Do Directory Submissions Still Hold Any Value?

• Directory Links = Paid Links. Or do they?
• Directories: Love 'em or Leave 'em
• SEM 101: What is a Directory?
• Taking Advantage of Open Directory Project Submissions

I think directory submissions are one of the biggest rip-offs in SEO.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to call them rip offs. Directory fees to help to compensate the time of the editors who have to review and approve submissions. I would just say that some directory inclusions aren't that valuable and one should conduct some research to ensure they will get some value out of it.

I'm not sure anyone really thinks directories have any great relevance these days. They have been far surpassed by link baiting and social media as effective link building tactics.

Directory submissions would be my last traffic/link building tactic. I might do it if I have time, but onyl if I;ve exhausted other options.

I hit some of the more obvious ones when I launch a new site, but it's really more habit than anything else now. I haven't even seen them mentioned in ages. I wouldn't pay, but so long as they are free, it's certainly worth a shot.

Thanks for these well put points.

I think the real basis of the whole article can be summed up simply by saying: "Look for quality links."

As you said before, it's not a case of gaining link popularity all the time, sometimes you can actually gain traffic from the link - which is what Google keep punting - if it is a good quality link, it's well worth it.

As you have listed above, there is no point in submitting to directories that aren't indexed, that don't send traffic or that have the NOFOLLOW on everything. The point is that you need to have a strategy and work with that. Sometimes you want the "link juice" other times the traffic.

I am a big fan of using directories with new sites, often you can link to specific deep pages and this helps index the whole site that much quicker.

One thing you must bear in mind is that one of the biggest stories of 2007 was Google's mission to crack down on paid links. Directory sites are going to be among the first to take a hit.

Nonetheless, there's still some value here and there--in the short run--and this is a good site which presumably uses a lot of the same judgment criteria mentioned above:

http://www.avivadirectory.com/strongest-directories/

Very nice article David! I think webmasters are going to find that long established directories are still offering value in most of their topics and are continually working to get more and deeper topics cached.

One directory I am affiliated with has 1.9 million cached pages in Google and over 6 million in Yahoo but it has taken years of work to get it to this point.

The advice you gave regarding what to look for in a directory is very sound advice and basically what I have recommended for quite some time.

There are also a lot of scams and fraud related to directories and directory submission services roving the internet that inexperienced webmasters need to be aware of and watch out for.

Interesting post. It seems that a lot of directories are just paid directories and don't hold any merit. I'm going to just stick with the old DMOZ and Yahoo.

I continue to use directories as long as the directory provides a good quality link or traffic. I don't believe they should be dismissed completely as a reaction to Google's devaluation of pages with paid links. There good directories available for link building as well as for traffic.

I think there are good and bad directories out just like anything else. It takes time to find reputable ones.

And also for the purpose you're using them for traffic or seo.

I remember when directories actually made a good impact on SEO results... but I do agree with everything you said in this post. Now, they are of little value, unless they are niche directories. Most of my colleagues like DMOZ and Yahoo as well.

Great job on linkbaiting your Arizona directories.

I don't agree to the fact that Directory Submission has come to an end.

Not all directories are being slammed by Google and not all directories are of poor quality. There are directories which still hold good reputation and do not charge annually making the submitter think whether to renew or not.

So, there are still directories which help in SEO.

I couldn't agree more that mass submission is a complete waste of time as at least 98% of them do nothing except stroke the ego of their respective owners. But this shouldn't be seen as universal, as there are indeed a few diamonds in the rough out there that will if not now then later provide v.f.m. (Value for money).

The one good thing about the self implosion of the directory scene as it stands is it made companies like mine stand up and take stock of what is needed, and without linkbaiting we've decided the only way to win back SEO experts approval and confidence is to basically rebuild from the ground up learning on others mistakes.

Directories aren't dead, they are just in a cocoon period where only the strongest will come through this rebirth.

Thanks for the great info!

I've been wavering about paying for directory listings...and the dmoz is a tough nut to crack (I know people who've waited for years and still no listing on open directory...multiple attempts apparently get you black listed).

