they can.
Link Building | | DazzaH1 -
Worth paying for directory listings?
I'm going through the recommended SEO directory list but I notice that most of them are paid listings. I have been told that it is not worth spending any money on this, so why are there so many recommended in this list?
Link Building | | BridalHotspot0 -
Why don't directory backlinks show up in Open Link Explorer?
Why don't we see linking root domains like yelp, google, yahoo, etc? Is there any way to get a more accurate list of links to a domain where webmaster tools are not an option?
Link Building | | ScottM0 -
Anyone have Free Directories with High Domain Authority they'd like to share?
I was just curious if anyone had any directories they'd like to share that carry high Domain Authority(imo: 70+)? I know about dmoz.org and Pegasus but other than that, none. Thanks.
Link Building | | Modbargains0 -
Manual Blog Submission Services - Any Recommendations ?
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a high quality blog directory submission service ? I know that the best method is to do this yourself - but the time required to do so is enourmous, so although I may manually submit to a few of the very best directories myself, I'm looking for a good quality manual service to do the rest. I'm willing to pay a decent amount to a quality submission service as I want it done as near as possible to doing it myself. Thanks for your thoughts.
Link Building | | James770 -
Beaten to death but still have to ask, low comp area spammy directory links
I have a client that wants to rank for low comp local keywords (i.e. service + suburban area). Would several well written blog posts on relevant blogs be more effective than 100's of low level spammy directory links? I just want to give him an initial base of a few links, aside from submitting to the local search engines such as those in whitespark citation finder..... please keep in mind this would be a low competition area where on-page would probably rank in the middle of the 2nd page.
Link Building | | ilyaelbert0 -
How can influence a directory backling page on your website ?
Hi, Some good directories asked a backlink for having ours listed in their categories. But of course, I am not fan of putting their link on the home page, but creating a page exclusively for these backlinks is a bad thing to mister google ? thanks in advance !
Link Building | | thuraminho750 -
List of free directories for building / real estate website.
Hi Any suggestion where to source a list of free directories for a property / real estate company which gives reasonable linkback juice Thanks Peter
Link Building | | peterds0