Since there were so many people trashing the directory industry, I was pleased to read an ex-Google webspam team member state the following about directories: This should reinforce the fact that directory owners and their editors need to review each submission that they receive. Submitters, on the other hand, need to take more responsibility in what they submit as well. The full interview with Andre Weyher can be found here.
Very interesting. I though this comment was interesting as well. That was taken from Question 10 so you need to read it in context but he is acknowledging directories again. Sounds to me like he is endorsing "Good Quality" directories and warning against spammy directory networks. This is something most of us have known all along.
I agree, but then again I have been preaching it for years, especially the spammy networks. I highlighted the most important points in a blog post.
My belief is we are going through a period where some of the spammy networks have been penalized where basically they will tell customers right in their webmaster tools that they have spammy links. As the results of this "purge" by google finalize, there will be room for people to do well in the directory industry again. I've seen this cycle take place a few times over the years where a few people really exploit the system, they get knocked down, and then new people come in to take their place. I think early 2013 will be such a time. I'll say one think about phplinkdirectory.com which probably has the most directories pointing to it on all the net. We have never received a note in our webmaster tools about low quality links pointing to us.
I agree David. Google has been constantly improving their algorithms and periodically crack down on the worst offenders. A fraction of directories have been hit every year or two since 2007/2008. Many of my sites have hundreds of links from general directories. I did not receive any messages in webmaster tools either. Of all my sites, I think only 1 internal page was affected by Penguin, but then again the page had a couple of sitewide links with the same anchor text so the directory links may not be the real cause.
Nice to hear it, at-least its give hope for us that in near feature people will started submission in directories.
The reality is, the only people panicking right now are the ignorant and those that have screwed themselves by listing in bad neighborhoods and or intentionally playing the BH linking game/schemes.
It is really a good news for webmasters. Google is trying hard to improve his algorithm to give the relevant results to its users. Only links from good human edited directories are welcome. Otherwise it may harm the website. thanks Ricky
I think Google may have to resort to a bit of human editing too.. No amount of aglo adjustment is going to solve their crappy and irrelevant search results. They still have their top 10 listings flooded with crap, MFA sites, and dead links.
Are you saying the Google algo is or will be able to tell if a directory is human edited or otherwise? Wow!! (And one day, pigs will be able to fly too. )
Based on my observation, pigs are flying. I know some folks who are very picky about editing their directories, and those directories are performing well. I've also seems some "directory networks" get crushed.
I think it should be fairly easy for Google to detect changes to content on directories that actually routinely edit their content. If not, then whats the point of having fresh and current indexed content in a SE?