I was worried that a lack of major directory listings would hurt seo...I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in questioning the current value of the directories.

I run a directory site which is doing the exact opposite for many of the issues raised in the article and in the comments.

Businesses subscribing have gone from page 15 in Google to page 1 for their key words in 3 weeks

In a majority of cases their directory link is higher than their own site

We offer more than just a listing in a directory ... they can promote their products/services in three ways in our associated sites which is also emailed out to our site members (including our directory members)

The thing to remember is that we are a directory mentioned in 4. in a very tight niche which would be a sub/sub category of a Yahoo et al directory.

So don't discount directories per se ... just get into a niche directory

I believe web marketing as such is changing from being SEO driven to new concepts like social networking, local search, video marketing, and so on. To that extent, the usefulness of directories has certainly diminished because it was thought as more necessary as part of classic SEO methods.

By giving the examples of Arizona directories, David has clearly put the focus on localized niche directories, which is what is going to be the future. Search engines’ increasing thrust on local search, mobile search, GIS based information, etc are all indicative of that trend.

One can take the cue from search engines, because it is they who know the best. They have the constant stream of search data, and the way they are changing clearly indicates that the search patterns are also changing.

Thanks, for the useful information. I have suspected this for a long time.

This was very helpful information. We are a relatively new company, and we've been debating whether it's worth the money to get listed in directories. Thanks for your thoughts, they have definitely helped us in our decision making process!

Business.com used to be a valuable directory for SEO purposes not only because it was well regarded by the search engines due to strict editorial standards subject to human review, but also because it allowed multiple links deeper into your site.

Now every paid directory listing is marked "paid" and the links may as well be "nofollows" as they are redirected through an app on business.com's servers.

Yea I've been wondering this myself as I look at the high prices for business.com and best of the web.

Some the pages that you're paying to get onto aren't even indexed....

Good article. Thanks.

Definitely....Directory submission have a large importance in SEO....It is a informative article !!!

They are a rip off. You are much better off using social news sites like www.digg.com, www.reddit.com or www.subbmitt.com to post comments and promote yourself when you can. Obviously don't spam, but there are plenty of ways to promote legitimately like writing your own articles.

Reddit & Subbmitt allow you to post full articles directly on their site or you can just link from your website or blog.

Great article though probably too much information. To summarize:
Don't buy links, use only what's free. The main reason is not the money but the fact that Google 'punished' sites that have paid links since it's like trying to cheat the bots. Any worthwhile directory would list your site for free and the few months delay is not an issue since too many new links to your site is also considered bad by Google... Enjoy :)

I would have to disagree solely because I have a few very niche sites that rely only on the links from these free directories. They're ranking quite well for their niche and I feel if directory submissions are done properly targeting a small niche, you can still be successful. I use a submission service like Directory Maximizer to have the site submitted for me and while it would not make sense to display my url so as to attract attention in the niche, one could try it out for themselves to see if it works. Having said that, directories dont work for high competing terms or they may but you'll need a lot of other links as well.

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Search engine submission is useless
Most of the web design companies are charging their clients separately for SEO. In this SEO package they include 'Directory submission' as an added service. They charge a huge price for this directory inclusion service. But if we do "link:www.websitename.com" on google search after a while, we can not find even a single back link from those directories. I can say this a total ripoff. SEO companies should change their way to earn money. Otherwise they will go the dead end very soon.
Also instead of receiving some traffic from directories, we can try several other methods. As Enzo's comment we can try www.digg.com, www.reddit.com, www.subbmitt.com, free classifieds websites and social bookmarking websites like www.socialmarker.com and www.onlywire.com.

I think most of these companies would use mass submission programs to... that SIMPLY don't work.. they can claim to whatever they want though it didn't work for me and it has probably not worked for many people.... check out my blog on mass submission programs

Well argued article which has made me reconsider my approach to directories.

I use a manual submission process which is time consuming and I hadn't thought of the issue about the pages not being picked up in the Google index. The problem is that checking just adds on another layer of time.

Wow, than this changes everything. I was wondering why I got more traffic from submitting to little blogs than a great big.......now useless directory.

