Is it really worth the time submitting to directories?

Hi guys,

I've been reading round here for awhile now, and thought that submitting to directories would be a great way to get more traffic to my site.

But after reading a bit more, and even some replys to some of my questions, im not sure if there are any benifits submitting to them?

Just a quote from a post below this:

In general getting listed in a webdirectory will get you a backlink to your website and it might hit you with some traffic (depends on which directories).

Right, "it might hit you with some traffic" -- i dont belive this. I have never looked in a directory, and never found any site this way, only by searching google do i find my sites. I'm sure this is the same for most people.

If i submit my site to 500+ directories, with a PR3+ (all free), i'll get 500 backlinks (hopefully, if the sites actually list my site.) -- Then what? 500 backlinks? Whats that mean? dosnt backlinks just improve your PR??? not help with traffic or anything.

Im not saying this in a "totally against directorys" way -- i just dont know much about them, and asking a question - its not supposed to read as a negative way.


And just a little sub question:::

Which would you do to improve your site?

1. Submit to 500 PR3+ directorys
2. Banner exchange
3. Pay to have links on some other sites
4. Articles

 

Agreed. They give almost no traffic.

Getting backlinks helps your site rank higher in the search engines. This will give you targetted traffic in the long term at no cost.

All of the above.

 

Cheers man, stright to the point

About this:

Getting backlinks helps your site rank higher in the search engines. This will give you targetted traffic in the long term at no cost.

Is it quality over quantity?

Would 500 PR3+ directories be just as good as paying to have my site listed on some of links advertised in the b/s/t forum section???

Thanks again for your post.

Regards.

 

my take on this is:
general directories give you backlinks and a PR boost.
Niche directories, could provide some traffic.

 

Its best to do both. Free directories give you loads of links but little benefit from each link. Paid links are better but the costs add up if you want a few of them.

You can pay $30 for submission to one paid directory or $30 for submission to 500 free directories. My advice is to do both.

 

Cheers man, unfortuanately, my sites about as far away as a niche market as they come lol.

I wish i'd found this forum 2 years ago when i started my site --- because i wouldnt have botherd starting! lol.

I guess i'll submit to the free ones then, and pay for a few decent ones aswell.

Thank you both for your comments. Much appreciated.

 

Yes, submit to both. Directories, both free and paid, are the easiest way to get alot of backlinks quickly.

There are several high quality directories that you can submit to for around 25-50 bucks and receive a lifetime listing (some personal faves are BOTW and Site-Sift). Many people will gladly pay 5 or 10 bucks per month for a link on a PR 4 or 5 page (check out the link sales forum), but scoff at the idea of paying 25 bucks for a lifetime link in a good diectory. Not sure their reasoning behind this.

That being said, I probably would never submit anything to Yahoo for the $300 price of submission. That money could be put to much better use submitting to so many other directories rather than just one.

 

IMO, I would like paid $30 to ask some one for submission to free, non-reciprocal directories better.
There are several high quality directories offer free submission.
and we will get some benefit from them, both PR and traffic.

Or maybe you can have a check at : http://www.submithelper.com/
There are some high quality directories listed.

 

How long does it usually take after someone submits their site to directories before the effects start to take place? I also read that submitting to directories was good, so I spent hours last week submitting one of my sites.

I didnt know whether to only submit to the free sites, or to the paid ones. So, I submitted to a ton of free sites, and a few paid ones (all had PR ratings of 3 +). I am new to all this, so any additional information anyone has to share for a newbie like me would be appreciated.

 

Do all of them ,however i think the first thing you do is to submit your site to more and more directories

 

>> "Is it really worth the time submitting to directories?"

IMO, not anymore.

They provide almost no direct traffic.

Their only purpose up to now has been to increase a site's position in search engines' results pages (i.e. - Google finds more links to a site, moves that site higher in its rankings; when searching, more people click on the higher listings), PRESUMABLY to draw more traffic to the site.

However, there has been a lot of speculation lately about how Google and the other search engines are working to nullify the effect a directory has on a site's listings. In fact, (maybe it's just me) this seems to be happening already. I have been watching a couple sites. On Google's search results pages, these two sites are one after the other. SiteA has a few links to it. I have been submitting SiteB to many directories. For a couple days, SiteB moves up in the listing, and then gradually moves down to where it originally was. So I suspect Google is already working on having directories have a 0 affect on a site's listing. Or perhaps Google is just acting funny for the moment.

My advice: Don't bother with directory submissions. Even if Google has not yet nullified the affects of directories, it will soon. And you will have wasted a lot of your time.

Better to work on content, submit articles, participate in forums in which you can make a positive contribution, etc.

That's my two cents.


Duncan

 

Directories are definitely worth submitting to, you just need to look for the good onesm which can provide you targetted traffic over the years. A one time fee is usually worth it in most cases regardless of any PR/Link benefits these directories may also provide. By good ones I mean directories such as goguides,joe ant, gimpsy, BOTW, site-sift etc.

 

I also think that submitting to directories is worth!
One way links are always the best!

 

OK, if anyones seen my other post they'll know i've taken the advice of everyone in here and started submiting to directorys. yay

One thing however, is that if directries are only usefull for giving you backlinks...

My Current Backlinks: 84 -- even with the 600dirs i've submited to. Predicted backlinks: 684 lol.
The site at no.1 has: 65900
It would take me YEARS to get that many - there might not even be that many directories to submit to.

So i still really say, is it worth submiting to directories?

Will the 600 i've done have any effect on my number of visitors

Or should i really do what DuncanM suggests and go for "visual" advertising - where people might actually see my link, in a forum sig, and click it.

What you think guys?

 

I'd have to say yes to 'is it worth it'

I've paid someone a few weeks back to test out their directory submission service on a brand new domain

Quality of submissions were great in this case ...

Site went from PR0 to PR5 ... (I'm sure there are other factors that are affecting the PR value as well), but would have to attribute quite a bit to the submissions.

cheers!

 

Nice1 matey, thats a great PR rating - but did it actually "help" your site?

Did you see alot more traffic, did your income increase, does your site have as much cometion with backlinks as mine?

Who did you use to submit to directories?

I've got some cash to spend on my site if i can really just impove my PR like that.

Thanks.

 

submit to seo friendly directories, and ones with no broken links..

will help a lot, even new directories its fine coz agressive webmasters get them a higher pr sooner or later..

 

I think it's worth it, although I may be a little biased.

The quality of the directory will have an affect on all of your questions, if its just a static directory where no promotion is never done, probably won't benefit you that much. Also, if it is not SEO Friendly then the category you list on may never even be indexed, so no backlink.

However, there are a lot of good FREE and paid directories out there that can help provide targeted traffic and ensure that your backlink will be indexed.

 

Hi Itsall3

I would defiantly submit to all the free directories you can (it only takes hours of really boring work) but the thing I would really recommend to help increase your sites visitors is reworking your site or building a new one to focus on a less competitive niche.

This does not mean you can not have much the same content it just means focus on a different more specialist aspect of the overall market, that way 600 back links will get you a much better position in the search engines.

 

Hee hee.. you should check out the forum discussing PR man, "backlinks just improve your PR" those guys would kill small sites if they could to do just that..