I see all of these free directories with PR6 or PR5, but when I go to the correct category, the page is only PR3 or 1 or sometimes even 0. Is it worth the time or should I just not bother?
I recommend it, if you have the time. There are a few programs that will help submit them quicker which I use. If you can get a few hundred Pr 1 to Pr 3 free links it will help you quite a bit. Just make sure you submit them with your keyword as the title so that it helps you out a lot more. I personally prefer paid directories now since your link is accepted usually the next day, and for 15 bucks sometimes you can get a nice pr4 or pr5 link which is as powerful as a few hundred free links. So it's all about time vs money, and what you can get for your money. Check out http://www.avivadirectory.com/strongest-directories/ it helps out a lot.
It depends on the value of your time, and which directories you are talking about. If the directory looks well-maintained, no dead links, and if it has unique features and an original look, it's usually worth the effort. Assuming it's a half-decent directory, you will get out what you put in more often than not. In other words, if you can't be bothered to read the guidelines and you can't write an objective description, then don't expect to pick up a lot of links this way. If the guidelines say "no keywords in the title", then if you do this you will be wasting your time.
Depends on what you are looking for. If its back links watch the free directory lists closely and submit as quickly as possible. Once they start filling up the webmasters stop approving submissions and eventually go paid. Dont worry about PR either. As long as the site is indexed and even if the pages are listed as Supplemental, the link still gets counted. You dont get PR.....but who really cares.
I have Digixmas's submission program open all day at work. Whenever an hourglass is staring me in the face or I'm waiting for a command to finish I'll bang out some directory submissions. This way I'm really not taking extra time out of my day.
If you are looking for one way backlinks and you have time then submitting in few hundred Dirs will be helpful IMO, just make sure that the category page to which submit is atleast indexed......
Not for me. I would pay someone to submit to the free directories. There are all kinds of people offering a variety of services at a variety of prices. Some are quite cheap and well worth it IMO.
I am doing a research on this right now. I have an aged website, indexed by Google, but with 0 backlinks. It will be submitted to around 2,000 free web directories over the next week. Will report on its progress after a couple of months.
Of course they are, they have pagerank which means your link will eventually be picked up. The downside is - are these directoriesactive in promotion and keeping quality!
You should check the quality of a directory and not the pricing. Usualy paid directories work on higher standards but this doesn't make all free directories bad. A listing page may have a PR 0 or 1 but it may rise on next update, it may send you big traffic or maybe it is being crawled by google daily so your site will also get indexed. You have to check many factors.
If I saw a free pr5/6 directory with some green on the page I'm submitting to, I'd be in there like a ferret down a rabbit hole.
It's usually worth it if the directory has some PR and the other links in your link's category are decent links. The most important factor determining the value imo is whether you choose the correct category, have a unique title, and have a unique description of your site so the link doens't become just a supplemental link. Higher quantity of links is ok as long as quality of titles (unique as much as practical) and quality of descriptions (EACH one should be unique) is maintained. Don't submit the same content more then once and you'll benefit.
I dont believe that there are more than 500 at any one time that are worth submitting to and Google is not a good measure the number of back links you have as they deliberatey fudge this detail. Dont waste the time checking stuff that does not need to be checked. Most free directories are newly launched and looking for a bit of padding before going paid. Submit and forget about them. You dont need PR either. Links on pages that have been greyed out work just as well as high PR pages. That is if you are soley concerned about positioning and improving your keyword rankings.
i think same applies to paid directories as well. and it is worth as who know they improve there pr on next pr update?? who know?
Yes the category pages on some directories would be PR0 since those pages would be in supplemental result as they do not have any unique content on it But if you submit a link on that page which has no PR at present but in the next PR update the page would have some PR!
PR has little or no relevance when it comes to back links. Pay no attention to it unless its PR you really want. Even if the page is in the supplementary index the link still gets counted. There is a lot of mumbo jumbo surrounding PR. Best to side step and ignore it.
My free directory has generated more than 6500 clicks for members sites (900) in one year. So directories generate some traffic