Link Directories = Bad Link Building Practice?!

[Tom_Dwan]

Does anyone still use them in their link building campaigns? I am talking about those free link directories. Also, I am wondering do you perform a blacklist check when deciding where to get links from in your link building campaigns. Some friends from the SEO community said they don't perform any blacklist checks at all and they stick only to DA/PA; TF; Spam score; DR and of course to their experience.

I was recently performing a link profile check of one client and found the previous guy who was working for him was trying to increase his SERP positions for internal pages and long-tail keywords with almost 100% links from such directories. Although they had decent DA ( 20+) ) they were listed as blacklisted ( SPAMCANNIBAL , BARRACUDA etc.) by several tools I use. Is that really scary? I have never thought about blacklists so far and whether they may affect rankings and lead to future penalties. I am using the tool provided by MX Toolbox. Other blacklist tools also showed the directories are marked as blacklisted. I found a correlation that some of the blacklisted sites have a spam score between 4-6. Also, all some of them have banners with naked girls, so this must be a clear sign these directories suck. However, I think there are some decent directories, that may be still useful these days.

 

[rf-harris]

I think submitting in old web directories that have been working for at least 2 years would not be a problem.

 

[Marek Skoczylas]

DA/PA; TF; Spam score; DR DA ( 20+)

Is this the cockpit of the spacecraft or what? Where did you guys take this nonsense indicators.

You will get half responses described directories as an positive SEO signal, and another half opinions as a negative seo signal, and as usuall the only thing left for you is to perform an experiment.

But the truth is that even link placed on sh...it and cr...appy directory can be very powerful.

If you will measure your SEO ability with all these nonsense: WA, PA CA, KA, LU, ME OP, DU - your SEO will stuck in the hole.

 

[Tom_Dwan]

Well, I Don't mean to rely on 100% on them, but at least to some extent anyone performing quality link building takes some of these into account. No matter whether it seems like "cockpit of the spacecraft" or whatever I am sure SEOs pay attention to such metrics just like we used to care for Page Rank back in the days. Of course, as I mentioned above experience also plays a huge role and your own judgement at the end of the day is crucial.

 

[fisicx]

Proper SEOs never took any notice of PageRank either.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

it depends which seo's you talk to. For me if a directory has 10,000 pages indexed in google, they all have recent cache dates, and they come up in rankings for search terms, then that is good enough reason to be there.

 

[ZeroDouble]

Directories can still be useful for SEO, provided they form part of a diverse backlink profile. Having the majority of your link profile made up of them wouldn't be a particularly good idea, but then again you could probably say the same thing about any type of link. Better to be niche relevant, but still can be useful if not. The way I'd check them (apart from manually) is to run them through semrush. Look at the traffic graph (did it suddenly drop off a cliff at some point), and check the relevant chart for page 1 rankings.

As above, if it gets traffic and it ranks for things then google probably likes it.

 

[justinaldridge]

Have to agree entirely with @ZeroDouble. Directories actually work incredibly well, even today. It's relatively easy to spot a low value directory and probably best to avoid them but as part of a complete backlink campaign...directories still work.

We have a thorough internal process for checking the value of a directory and we don't look at DA type metrics at all. There are much better ways to assess these types of websites.

 

[Tom_Dwan]

Have to agree entirely with @ZeroDouble. We have a thorough internal process for checking the value of a directory and we don't look at DA type metrics at all. There are much better ways to assess these types of websites.

Would you share what's your best approach in measuring whether directories are suitable or not

 

[justinaldridge]

We take many factors into account such as:

1. Does it look like a good site and not just some crappy directory?
2. Is it updated frequently? Are things like thumbnails working?
3. Are listings enhanced, eg, maps, opening hours, etc.
4. Ranking of the directory name
5. Ranking of the section we are interesting in
6. Can search engines effectively crawl the pages?
7. Are there a ton of links/listings on every page?
8. Are links followed or nofollowed?

Etc.

It's a long list of checks we go through but there are many sites which are fine to use.

 

[StevePoster]

Linking to low quality directories will make a problem to your site but I would recommend to consider other platforms rather than directories. Its more on reaching your target audience in a popular form of medium in which usually used today by the users.

