I see many people running free directories just to make money on Adsense. You can identify these directories very well. They either have two rectangle ads right on the top spot or have couple of vertical ads running on the right and left. You may also see some infolinks ads etc., My point is, does this work out? Obviously any free directory gets tons of traffic - Mostly from India, Indonesia etc., where people hammer the directory with submissions. What good these ads are going to do for them? Even if they click I am sure the conversion rate of those ads would be pity. So, here is the question. Does this model even work? I lately saw a free social bookmarking website with Adsense banned. Do Google hate directories that use Adsense? Any one have any experience using such model and making it useful for both users and advertisers? Please share.
Not only does it not work (this is clear by the number of rapidly-abandoned directories) it creates a situation that fouls up the web. Adsense, like PR, was a Google monster that generated a lot of spammers. It may have been lucrative years and years ago, but the people engaging in it today, are really just wasting time and creating junk/spam on the web. They won't make any money, the directories won't have any value, and the web will get spammed with more junk.
Oh, sure, that's right. But I think, the submitting traffic will superimpose the non-submitting traffic, thus making adsense or any CPC network vulnerable. Haven't tested this out though. Thanks, Dan. My next question for you - How can a free directory or as a matter of fact any directory bring in non-submitting traffic? I am not referring to big shots who have deep pockets who can create a "real" niche or business directory with business listings, drive value, traffic and sales etc., I am talking about the mass here? The mass that creates tons of medium quality directory that runs on a script and adds web listings and nothing else. Some are really good in editing and some are not. And you know that's how it has been for years together. Is there a possibility to drive non-submitting traffic that really makes sense on these medium quality web directories? If yes, how do one get started. Pls help !
I am far from a big shot with deep pockets but I have always averaged round 10% submitters and 90% visitors. The directory has to be a resource, not just a place to get links. It's extremely hard for any general directory to achieve that - they simply don't have the time or resources. I'll never get rich off of the Adsense on my site, but it can be worth having....on a niche directory.
90% visitors is amazing figure.Very impressive. You are right about general directory achieving this target to be too hard. Let me ask this - Does adding webmaster tools, widgets, free templates etc., make a general directory real worth to end user? I guess this is the only way. My next experimentation would be this! Thanks, YMC.
What makes a general directory, or any directory, worthwhile for a non-submitting user is information and being able to find it. All of the other stuff you mentioned is just fluff. If someone is searching for places to buy pink widgets and your page for widget shops comes up in their search results AND if your page description entices them to visit your site...then you offer both visitors and submitters something of value. For many directory owners, it's a self-made mess. They focus on obtaining backlinks and rankings for "free general directory", "paid general directory", "directory submissions", "directory listings" etc. Those are 100% submission-related terms. What's the likelihood that someone shopping for pink widgets is going to search for "directory listings for pink widgets"? Think they might search for something like "stores that sell pink widgets", "where to buy pink widgets", etc. ? This is one of those simple facts that so many directory owners, even the ones with quality sites, overlook. Each category should be garnering traffic. If all of the promotions and links are for the homepage and are related to "directory" phrases, you'll never attract non-submitting traffic. Sure, adding hundreds or even thousands of well thought out category descriptions is a time-consuming slog. But, it's what makes the difference between those directories who garner real traffic and those who only see submitting visitors. Adding PLR articles is not creating a category - it's simply trying to fool Google into thinking there's real content to be found. Having category pages that rank in the search engines and organic traffic should be the biggest factor in rating the quality of a directory; not PR, not the number of listings and not the brand/reputation of the directory. Directory owners should always be asking themselves if Google went away tomorrow, would there be any reason for people to submit or visit your site. If the answer is no, you have created nothing more than a high-quality link farm.
If you would like to monetize a directory with AdSense, I recommend you to change your mind, unless your site is rich in content and not merely a collection of links... Google is well-known for banning such sites.
I dont know with free directory, but free article directory concept had made me some bucks last year, Samdar. But in my mind, google adsense will not like if their advertisement placed in a site with low quality content, so my answer is not work likely Regards S
I don't think it will work. The quality of the content is low like sniper2008 said, it looks like a link farm most of the time and the traffic on the directories won't be high in most cases.
Basically google adsense is useful if you are not just exchanging links. It means if google thinks that you are adding link of directories to increase visitor not for content then your adsense will disable otherwise not.
So, how many of you have actually run a directory? What experience and factual information are you basing your comments on?
I do Got a PM from a really nice guy about this. Guess he PMed me to keep his site specific info private. Just wanted to update it here to add up to the discussion. -------------------- I have experience running like that - no use. People do not browse on your site so, they don't click on ads. Adsense policy is you are not supposed to have ads on submit page. which is the target of the submitters.. I am still running a few in that model - income is not even $10.00 a month per directory. If you are in a under developed country and $10.00 is a big amount you may be OK. Ex: URL <Removed Niche Directory URL for privacy> Free for Real estate agents that I am running for years. May get $10.00 or less per month. I did run general directories like that and get $0.02 per click and thought of it as waste and took out the adsense on those directoires. ---------------------
Thanks for this bit of info. I have been looking at various way to do things right as well as how to do things the wrong way. I am starting to think that I should make a list--or maybe even write out a small e-book like set of instructions. If I do, I will add this to my list of "things not to do."
I wasn't referring to you samdar, I was referring to all of the newer forum members who claimed it wouldn't work without any supporting evidence. I've found Adsense is a bit of an odd bird. I have some content sites that do nicely and others that make me question the expense of keeping the domain registered. Quality doesn't always matter as much as topic and the type of visitors the site attracts. I imagine directories are no different in that regard. Using Adsense on directories is one of those perennial topics that comes up every now and again. Of the replies from actual directory owners, some can make money, others don't. Most who do make money won't admit it on a forum. At the end of the day, it boils down to 3 things... If a directory only markets itself to submitters, it won't see many browsers. If a directory doesn't attract browsers, it won't make money from Adsense. If a directory markets itself to both submitters and browsers, it may make money from Adsense depending on the topic, ads served and ad placement. Adsense on submission pages is against Google's TOS and has been for a long time. The fact that so many directory owners do it anyway doesn't change that.
I've worked in the Real Estate industry a bit myself. I just don't see a directory of Realtors getting that much browsing traffic. I don't have one, so I could be totally wrong but I would think most searches are like "City Realtors" (where city is the name of the city). Unless you have enough listings to break them down to that level AND promote each city well, I would think a directory would be unlikely to beat the Realtors in that town in the SERPs, therefore, you would not see many browsers. Now, if your directory were a sort of Angie's List where you allowed people to post their experiences with the listed Realtors, that could change the dynamic entirely. Additionally, based on Google's strategy of serving ads based on your searches rather than the content of the site you are viewing, browsers are probably getting served SEO/web development/submission services ads rather than the more lucrative real estate-related ads you were hoping for.