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Strong directories making a come back?

Discussion in 'Directories' started by Nima, Dec 7, 2013.

  1. #1
    David Mihm, works at Moz, the annual publisher of the "local rankings factors" survey and also an observer of local search wrote an article on "Hummingbird's Unsung Impact on Local Search": http://moz.com/blog/local-hummingbird-results

    He argues that strong directories might be making a comeback. Here are some of his conclusions:

     
    Nima, Dec 7, 2013 IP
  2. swedal

    swedal Notable Member

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    #2
    Eventually the SEO companies will start touting directories again. That would be their business cycle after all. Charge to build links -> charge to remove links -> charge to build them back again. It is almost funny. Almost.
     
    swedal, Dec 7, 2013 IP
    YMC, sunilmamo and Nima like this.
  3. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #3
    People bought directory links for seo juice. Google stpped giving those links juice, now people have no reason to buy them. Unless google/or the next search engine leader give dir links juice they will not be worth anything and people will not buy them.

    Large directories like yelp, yellow pages are still selling links because they rank in keywords and can send traffic to sites. Unless a directory can produce traffic for good desirable keywords they are just not worth anything these days.
     
    averyz, Dec 8, 2013 IP
  4. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #4
    I would argue the "links" still have something viable, call it "juice", "traffic" or otherwise. If not, why else would a search engine with the power and control to discount them be summarily and preemptively urging webmasters to remove them?

    Seems Google's taken notice that their market share is shrinking and those links and or juice / traffic are coming from other places regardless of Google's presence.
     
    Mia, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  5. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #5
    I agree google does not want people spending money outside of google. I also think that is why google all the sudden claims directory links are bad,"unnatural" harmful, etc.

    But I do think google can and did make directory links basically worthless in their ranking algorithm, all it would take is for them to not give any juice to links that come from sites with hundreds of outbound links coming off of them. Google controls the juice in their own search engine.

    I think they tell people to remove them just to keep people busy and preoccupied. SEO is not that complex. but people keep asking why?, what ?, where ? so matt cutts gets on stage gives them a dog a pony show to talk about and keep them occupied.
    The real story is google is turning more and more results in to paid listings, they want people distracted form this.

    I also think they made directory links basically worthless for my experience with using them and then getting nothing from them along with many other webmasters experiencing the same thing at the same period of time.
     
    averyz, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  6. Nima

    Nima Well-Known Member

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    #6
    Google never claimed all "directory links" are bad. However since there were so many spammy directories out there, there were far more "bad" directories than good ones. That doesn't mean the good directories suddenly became harmful.

    Also, you keep thinking of directories as websites to give SEO link juice. They're also a great place to send very targeted and high converting traffic to the listed websites.
     
    Nima, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  7. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #7
    I am kind of lumping directories into one category because basically 99% them are just link farms, there are also good directories but unfortunately those got hit with google penalties also and now the links just do not have any seo juice.
    There are a few good ones that rank and get traffic if that's what you are looking for but the backlink will probably get you nothing as far as seo juice.

    I owned a niche website with close to 100 pages of content that got a good amount of traffic. When directories first became popular I put one on that site, the directory got a decent amount of traffic from the site and directory listings would rank for decent keywords= Good directory.
    Then google penalized directories almost no directory listing ranked anymore, I started getting link removal requests and almost no new listing sales. So I stopped selling listings let the ones on there run out and took down the script.
    Now it is back to just a website, but I make more now selling links on articles. SEO is always changing, good solid sites stay good, trends and schemes wear out and fade.
     
    averyz, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  8. Nima

    Nima Well-Known Member

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    #8
    If you had a directory on the website to sell link juice it was the wrong reason to have a directory to begin with. And if the directory did serve a purpose for your visitors (provide good references to website your visitors are interested in) it was wrong to remove it.

    You keep looking at directories as sources of link juice. Directories are much more than that
     
    Nima, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  9. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #9
    Lets not lie to ourselves. People make directories to sell listings not to help people. If you want to help people their is many better ways then making a directory.

    Search engines provide much more the directories can. Search engines list sites due to content, relevancy, bounce rate/reader interest, etc

    Directories list sites because they were paid to.
     
    averyz, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  10. Nima

    Nima Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Not true. I can name a dozen people on this very forum that make directories to help visitors find the right business/website.
    I run directories and charge up to $90 a month for a listing. You think businesses would list their site if they weren't getting actual clients through the listing?

