As some of you know, a while back I have made a thread called tips for directory owners. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=231005 In that thread I also mentioned that I am conducting an experiment on how well directory links work. I did a test on two websites (just to be sure) and made no changes to the content, just built up a lot of links. Well now, that results are in, I can tell you that I am very much surprised. I have decided to post this here, rather than in search engine optimization, since the initial post was made here. But mods can move it if they feel that it belongs more in the SEO forum. I did a test on two websites, just to have a bigger sample This includes submissions, and sitewide subscriptions. I did also purchase a few links from some other sites, but over 80% of links that I have purchased come from directories. Now don't get me wrong. I did not submit to 5 directories. I've spent around $2,000, or around $1,000 per site, while submitting each of my sites to around 50 quality directories. I did not submit to any low PR directories, and the category that my links appeared on had to have at least PR3. And if only PR3, without too many outgoing links. I also tried to avoid directories with a lot of sitewide links, to get the most of PR juice as possible. And since these two sites are not of the same theme, they were not submitted to the same directories. Around 60% is the same, other 40% depended on how well that certain category met my requirements. The results: The first website: Was weak PR4, now is strong PR5. For anchor text I was optimizing for, after two months, my site is on the first page in Google, MSN, Yahoo. Yes, on all three! Google was the last one to put it on the first page. Competition is PR5-PR6. And all that in only two months time. Before I started, it was not in the first 100. Ok, the site was around for a long time, and I am sure that for a new site results would not be visible so fast. This was an established site, without the back links it really needed. A lot of inner pages now rank very well as well. This site's search engine presence increased substantially in two months. Second Website: Was strong PR4. PR did not change during the last update. It will probably be PR6 on the next update, as predicted. This website was already on top of all three search engines for the main keyword and is also a very established site, DMOZ listed, etc. What I was trying to figure out here (in addition to having another site for the testing purposes) was how much will link building for the home page reflect on the inner pages. So I did not optimize for any particular keyword, and was varying my anchor text a lot. And wow, I was surprised! My traffic grew by almost 50%, in just two months time, and I did not add any new content. Yes, front page does get slightly more visitors for a few more keywords, but main increase is the traffic that inner pages are now getting. By raising the PR of my homepage I have also raised rankings of many inner pages. So there you go. Directory links still work, and they work very well. You are still getting a lot for your money. This might change in the future, but for now it works very well, so make the best of it V
Hey thanks a lot for the info. can you share the directory list which you submitted to and the URL of your sites. Thanks.
All of that information is arbitrary. No one can define what "weak pr4" Vs. "strong pr5" means. There is no corrolation for what 50% increase is. There is no way to know if the keywords are useful. Even if it was an experiment, I can't see the point in spending 2K to do it. In fact, I call bullshit on the whole experiment and it's results.
great infor m8 and a good source of encouragement for our directory owner . Could you share the strong list too?
Hi, I will post a list if people really want to see it. However, I don't want people to think that theses are the only quality directories to submit to and leave other directory owners behind. These directories worked out the best for my sites. There were other directories that were very good as well, just that certain category I was submitting to did not meet my requirements, for many different reasons. You need to do your own research of every directory to see which one is the best for your site. @noppid I am not a newbie and I wouldn't post something like this I was wasnt sure in it. Keywords are very useful and competitive. Let's just say that there are many adwords for the keywords and $1.5 bid gets you on 4-5 spot. The PR does not really matter. I have listed it just for informational purposes. The results matter. Maybe you don't see the point of spending 2k, but when one good lead can get you hundreds of thousands of $$$ to the business, 2K to get on top is money well spent
I'm with you on the conversions. But did or will the traffic actually convert to justify the expense or was it just traffic? I've been dying to say "I call bullshit" for a few days. No offense meant BTW.
@noppid No offense taken These are my results, and I felt that I should post them, since it really worked out well for me. I cannot guarantee that it will work for everyone, but you can always start slow. Spend $200 and see if there are some changes, even minor. It's all trial and error. The traffic is the traffic we always targeted. And I optimized for those keywords only. My other site, with AdSense, had the same increase in AdSense revenue as the traffic increase. With my results, fortunately the expense is very well justified
I'm missing your point on that one statisticly speaking. But I did see a lot of BS. BTW, unless you're a size 1, you look funny in my GF's panties.
oh, anon, get out of his GF's innerwear and play with us...let him play with her. BTW, nice results !
Well offcourse directories still works, no denying that part, i bought 9 domains this year and tested it each one. index in one day founded within a couple of days and...I need to see the stats again. Good work. www.stupidfinger.com became number on the list within a couple of days with a few keywords or prhases. StupidFinger stupid middle finger etc.. I have more keywords where that rank in the top tens. Not bad for a couple of days at that time. Jan 1st domain purchase 30th. I posted the "i'm #1" at the DP-Google section (but was moved somewhere else) Sure you might say "duh, offcourse it's going to rank number 1 because of the domain name" Not so (not always the case as you might all know) The results are high for those keywords. Stupid.com could have snag the keyword "stupid" alone. But the thing was is that I test it at the frontpage of wwws.org and it's crawled daily and I did not submit this in any other directories or places until later and it still ranks as #1 for those keywords and some. Sure directories still work and does it have to come from a high-paying directories? Well you go spend those money over there while i'll be testing the waters from here.
Great post, thanks for sharing. Spending $2000 worked for your site and I'm sure spending smaller or larger amounts will work for other sites.
Speaking of testing, crap I forgot to test this new one I have. www.searchmydoman.com I will use the Search My Directory as the keywords and will place it at wwws.org. Ok i've submitted this in in 3? different directories so far. Will see in a few days. The current results for the key phrase Search My Directory is 178,000,000. I will submit this at the frontpage of wwws.org and will se if wwws.org (free as it maybe) is as strong as the $45 a link directories out there. (crosses finger)
Bills piling up for CC. Will have to tighten up expenses for 3 months and will limit food capacity to accomodate mortgage. This Sh*t is costly.
I just remember i've allready tested it. Ad Alta meets MR.Bill Four days ago or when ever it was. Rank at #1 now. What can I say. What kid? Want a challenge versus your PR5 versus my PR3? see who's kidding who.
What is this proving exactly? You can say: stop kidding yourself. read above challenge what? See who can change their template 5 times in a year's span? (you win) See who can whine the best? (you win) See who can kid themselves the best? (you win) When I give feedback, I don't include my own. I judge based on the leaders I see who have proven. You fit nowhere amongst them. You are trying to say you are strong? where and how do you come to these conclusions? Where it is in your world that you get these feelings of 'strength' from? hahaha. again; STOP kidding yourself.