Should we focus on Directory Submissions
-
When reviewing our competitors links in Open Site Explorer I noticed that many of them have directory links. We are an online retailer of gourmet food gifts.
So should we focus some of our link building efforts on directory submissions?
-
Just wanted to leave a quick note saying that SEOmoz has upgraded the Link Directory! You can view a post Cyrus wrote with more information about the directory updates and link building via directories at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices
-
Hi Adam
I think you have it right when you say "some" of your link building efforts.
I would look at those that may rank highly for your keyphrases but also if you are a local business I would look to get in local business directories for your area.
I would not focus all your efforts in this area though.
-
Further to what Aaron has already said - take a good look at the directory you are going to list in. Is it tidy and clean, or full of adsense? Does it rank ok, and do the section and region pages rank?
Also - see how deep your link will be in their structure. Dmoz used to be one of the best directories to be listed in until it got too big. If you list in the correct area now in Dmoz, most of the time your listing will end up being 5 or more directories deep, in which case the SE's are unlikely to spider it any time soon.
Well selected directory submission = great
Paid "we'll submit your site to a 500,000 directories" = waste of time and cash
-
It depends on what your company focus is. If you are a local business with actual store fronts, yes absolutely. If you are web facing only but provide local phone numbers you can do that as well and simply leave out your address.
The Lesser (non Google, Yahoo & Bing) local listings won't make you jump 20 spots overnight but can help drive valuable traffic and also provide valuable data across the web that can help with your trust and rankings. (Ratings, Links, Visits etc.)
If you provide a real company and see value in possible traffic through local listings then the answer is Yes - spend some time and do it right.
Fill out every listing in as much detail as possible.
Might not bring loads of traffic but a couple visits per month every month from here on out should help.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Are niche directories still helpful as good links to have to help ranking in the serps?
Are niche directories still helpful as good links to have to help ranking in the serps or has Google discounted directories? The Niche directories that i would be using are not spammy at all and are quality sources of info. Thanks mozzers!
Link Building | | Ron100 -
Can being on to many directories cause a penalty from Google?
If a URL is on hundreds of different directories would that be enough for Google to penalize a website?
Link Building | | PageOnePowerGang0 -
Directory submission after Google panda update
I am very much concerned about directory submission after Google panda update. I have few questions in this regard 1- Should I submit the home page URL or deep links in directories? What is better practice? 2- Can I submit more than one link in one directory? What are the consequences of submitting both (home page and deep link) in same directory? 3- Should I start directory submission aggressively or I need to take care about the quantity? Regards
Link Building | | shaz_lhr1 -
How do you feel about article directories?
Hello, I am a beginner in SEO and I have been reading a lot recently about article directories and article marketing. I have already started writing for article directories, ezinearticles particularly, but I still have mix feelings about it: does it really worth spending some time to write unique articles and to submit them to directories? How does Google feel about it? What do you think about small linkwheel strategies to give some weight to the content you create?
Link Building | | CamilleLG0 -
Where should I be focusing SEO efforts first?
Hi everyone, I am a digital marketing intern at a small marketing business. They have a really horrible, 1990's ish website which I am currently working with them on a plan to completely redo within a few months. Until then I am fixing some issues on their current site which includes SEOing their current content that will be moved to the new site. They have a ton of issues which include, but are not limited to, missing meta descriptions and title tags, no official keywords incorporated into their content, no analytics or tracking of keywords, a poor use of social media, and duplicate content. My plan was to fix all these issues first, then when the site relaunches really start focusing on the more advanced bits (which include link building). The previous intern spent 99% of his time posting on forums building "backlinks". I've been going through his posts and saw he posted on mainly marketing forums on topics but never included any type of link back to the site in his posts or on his forum profile (his reasoning was he wanted to gain a reputation with the forum first so the admin would not delete his posts or so he'd be able to put a link in his signature). He and the owner of the business say that this is the best and most effective way to help SEO and the owner is questioning whether or not I concentrate on that instead of the other issues. So what do you think? Do you think I should be fixing all these issues first and waiting until the site relaunches to concentrate on forum backlinking? Or do you think it would be more effective to just focus on my energies on forum backlinking? Also - the previous intern also told the owner that Wordtracker was a poor investment and is not useful. I have always thought that was sort of an industry standard. Do you think he's right? If so could you recommend something else? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks 🙂
Link Building | | Grow0 -
Link building and directory links to a new site
I have three new sites all hosted on the same server in the same public html folder and each site is in a different folder inside the public html folder. These sites are a listing of live music venues in different cities in Texas. Should I link these sites together to increase page rank to each other and also put key search phrases in the anchor text and place these links in the text in the center of each page of each site to make the links more effective? Also, because the sites are about a year old they don't have many inlinks yet. If i submit them to about 50 directories will Google not like this because there are way more directory links than natural links? I've been told that it is trouble to have more than about 50% directory links compared to natural links. Thanks in advance for your answers! Take care,
Link Building | | Ron10
Ron0 -
Value of paid for directories
For a company with a limited budget, is it worth spending money on paid for directories which a high authority to boost your page rank? Thanks
Link Building | | f1plustraining0 -
What article directories (if any) are still worthing posting to?
While article marketing my not be at the top of the SEO strategy heap, it has, thus far, had a place small place at the table. In light of the Panda-Farmer-Anti-Demand-Media-Content update, I'm re-thinking article marketing altogether. Which, if any, general article directories are still worth adding content to in terms of links and eyeballs? Should these general article directories be avoided altogether?
Link Building | | Gyi0