    Of course we require payment. Managing, improving, and most importantly promoting the website costs money and we are in the business to turn a profit. We don't claims to be doing it as charity work
     
    Nima, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  11. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #11
    Yes. I have clients that give me lists of all the services they are paying for so I can clean the ones out that are doing nothing. I check traffic and find most of them are basically worthless and most of the links are nofollow.

    People always claim they "are helping people" when the real intention is to make $$$. I am just honest about it because people are not that stupid and I like to deal with honest people.
     
    averyz, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  12. dvduval

    dvduval Notable Member

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    #12
    I was excited to see that article. I think there is some truth to this, and really what is important is making a valuable resource. When the resources valuable than the links would also be valuable. Why are they valuable? Well, because people are visiting the site and finding value there and clicking on those links. Then Google can assess that the backlinks have a value not just based on page rank or other links playing in that site.
     
    dvduval, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  13. Nima

    Nima Well-Known Member

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    #13
    The real intention IS to make money. Doesn't mean the directories are bad.
    The fact that your customers pay you and your directory doesn't send them any traffic, says more about the quality of your directory.

    Directories are a business much like every other business. You can open a restaurant with crappy food and in a bad place and you'll still have some people paying you for a meal. You can also open a nice Spanish restaurant in a good area, serve good food, and make a ton of money too
     
    Nima, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  14. dvduval

    dvduval Notable Member

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    #14
    in your example we have to work at just how crowded the block is where the restaurant is located! It can be a great idea to make a pizza restaurant but after there are several within a small radius the market for pizza is not one that is good to get into anymore. What is happening now is many of the low quality pizza restaurants are getting a lot less business and that means there is going to be some kind of vacuum.
     
    dvduval, Dec 9, 2013 IP
  15. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #15
    My directory sold links and they and they were good links connected to more then 100 pages of content that was full of readers. That's what people paid for and that's what they got. The amount of traffic they got was about the same as most directories maybe 3vists every 1-7 days. (I never promised traffic and that is not what they bought) This is about of traffic is what is see from most directories a few a week maybe a few a day= Which is worth basically nothing.

    Directories are just not known for traffic. How often to you get to sites from a directory ? or do you use google ?

    You might get some traffic out of yellow pages or some big directory that ranks in really good keywords, but as far as your small time basic directory most of the time you get a lot of traffic it is accompanied by "buy a better listing" and the traffic will vanish once the robot stops clicking your site.
     
    averyz, Dec 10, 2013 IP
  16. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #16
    Ironic given this was the strategy they once endorsed.

    Of course they can.

    Look, I agree, Google is in control of their own algo, but they are NOT in control of Bings/Yahoos, or anyone else's for that matter. That said, simply asking people to remove those links or disavow them with Google does nothing to stop these websites from getting link juice and good page rank in other SE's. That still happens, and that my friends is what really eats into Googles core money machine. Its what they cannot control outside of their own network that bothers them most. And what do you do with things you cannot control? You force people to do it for you. Hence, the disavow threat and asking webmasters to remove the links completely.
     
    Mia, Dec 10, 2013 IP
  17. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

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    #17
    I have to agree with this.. I did not read well and was thinking you were just talking about google.
     
    averyz, Dec 10, 2013 IP
  18. Nima

    Nima Well-Known Member

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    #18
    There are plenty of directories that send traffic and more importantly customers to their listed websites. That's the basis of how I evaluate how much to charge for listings on my directories.
     
    Nima, Dec 10, 2013 IP
  19. Web Directory Reviews Org

    Web Directory Reviews Org Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    #19
    Certainly, I get more traffic from search engines than I do from web directories, but I do get traffic from web directories and the directory traffic is targeted. While a high percentage of search engine visitors leave my sites almost as soon as they arrive, a much larger number of my directory traffic sticks around to read other pages of the site, and are more likely to return.
     
    Nima likes this.
  20. Nima

    Nima Well-Known Member

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    #20
    Yes, yes, and yes.
    My entire business is built on sending few but targeted and high converting traffic to the listed businesses
     
    Nima, Dec 13, 2013 IP