I started out writing a reply to another "Are Free Directory Submissions Worth It" thread and it got so long I decided to make a post on my blog about this topic because it is brought up so often. The Low-Down on Free Directory Submission Value Submitting to free directories is not of overall great value if you want to get your website past a PR2 or PR3 and generate traffic. Why? Read the rest of this post titled The Low-Down on Free Directory Submission Value thanks
John did a test of this here: http://www.v7n.com/forums/web-directory-issues/57939-experiment-concluded-pay-directories-win.html He reached pretty much the same results you did too.
I think a lot of that depends upon *which* free directories you submit to. I've gotten a couple of sites to beyond PR3 with just free directory submissions and links from related sites in their niche (ie. no paid directory links). More important than the PR though, is that they are doing well in the SERPs. Dan's list at info.vilesilencer is a good one. John never said which free directories he used, and since he owns a paid directory, there is a possibility of bias on his account in choosing the free directories to use for the worst possible outcome.
Interesting that you closed the comments on that thread. It's been disappointing that ever since John's post that there has been something of a class war going on over free vs paid directories. While his experiment had some merit - the project was flawed and way to short to be touted as the gospel. There seems to be this arrogance that only free directories are ill-kept, poorly promoted and a bad investment of a submittor's time. It's about time we get real here. There are poorly run directories - period. Free or paid, expensive or cheap - doesn't really matter what the type, some directories are simply a waste of bandwidth. Instead of pushing this all free directories are crap and only paid directories have value agenda, why not push quality? We all know what works and what makes a good directory and none of those basic criteria discuss price.
Paid directory owners always criticize free directories! Free directory owners do vice versa! In my opinion both free and paid directories should exist! as it help Search engines to index a lot of websites Some of here may not agree with my opinion but I have some plans to make free directories very worthy!
Hello... I personally think that you can Only reach a PR4 Max with free submissions but not much higher. I know a few directory owners where the money only comes in but never goes back out and they are No higher then PR4 and probably never will be as they are set in thier ways. thx malcolm
Everyone has their own standards and metrics when evaluating a directory, PageRank is one of them. Unfortunately it is a major influence. It's likely this will not change in the near future and it will remain as one of the most important factors.
I wasnt... I was judging the directory owners talents and his lack of spending they have many that over a year old and never invest into thier sites which was what i was trying say... That is why i always say... that not everything in life is always Free... thx malcolm
Free web directory submissons work for me an my client... I have observed a SERP increase from page 4 to page 1 in google for quite competitive keywords after a round of 500+ directory submissions ( with approvals at the time of checking at around 120+) Personlly i have observed the hightest PR at 4 from free directory submissions. The whole lot surely doesnot ooze quality, but there are still a chunk of them that add quality backlinks like any other paid directory I have observed that too, but then we do have a few gems among us
very nice article mate , i'll even use some of those facts to promote my Services and paid directories!, i always said it those free directories are a problem for the industry, their value is close to notting, and now people prefere to submit their websites to 1000+ free directories, instead of buying 10-15 Quality Listings from Quality Directories.
its just my own opinion i dont see the value in having a backlink from a pr0 page which contain 50 outboud links and delivere 0 traffic. because most free directories are just like that.
Ahh, i see the point you are getting at.. Yes, some dirs are scr**d up but some still hold backlink value.. Lets not brand the whole Free Directory Market Refer my answer above (Personal Experience & Real Tracking)
yep i hear you, we just have different experiences, as a SEO i prefere to have no more than 25-50 quality links from directories, and i want them IN TIME, my cients have certain needs, they want results, i know exactly which links i need and where to get them, with paid directories i control the Quality,Pr,Time and Numbers, with Free directories i dont have those elements and i cant just Submit and Hope to get accepted. cheers.
*hugs for everyone* There are just a lot of free directories creates more bad than good. Although there those that give good backlinks. http://www.v7n.com/forums/web-directory-issues/57939-experiment-concluded-pay-directories-win.html I don't think thats the whole point of that post as he said here: http://www.v7n.com/forums/web-direc...concluded-pay-directories-win.html#post615838
Do directories bring traffic? I'm sure free directories don't because they don't have the resources to rank well in the SERPs. But they do provide backlinks with good anchor text. Sure, most of them are under PR5 so to get above PR4 you're going to need thousands of submissions. This doesn't mean its impossible, it will just take a lot more work. I personally don't worry with paid directories because they're selling PR and imho PR isn't worth much. What is important is the backlinks and how they affect your SERPs, because that is where the traffic comes from. Once I've hit PR4 I'll continue with free directory submissions, but I'll rather want links from relevant sites than links from high PR directories. But that's just my opinion. And I also find it interesting that you closed the comments on your blog post.
Even if you find a free directory with a home page of PR4 you are not likely to even get on a PR2 page, most probably a PR0 page. I don't think all free directories are bad. I just think that most free directories don't have a long-term sustainable business model for staying in business, let alone having the funds for proper promotion. I know many are started with the best of intention, if you want to read my views on that look at this post here, 13 Stages of Free Directory Ownership (it is a bit on the funny side but is based on my own experiences with starting and maintaining a free directory). True and I guess what is really needed here is some type of detailed analysis of multiple factors.
Very few paid directories add listings to empty and near empty categories on their own. While adding a site to near empty categories might pass along a bit more PR, the page won't likely obtain hub status that way and give listings a context boost. Free directories with good editorial control offer webmasters a place to get a link that will be associated with many related sites in their niche. This context is very much overlooked by a lot of folks who are blinded by PR.