Web directory listings - worth it?

[KenB]

Greetings:

I hope this is the right forum for this question.

I'm putting together a list of web directories that I am considering for my site submission. Some of these directories charge for site listings so I'm wondering if there is a way to determine if it's worth spending the money. I don't mind paying if I'm going to get some return on my investment i.e., better search engine ranking.

Is there a way to determine whether or not a web directory listing on a particular site will be useful.

Thanks.

Ken B

[DMike]

You should make sure that the directory you want to submit to it's not on "google's black list". Meaning it shows up in google searches and it has a good PR. After that, you should see how much that directory it's used ... but i'm not very sure how you can do that, the web stats can be viewed just by it's webmasters. But you can see that depending on how many listings are in that directory. A big number of listings means many people submited there and most chances are that the directory it's used

[KenB]

Good suggestion about the page rank. Thanks.

You should make sure that the directory you want to submit to it's not on "google's black list". Meaning it shows up in google searches and it has a good PR. After that, you should see how much that directory it's used ... but i'm not very sure how you can do that, the web stats can be viewed just by it's webmasters. But you can see that depending on how many listings are in that directory. A big number of listings means many people submited there and most chances are that the directory it's used

[DMike]

your welcome and if you have more questions, post them here

[gibex]

Lately most of big directories have been de-valuated.

[KenB]

Lately most of big directories have been de-valuated.

So it's not worth the trouble of submitting sites? Are personal sites being penalized for these submissions?

[gibex]

Try some good RE directories, but don't stick only on directories, try other methods to promote your site/services.

[DMike]

I agree with gibex, submiting to web directories should be just one of the ways to promote your business

[Halfdeck]

Directories are still a source of link juice and anchor text. Some have been recently devalued to a point where the links are overpriced though.

Some ways of judging directories:

1. Home page TBPR. If the toolbar is below 5, chances are there's not much juice going into the directory so third tier pages where you will be listed on may not have much impact on your ranking. If the home page TBPR is 2, for example, the linking page may not even have enough PageRank to be listed in the main index. Though Google is indexing words on supplemental pages now, the links on supp pages carry much less umph than links on pages in the main index.

You can also run a site's home page throuh Urltrends to see if the TBPR have been recently whacked. If you see a big drop, chances are the links are devalued and therefore are overpriced. If the TBPR drop is only 1 point, then that may be just a natural drop, not a penalty. Vanessa Fox's blog, which used to be TBPR 7, dropped to 6 back in Nov due to natural PageRank fluctuation in the SEO space.

2. Traffic ranking. Though Alexa/Compete data are inaccurate, they will give you an idea of a site's link popularity (in general, higher rank = stronger backlinks)

3. Recip requirement. If a directory blatantly asks for a recip link, then their links are not editorial, thus not worth a penny.

4. Too many links per page. More links = less link juice per link, though PageRank is not the only thing link passes (it also gives you trust, anchor text, and other factors). Yahoo Directory, for example, has thousands of links per page but is still worth submitting to because getting in is a positive quality signal.

5. Redirects, javascript, nofollow. Some directories do not link to you with a straight link. Unless the directory sends you decent traffic, its not worth submitting to sites like these. Keep in mind, even a straight link with a onclick="http://..." javascript can be devalued by Google.

6. Multiple directories on the same IP/C-block. Not sure what they detect algorithmically, but Matt Cutts I doubt like seeing a webmaster running more than one directory, if those directories are all general directories. That's one of the things Matt pointed out when reviewing Aviva directory.

7. Directory pages that link to crap. Click a few links to see what else a directory is linking to. Are some of your toughest competitors listed on the same page?

There are a ton of other signals, but if your site is thin on links, you don't want to worry too much about every single factor. Beggars can't be choosers. Track your rankings and decide whether a link is worth keeping or not. Start with the best directories and work your way down.

To see if a directory listing is helping your ranking, record your rankings for some of the terms in the anchor text you'll use for the listing, then track them over time to see if you gained position. If you don't track results, you will never be sure if the money you spent was worth it.

If you own a blog, you can also submit to blog directories; there are a ton of them out there.

[KenB]

Phew! That was like a mini course in directory linking!

Thanks very much for taking the time to post that info.

Directories are still a source of link juice and anchor text. Some have been recently devalued to a point where the links are overpriced though.

Some ways of judging directories:

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