Are Paid Directories a Good Way to Link Build?
Directories can be a good link to have pointing back to your site, depending on which directories it is coming from. Here at SmallBusinessOnlineCoach.com we do use directories to help our clients rankings.
Directories rarely provide much direct traffic. Typically the bulk of the value of a directory listing is in how search engines evaluate the links. Occasionally, you may find a niche directory that does provide good traffic—but most directories do not.
Matt Cutts (in the video above) was not so specific to say which directories would be considered a quality link(s), but we have some tips on how to maybe better judge a directory and whether it’s worth getting a link from.
It’s really just a matter of common sense and taking the time to do a little research.
As Matt Cutts has mentioned above, directories that exercise editorial control typically hold more weight. We recommend using any of the following directories:
- Dmoz – assuming you can get a link back
- Yahoo – $299/year (not always worth the $, depends on your industry & competition)
- BOTW – $99/year
- Librarians Index Directory
- www.business.com
- JoeAnt
- Gimpsy
How we find other sub-niche directories:
The next thing we do is take a bunch of our clients major keywords and will do searches on them in Google, Yahoo, & Bing. Any directories showing up on Page 1 and 2 we will usually submit to, assuming the site does not look too spammy. Typically these are local directories and/or niche directories.
The reason for this is the search engines are already ranking these directories well for the keywords we want to be showing up on so we know this a decent sign that the link will be worth something, and if not maybe then drive some traffic due to it’s decent ranking in the search engine pages.
Some other aspects you will want to measure before submitting to directories is:
- Check to see if they are allowing “do follow” links within their directory
- Make sure the page your listing would most likely show up on is being cached recently
- Do they exercise any editorial control
- Do they allow anchor text as opposed to url name on link
Whatever you do, DO NOT pay for some service that submits your website 100’s or 1000’s directories. You will be wasting your money, there are many more easy ways to build links that produce much better results.
Another tip is don’t always use the same anchor text and if they will allow you to use interior pages on the destination url do so. This will allow your link building efforts to appear a little more natural.
Tell us what are your thoughts on directory links as a source of link building…?
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