Are directory submissions worth it? Its a tough questions. They where the foundations of search engine optimisation (SEO) for years. However times have changed and if they are not done correctly they can have a negative effect on your website.
What Is Wrong With Directories?
There are many directories out there some free some paid for. Just because a directory is a paid submission does not mean it’s worth paying for a link. Many directories are considered spammy now by the major Search Engines, blanket submissions to directories can actually can hurt your website rankings.
Directories can still offer you a positive link, however its not a simple as as searching through list of them and submitting your site, you have to do some research and choose a few of the “Best Ones”. Being selective is key to a good linking strategy.
How To Make Directory Submissions Worth It?
First point I would like to make is I’m not going to get involved in the argument about paid submissions and featured submission. My personal thoughts is I will never pay for a link I never pay a directory for a link. However that’s a personal opinion and its really up to you if you wish to pay for one.
So to get started on things you should look for in to make Directory Submissions worth it.
Gut Instinct.
Not very scientific I know, However I think its very important starting point. Take a look at the site your looking at getting a submission from. Ask yourself some questions.
Does it look spammy?
Would you want to associate with the site?
Does it have links to Porn or other “Questionable” websites?
Does it look professional?
Gut Instinct can save you some time researching pointless sites. It’s important to be choosy. Once you have a list of sites with potential there are some test you need to do to see if getting a directory submissions is worth it.
PageRank.
PageRank is how Google sees the website. Its a rating between 0 and 10 and looks at the quality of the links to the site as seen by google. Directories with a high PageRank (4+) can be a good way of improving your website pagerank.
To test the PageRank of the website type the directory domain name into the website below and it will give you the sites rank
Alexa Rank.
Looks at the amount of traffic the website gets. It a little counter intuitive, however the lower the number the higher the rank. Its not 100% perfect it does give you a good guideline. I believe a good rank on Alexa would be anything below 1000. However opinions on this can differ.
To test the Rank use the website below and type in the directory domain name.
Inbound Links.
Is the number of sites that link to the directory. The higher the number the more established it is. You need to consider the type of domain that’s linking to the site. If they look like spam or link farms don’t bother with the site.
Use the link below Add the domain name again and press submit. Once you have the results click the linking domain tabs and visit some of them use your instinct on the type of website that is linking to the directory.
Get In Touch.
Contact the site, ask a few questions. See if you get a real person contacting you back and see how long it takes. Try to find out if there is a person managing/maintaining the site.
Final Thoughts On Are Directory Submissions Worth It.
If the Directory site passes the above question then yes that Directory Submissions worth it. However be extremely picky about the ones you add. Also never be Spammy in the the description you add, and use different description for each directory.
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Hey guys very good post
Directories need to meet certain criteria before you should submit to them and like you say there are a lot of spammy links and Google takes action against them.
Google would take action against a directory if it was doing the below.
1. If it was an old domain and was purchased solely for making money for links, which could be classed as a link scheme.
2. It does not have a proper review of the website and the directory lets you put what you want to promote your website.
The above is not all the reasons and you have to be careful because an old domain that has been sold could be used for a directory and have high page rank, which many people would jump at if they could get a link from it.