Ok, now ill use my fast blog submitter instead, but the prob with blogs is that lots of times, the backlink is not permanant. The site admin deletes the comments.

Like most people here, I've found directory submission to have only marginal benefit, however some directories (particularly those that have high PageRank and are more subjective do give benefit). There's a list of high PR directories on:

http://www.1websitedesigner.com/directory_submission.html

I've found link building generally to be far more effective, with a range of links from blogs, other websites, the odd directory, etc. I also find that if you're going to post on a blog, say something relevant, don't just add some auto-generated blurb to 100 blogs, because most of them will just get deleted.

Thanks for the great information !!! i just wana know "Is it better to choose a directory of PR 5 than a directory PR 1"??
If yes why is it so?

thanks in advance

@ seo.sowmya: I don't believe that it really makes a difference. The key issue is to check that the pages/category that you are submitting to is actually indexed. It is supposed that a directory with a higher PR will have deeper pages indexed. But I'm still not convinced those green pixels really matter at all.

@Robert : thanks for reply robert!! Is PR is the only mantra to consider a directory??

@seo.sowmya: As cheesy as it sounds look for a directory that real humans might actually use. This will be seen as more valuable to the search engines and it is these that might carry some weight.

Also a good sign is a directory that has human editors. These usually take longer listing new sites but are valued a lot higher by the search engines.

Of course these are very broad suggestions.

I agree directory submissions hold some value but there are many better seo technigues

I do not agree wth you as google page rank is not the only thing to measure their usefulness. They are still a good source of backlinks so why we should not consider them for backlinks?

I don't think there's too much harm though in submitting to directories....I've not spent time in submitting to directories but outsourced it to a service (http://www.directorymaximizer.com) that did it for me.....I noticed that for some of the titles I used, which were purposely created to target a very specific niche, I started ranking for those terms quite quickly......so it worked for me!

I prefer directories for free, but is there any other free source for link popularity

Listing in a directories is part of the mix bag of features for SEO and should not be discounted. Howver be aware of the free for all websites and those that have no age you could be damaging your sites reputation. Niche directories are great for relevant back links.Happy hunting great article!

I would never recommend to submit your site to all 1000's of directories on internet and instead submit to quality and trusted directories which actually review your site before adding it in their database and not they add just because you are paying them..

Some good one includes, yahoo.com, dmoz.org, business.com, botw.org, joeant.com, freeaddurl.org etc

The directories that charge you annually or monthly seems to be good as they can review your site every time they receive the subscription payment instead of directories which take one time fees and add your site permanently and never review your site again in future.
Thanks
A web designer

yea the only ones that seem to be worth the effort are yahoo, dmoz, and tbow. the bad thing is those can be quite costly :/
-jack

I think certain directories are worthwhile, but investing all your time and eggs into one basket is never a good idea. Directories alone will not outcompete good onsite SEO imho.

I will only tell you that the only thing matter is the popularity of that directory it should have at least PR4. And no of outbound link should not be more then 50.

There's this useful research conducted by a directory submission company where a site has been tested only with links from directories over a period of 2 years and the results have been positive, with the site gaining rankings for most of it's targeted terms, details here: http://www.directorycritic.com/blog/directory-submissions-dont-kill-it-works-and-how-weve-got-proof/

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well, I have to comment on this, as we do directory submissions as 1 of our seo-services.

we're january 2009 now, so almost 1 year later.

first of all, I have been discussing paid versus free directory submissions all over the seo-forums.

as you say; sure, some of these expensive directories still have some value left, but it's nothing compared to the value you would get from 15 $10 links, instead of 1 $150 link ...

and for the free ones; well for $150, we'll do 750 submissions, for sure that the couple of hundred links you get out of it have all together much more value than 1 $150, even from 1 of the very few indeed good, great directories.

still, 2 tricky things;
1) indeed there are simply not that many good, free directories out there, so yes, you need to check. then again, if you do directory submissions for just a few sites, all the extra research it takes that you indeed submit to the good ones only is just too much.

