Links From General Directories - Are They Worth It?

[Planet13]

Hey everyone,

I've found some GENERAL directories that have a root domain PR5 to PR6, and I just wanted to know your philosophy and strategy for getting links from directories.

(The specific category page would have a much lower PR though.)

Would you even bother getting links from general directories like that?

How many and how quickly?

Would you be willing to do a reciprocal link if they require one?

If they require a fee to be listed, how would you determine whether the fee is appropriate?

Feel free to wax poetic on this topic if you would like to go outside the questions above.

Thanks in advance.

[cnvi]

If its relevant, get the link from the directory. I generally dont care for directories that require a recip. I kindly ask for the link back but I dont require it from my directories.

[Planet13]

Hi there, cnvi:

If its relevant, get the link from the directory.

If it is a general directory, but has a relevant category, would that be ok?

Or would you only bother getting a link if the whole domain / directory was relevant to your site?

[cnvi]

Absolutely. The search engines arent going to ding you for this. What they are looking for is HIGH volume LOW quality. As long as your volume (acquisition rate) remains natural its ok to get the relevant link from the general directory.

Obviously if the entire domain directory is relevant, get the link even if they ask for a link back. Always get the relevant link even if you reciprocate.

[Planet13]

Obviously if the entire domain directory is relevant, get the link even if they ask for a link back. Always get the relevant link even if you reciprocate.

Thanks for the tip.

[CainIV]

What they are looking for is HIGH volume LOW quality.

That's the last thing search engines are looking for.

Measure directory strength by age, the number of inbound links and authority, cache date of proposed page and whether they have an option of being listed in exchange for a link.

And editorial quality, how they list your business, etc.

We have run control tests on directories alone - free directories - and have found negative rankings as opposed to positive rankings.

Just my 0.02

[cnvi]

I meant thats the speed limit you do not want to bust. High volume & low quality = bad. High quality and low volume = good. Sorry for the confusion.

[Planet13]

We have run control tests on directories alone - free directories - and have found negative rankings as opposed to positive rankings.

When you say "alone" do you mean if a site's backlinks include ONLY directories and no quality links?

Or are you saying that sites that have / had good backlinks and then ADDED free directories suffered in their rankings?

[CainIV]

When you say "alone" do you mean if a site's backlinks include ONLY directories and no quality links?

Exactly that. I have tested similar sites, with the same age, similar domain name, and similar content created from scratch, and have tested one of the so called "blasts" of the free directories to put the thing to rest. The website I had dropped to page 8 and has yet to recover (after about 8 months so far).

The other website has about 15 total inbound links and ranks page 2.

And sorry cnvi for the confusion, I agree with your premise.

[Planet13]

Thanks for the clarification, CainIV.

[wheel]

If it is a general directory, but has a relevant category, would that be ok?

There are only two times you want a directory. First is if it's relevant. Second, if it's authoritative.

How do you know if it's relevant or authoritative? Check the backlinks, NOT the onpage.

[Planet13]

Thank you, Wheel.

[almighty monkey]

Also, remember most directoried get their 'PR' from recripocal linking.

So, while the toolbar PR may inflate, their outbound 'link juice' is lost at the same rate. Meaning your link has a much lower value.

I'd spend time looking for authorative and specfic directories if I were you. PR's will be lower, but you care about making money, not being emotionally validated by a little green bar, right? Also, raid any local-themed directories that Google Places source reviews from (even if Places isn't important to you - I'm still seeing value from these)

[Planet13]

So, while the toolbar PR may inflate, their outbound 'link juice' is lost at the same rate. Meaning your link has a much lower value.

Good point, AM. I am going to hold off on the general directories - all directories, really - until I can thoroughly check out their backlink profiles.

I'd spend time looking for authorative and specfic directories if I were you.

There are scant few specific "directories" in my niche. However, I have been using scrapebox to find pages that have "widget resources" or "widget links" in their title. I know these won't have the juiciest links (because there will be lots of other links out on them), but it is a start (and I can always look at the pages that either link to, or are linked out from these pages and find more pages).

[wheel]

There are scant few specific "directories" in my niche.

DOn't just look for directories of vendors in your niche, though that is one avenue. i.e. generalize what you sell and go looking for directories that are somewhat more general in nature but still specific to the class of items.

Research directories that touch your niche in any way. From your vendors, to your products, to your product classes, to who your clients are, to your region.

So if you sold tires to volvo owners, you would look for rubber directories, tire directories, car directories, and volvo directories. So while there may be few directories of 'tire dealers for volvo owners' unless you go into general directories, there's a good chance that you'll find directories related to volvo. And per a previous discussion we've had, I'd suggest that reaching out to the 'volvo' community for you is where you should be getting your links.

[cnvi]

I ran into a similar issue for a client a few years ago. She was selling a very unique product and we could find only one directory to submit her to that was the closest to what she was doing. So we thought, why not create a niche directory for her industry? So we created the niche directory. Made sure only quality sites are added as their requests come in. And then the gravy was that we put her at the top of her categories since she helped us dream up the directory.

