Directories for Links or Traffic?

November 21, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Easy inbound links…ahh if only they were really that easy, or are they? We’ve all seen those ads that promise manual submissions to hundreds of directories for some fee. But then again, most of us know that the majority of traffic from search engines comes from the 4 big ones, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.

So is it a wise investment in your marketing plan to purchase this service? I guess it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. I can’t see actually obtaining that much traffic from an obscure search engine that no one has heard of, but the chances of Google seeing your listing in their directory and giving you credit for a link is a lot better.

Directories are certainly a way to link build and I also think it’s one of the easiest ways. The only thing you need to watch out for is the value of the directory. If you take up a company on their offer of manual submissions and they submit your site to a bunch of flagged directories you’re going to be hurting your site more than helping.

Do a little research into what directories they submit your site to and make sure none of them have been penalized by Google.

Has anyone had any extremely positive or negative experience when it comes to directory submissions? If so, post your comments below.

Technorati Tags: link building, website traffic, link directories

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4 responses so far ↓

1 geri // Dec 3, 2007 at 3:35 am

With Google’s position on link buying and selling… I ask why bother?
2 Drew Stauffer // Dec 4, 2007 at 5:02 pm

@geri

Directory links don’t really fall into the same category as the same “paid links” that are being penalized. Sites aren’t being punished for having their links in Yahoo’s expensive $299 directory. They are being punished for paying for links that are directly trying to influence the SE rankings.

I think you can still benefit from purchasing a link in a good directory and not have to worry about being penalized…as long as you pick a reputable directory.
3 Malignition.com // Dec 18, 2007 at 5:53 am

I’ve never really bothered buying links from directories. I did submit one of my sites to DMOZ a while ago, but we all know how difficult it is to get listed there.
4 Drew Stauffer // Dec 18, 2007 at 4:51 pm

@ Malignition

DMOZ is definitely tricky. You have to be sure to give them exactly what they want.

You might want to reconsider the directory links. Any link is going to give you more exposure and the right directories can bring a lot of exposure.