that's why you just have to order from some company doing it for you for a small fee

that's tricky #2 ... most of these services don't check either, we do, we have checked more than 18.000 directories, we only have 3000 directory in our list that are indeed seo-friendly, while I i suggest to limit it to 1.000, maybe 1.500 the very best, as there are in fact only about 500 really good free directories, the next 1000 will still show results, but just due to the quantity, not the quality.

this, like I already said, most services, use any directory they can find, of which at least 6-70% is wasted.

so, unles you order from us, sorry to say so, but we're simply one of those very few who are just like some of the very few directories ... for real !

ok, enough, spam ... here my advice for those who are willing to do their own linking:
1) go for the niche-directories, there are just not that many, so it's not that much work to collect a list and check 100 to keep 10, better than checking 1.000 ...
2) pay for them; good niche-directories ask money, most something between $25 and $50, check the page you would end up on and if it has value: minimum PR1 and not too many other listings: max 50. (which is actually rather low, so maybe $25, but $50 would be too much)
3) check the paid-general directories, but go for the cheap ones, many ask something between $2 and $10, even if the value is low, for a small budget, you can buy some good links there, it's my view on it: better a whole bunch of average links at low feee, then those used-to-be-great-but-not-really kind of expensive links

in other words; only go for the expensive directories if you already have used most other options and you have the budget for it

ok, so far :)

happy new year everybody :)

so, unles you know somebody who can recommend you, many times when you order a bunch of directory submissions, most of the dirs you get submitted to are rather bad ...

Nice article. One of the comments I was reading above says that paid links will be penalized by Google. In my opinion that is a wrong notion. The best directories you can submit now to get back links would be Yahoo directory and also Business.com and both of them are paid. If you are submitting your website to small design or web hosting directories it is a waste of money as they don't hold any value and especially the free ones. Waste of time.

Directories still get you good back links but unfortunately it is only the paid directories that Google gives most importance to. Free will not help. Web Designer

What ever you do do not use Directory Maximizer the y ripped me off I paid for submissions for my site which they never delivered. I would like to De-liver them lol

When you have large lists of directories it’s difficult to decide where to draw the line. With paid directories there is an early cut-off point where you stop paying for traffic and are just paying for the link. The search engines continue to devalue the links from these low traffic directories that I wonder if the links have much worth at all now.

Tom

Netklix PPC

There is obviously a mixed feeling about the usefulness of directory submission as a form of link building, but none the less, it can still be of value.

It is a one-way link that is passing some PR value to your site, even though it might not be much.

In using your key phrase as the anchor text and within the description, it will help identify what your site is about and give more weight to the SERPs.

It helps build up your link popularity. (as long it is placed in appropriate categories and not on dodgy sites)

It helps maintain your link popularity in between the long tedious tasks of link building with link partners, forums and blogs.

But as with any one type of link building program you use for your site, it should part of an overall schedule, not just one preferred method.

Search Engine and Directory Submissions

I think the use of directories are very beneficial to a new site, to get then so form of notice on the web, one however needs to submit to reputable directories, this is one way of targeting keywords and doing a bit of link building on ones site. After reading some of the comments that have been post people have such mixed views on the use of Directories, it very interesting to see this.

Thank you for writing this, I have recently been looking into directories for my business, and this will help me choose more carefully!
David in Ohio

Now its cleared that directory submission are now devalued in the age of web 2.0, and only a few them are diligent enough to be given attention..

but do you think that social bookmarking and article submission are still good practices in SEO?

I have used directory submissions as part of my SEO and have really yet to get back any benefit. I think the main problem, that has been outlined in the main article, is simply that most of the directories sites of little or no value to the web in themselves. So why would a search engine assign any value to the pages it linked to?

A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. Most people hope and dream for a happy marriage/relationship, but these dreams are difficult to achieve.

I would agree with you that business.com directory is one of the remaining good directories that give link juice to our sites. I only submit my sites to directories that are authoritative, indexed categories and with good PR.

Cheers, Betty
">Make Money from Home

In the early days, online directories were THE starting place for most search marketing efforts. This post is further evidence that today's niche-oriented, social media infused directories are welcomed, needed, and making a comeback...big time.