The directory is now about 4 years old, its got about 450 links in it and it ranks in the top ten for its primary keywords.

So keep that in mind.. can't find the niche directory? create it!

[Hoople]

+1 to cnvi's point. I just made one last month. This was for a niche of a niche within a niche. My directory choice lately has been regional directories that focus on a state/province.

Sometimes a directory isn't called a 'Directory'. It could be a 'Resource List', 'Partners', 'Industry List' or *gasp* the frequently bashed 'Links Page'. In my niche there is one site with over 1,300 'Links' pages. Brainstorm synonyms of directory for more.

My point is to get creative in how you look for them. Most definately a 'think outside the box' type of search. Combining 'add url', 'submit url', 'add site', 'submit site' or 'submit website' with your keywords in searching might be productive too.

[wheel]

Oh yeah, you don't have a directory for your niche? :).

I have a couple, hand edited, very niche, good quality backlinks, and they're free. I started them primarily just because it's so hard to get links in my niche, it's a place where folks can get at least one free one.

It's also nice because I use the niche for networking. If I'm talking to someone in my niche about SEO, it's one more thing I can throw at them. Hey, have a PR4 link, on the house.

It also lets me see who's doing what in my niche. It's like an email system every time my competitors start an SEO campaign - I get an email telling me they submitted a listing :).

And if I don't like them, I delete their request.

My point is to get creative in how you look for them. Most definately a 'think outside the box' type of search. Combining 'add url', 'submit url', 'add site', 'submit site' or 'submit website' with your keywords in searching might be productive too.

There are lists on the internet of all the different combinations of terms. Such a list was even posted here in the long distance past. Just be careful, even if you find 100's of directories, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to submit to more than about 5 of them.

[Planet13]

Speaking of directories...

Oddly enough, I actually do have a directory that has about five different topics that are more-or-less centered around my main subject. It is a free, dofollow directory. I don't even require a reciprocal to link in it.

But NOBODY submits to it. I mean, I actually LIKE IT when I get a spam submission (about twice a month) because otherwise, I might not get ANY submissions.

Actually, I DO get about 50 profile submissions to the directory a month from spammers (since there is no capture challenge for creating profiles). But they don't get activated unless the spammer enters a valid email address and then clicks on the link in their confirmation email, so my directory is still pretty much spam free.

[zehrila]

Hardly ever seen an impact made by general directories, the best you can get is if your desired keyword is not competitive, i think you can get better by socialbook marking.

There are hardly few directories which actually can make impact.

[alika]

Find directories that are on topic.

I have a client who creates a lot of podcasts, and we helped them get links from podcasting directories. They initially resisted and did not see the value of directories. But now, they now get as much traffic and subscribers from these directories as iTunes.

[dvduval]

Was just reviewing an SEO customer's ranking today. All we did was submit them to a handful of directories (paid but cheap) about 6 months ago and they jumped from 10 to 2 in the search results.

I think if you are dealing with really competitive terms, directories would only be a small part of your strategy to build links, but they definitely still work for us.

[cbpayne]

Its just one part of the strategy; its not the magic bullet and its not going to hurt, except that the time spent submitting to the zillion useless directories is time that could have been spent on something that actually helps.

[boblord666]

As a directory owner I use other directories to promote and build links. With two general directories I undertook different paths. Directory 1 was submitted to thousands of free directories, as well as paid directories, heavily social bookmarked and promoted in other ways with the result that it has hundreds of backlinks.

Directory 2 was submitted to about 20 paid directories that I judged to be of good quality and with a fairly high PR but little else in the way of promotion.

Both are now PR4.

A properly managed general directory really is just a series of niche directories.

[Planet13]

But now, they now get as much traffic and subscribers from these directories as iTunes.

glad to hear it worked out.

How "focused" were these directories?

Were they just general podcast directories? Or were they more niche-specific than that?

[linkbuildr]

I will second and third wheel's statement. Related and authoritative only. Think BOTW and Yahoo DIR etc.

[alika]

How "focused" were these directories?

Just general podcast directories, though one of their most popular categories with loads of submissions cater to my client's topic

[pageoneresults]

Standalone directories are dead. Heck, Google just recently shut their directory down.

Google Directory Gone
[WebmasterWorld.com...]

[dvduval]

@pageoneresults, I agree with you when it comes to people throwing up sites that are just cookie cutters, but there is a lot more variety these days. Here are a few examples:
1. Video Directories where people are submitting their directories
2. Affiliate Program directories where people are either submitting their products or driving affiliate commissions
3. Classified ad directories where people are selling products in a niche or locale.

There are many more examples. There was certainly a time when general directory submissions could do REALLY well for you in Google. Even now, you can rank some terms from directory submissions alone, so the idea isn't dead, but certainly there is a lot more to it now.

[onlineleben]

Standalone directories are dead

Says who? - Google is not the world. It is a powerful traffic source but not all traffic comes from google.

Google just recently shut their directory

Yes,they shut their copy of DMOZ, but it was not much enhancement in it except seeing PR and the sorting. Not a big loss as long as DMOZ itself stays alive.