Submitting To Directories...Important?

[Xander756]

I was wondering what everybody here thinks about submitting to internet directories as a means to market your business or site online. I have heard many theories why it's good for page rank, link popularity, and drive in traffic. I found a site that has compiled a list of literally thousands of directories here if you believe they are important: Directory Critic » Directory Lists, Article Directory Lists, Link Building, Directory Templates & Resources

If you don't, let's discuss.

[Jill]

At one time it seemed to help, these days -- not so much.

For a brand new site, however, knock yourself out. Some links...even if they're only directories that nobody visits...are better than no links at all.

[jamestl2]

I have submitted to a bunch, even high PR ones, but they didn't seem to make much difference.

[Jill]

Yeah, no surprise there. But it does take time. It's doubtful your actual link is on a high PR page though, is it?

At any rate, you should be looking for more high quality links that you can't simply add yourself. They're worth a lot more than directory links because the search engines know those aren't actually a true vote for your site.

You of course, have to have an awesome site worth linking to. Without that, all the link building campaigns in the world won't help much.

Good luck!

[Brutha]

I have submitted to a bunch, even high PR ones, but they didn't seem to make much difference.

When I search in Google for sites that link to your site I don't find any directories.

I'm no SEO expert myself, but when Google doesn't have the links there I would doubt that the links help you in anyway.

[jamestl2]

That sort of search in No Way covers all the links you have, or are what it usesto calculate your SERP power, just go to Google Webmaster Central to see how many more links it picks up (Only for your own website though, not any random site).

[Jill]

When I search in Google for sites that link to your site I don't find any directories.

Brutha, you're not using Google's "backward link" command of link:example.com are you? Because that hasn't worked for years to show the backward links. It just shows a small sampling (or none).

[programcsharp]

Directories help, when combined with a bunch of other factors. They will drive a tiny amount of traffic by themselves (unless they are targeted directories specifically for the topic your site covers). They may also count as good inbound links for search engine rating purposes.

The biggest thing is simply having a volume of high quality content. If you don't have that, you're not going to get traffic except by some fluke.

Here's an article that covers basic SEO topics: SEOmoz | Beginner's Guide to SEO - Single Page Version. That's a great article... if you're really interested in optimizing your site, check out the seomoz site -- they've got a lot of great information there.

[Brutha]

Originally Posted by Jill

Brutha, you're not using Google's "backward link" command of link:example.com are you? Because that hasn't worked for years to show the backward links. It just shows a small sampling (or none).

I was, but thanks for the information that it doesn't work.