There are a lot of top directories out there but they get so many requests. Even if you do submit some have disclaimers that your directory submission may take 3 to 6 months for approval. However money talks and if you pay the $100+ listing fees get bumped.

Is it worth it?

I've found the best directories to use are local ones, i.e. if you live in London, add yourself to directories for London businesses. Google Analytics results suggest these local directories are well liked and respected by Google. They obviously feel that geographically based directories are more genuine. As for paying to be in directories, you may feel it necessary to be in a few top ones if your market is really competitive but personally I wouldn't put my hand in my pocket for 99% of them. Don't waste you money. Only submit if you have the time and they are free. AND - don't add your site to any that have the words 'link' or 'links' in the URl or main headings. The search engines won't like that at all.

Good content but not always true, because if quality directory submission is done in proper way in good, "do follow" directories still have good value. because the google update their spider technique but one thing remain stable is that the back link support of site. and if good directory with high page rank and "do follow" and niche directory still valuable for SEO.

Only submit to directories if you have the time and money. I think the local ones are the best

Hi,
Thank for this article.
I was wondering if directory submission could help provide one-way backlink?

Would that be considered valuable?

because you did not mention it in your article I was wondering if backlink from these directories may actually be BAD for you in the eyes of Google?

Local directories work well. Another good free directory is Jayde. Other sites to get started are linkedin, wikipedia or squidoo

Directory submissions do offer one-way back-links.

It is a one-way link that is passing some PR value to your site, even though it might not be much.

Generally the back-links from these sites are not considered BAD in the eyes of Google, unless the site you have submitted to is dodgy.

Again, It helps maintain your link popularity in between the long tedious tasks of link building with link partners, forums and blogs.

But as with any one type of link building program you use for your site, it should be part of an overall schedule, not just one preferred method.

I think this is stilll an age old mystery, I still find myself going through the motions with directory submissions but not actually getting many links from the activity. There is some minor juice to get from submissions, I am start to lose faith in this aspect of link building. It would be great to hear an all out and out decision.

It's great , very professional prospective. i think directory submission had value in past, now only quality directories would help in getting high rank in search engines.

Thanks you for such an informative article. It just what I've been looking for to decide whether to use use this tactics by paying for submitting my site in different catalogs. For me,as I wish to get a big traffic fast, it's not the direction. I'll try to submit in yahoo, though.

Thanks for the article. I'm not sure where to go with the whole directory submission thing. Is there any point to doing it manually?

Drupal Development

Yes, Ray, there is no free lunch, everything is paid.
Valuable and free web services that I use in recent times and which I think do a better job are Google Maps and Google Base. I think it is better to invest time in them than in the
directory submissions.
Mostly for real estate sites.

The fees directories such as Yahoo and BOTW charge are increasingly causing business to question their value. Surely it's time for a price reduction?

Well I would have to disagree with you in some respects since there are more than two good directories out there (business and yahoo). Some older, more authoritative niche directories still exist and there are quite a few of them not just a couple. Besides the obvious things to research like whether or not they are nofollow/follow links and the amount of PR juice being leaked on the page, certainly the age of the directory and the age of the backlinks to that directory and quality of the backlinks to that directory are just as important if not more so than the two factors you mentioned.

Ya, i agreed with your points, but still i would like to say that directories will give life lasting,stabilized links and directories are the perfect resources to make link popularity.

I don't think regular directories help at all. What I'm trying to decide at the moment is whether its worth paying for the premium directories like botw, yahoo and so on. I once took the 60 day test of sponsoring a category at botw, and although that isn't really long enough to be definitve, I got no direct traffic at all and didn't notice any improved position in the serps either - and they normally charge something like $50 per month for that.

Very useful information ,thanks alot brother.
actually the thing is that now a days directory owners have made it a coplete business they just only concentrate on the payed submission and dont care whether the site for which am paid is really going to be helped or not...

After inserting the search term "are directory submissions any good" your site was number one on the results page.

Thanks for this information, you've saved me time and a good chunk of money that can be utilized more effectively.

Good read! You just saved me a lot of money on directories. I will find smarter ways to promote my website online.

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