 

[SimplyMyLove]

We take many factors into account such as:

1. Does it look like a good site and not just some crappy directory?
2. Is it updated frequently? Are things like thumbnails working?
3. Are listings enhanced, eg, maps, opening hours, etc.
4. Ranking of the directory name
5. Ranking of the section we are interesting in
6. Can search engines effectively crawl the pages?
7. Are there a ton of links/listings on every page?
8. Are links followed or nofollowed?

Etc.

It's a long list of checks we go through but there are many sites which are fine to use.

Many thanks for sharing this check list. Does anyone have a good list of these directories to submit to please?

Here is my list that have been successfully indexed by Google, or at least seen as backlinks in my Google Webmaster Tools.

- Free Index
- Yell.com
- Cylex UK
- Find Open
- Lacartes
- Scoot
- Sheffield Forum Business Directory
- The Business Index
- Touch Local

To be honest, there are 100s other business directories I've submitted to, but they don't seem to either have approved my submission or have the link indexed by Google.

 

[boring-friday]

They don't really do much for rankings by themselves, tried signing up to a lot of paid ones in the past.
I just use them for a load of extra naked urls to keep my anchor text %s down

Many thanks for sharing this check list. Does anyone have a good list of these directories to submit to please?

Here is my list that have been successfully indexed by Google, or at least seen as backlinks in my Google Webmaster Tools.

- Free Index
- Yell.com
- Cylex UK
- Find Open
- Lacartes
- Scoot
- Sheffield Forum Business Directory
- The Business Index
- Touch Local

To be honest, there are 100s other business directories I've submitted to, but they don't seem to either have approved my submission or have the link indexed by Google.

A lot won't index by themselves, order a big link package on fiverr thats split between them all and they will.
Probably a bad idea to have 100s of directories index at similar times though

 

[Venchito Tampon]

Link directories aren't bad at all. AlltopSEO and DMOZ are some highly authoritative directories that can give return of investment to your efforts - attracting new visits from people searching for top blogs in a particular industry.

Nowadays, what's more being effective is the use of local SEO, i.e. getting your business listed in local citation sites. Searchers now have local intent - when they search for a particular service, let's say pest control, they don't just search for the keyword, pest control service. They normally add their "CITY" or "LOCATION" to their search phrase - e.g. pest control service Brisbane. You won't just get links from these citation sites but you can certainly semi-automate your lead generation process online.

 

[InFrontDigital]

We generally stick to directories for local SEO purposes or directories that are very specific to the client's industry. We generally steer clear of generic directories or (low quality) paid directories

 

[Tom_Dwan]

Many thanks for sharing this check list. Does anyone have a good list of these directories to submit to please?

Here is my list that have been successfully indexed by Google, or at least seen as backlinks in my Google Webmaster Tools.

- Free Index
- Scoot
- Lacarates
...

To be honest, there are 100s other business directories I've submitted to, but they don't seem to either have approved my submission or have the link indexed by Google.

Thanks for sharing these directories with us @SimplyMyLove ! Here are some of the ones I use most often and had positive impact on my local rankings:

• Only Uncle
• Find the Needle
• Rate My Area
• UKClassfieds
• MySheriff
• Mate of Mine
• Find-Us-Here
• WheresBest
• TradesFinders
• Tuugo
• Yellmy
• Yello Yello

and so on. Sorry can't post links yet but I am sure anyone interested would easily find this online.

 

[TODonnell]

Would you hope to get some sales enquiries via the directory? If so post there.

Is it a spam fest and run by foreigners? Maybe not.

Some pro directories are natural places to list a solid business. 300 backlinks from sites like keywordseodirectory.ru are not.

 

[kezzahayles]

A few quality directory submissions will never hurt and can help depending on the type of link or citation you're getting. but if you're thinking of using software for example to submit to a random list of 2000 "SEO" directories, then you might as well spend your time jumping off a bridge.

 

[Tom_Dwan]

Definitely, using any kind of automated software to generate submissions no matter whether it is article directories, link directories etc is just going to kill your SEO efforts. I've heard spun articles were quite effective back in the evil days, but nowadays is just a hara-kiri!

 

[Hospitality_king]

its not the rankings - its the directories own personal traffic that is key. If the directories didn't work, they wouldn't make money and wouldn't be online today.

Have used em for years, all with satisfactory results and that is new clients for us. We did deal with scoot, and the female sales girl, and I mean girl.... was a nightmare