I've been doing directory submissions and observed that one way submissions are not so effective. I got less than 10% approval and yes all directories are from directory critic. Does anyone have any better success rate with it?
Though I would expect a better percentage than that even with free directory submissions, they are free and I don't think you can complain too much. The problem is that those free directories get hit with an insane amount of spam submissions which takes a long time to wade through. It is common for them to get a couple hundred submissions a day... How motivated to you think the free directory owners are to spend the time needed to do timely and proper reviews on those free submissions? In other words they probably have just not gotten to your submissions yet. They may still be in their que and might be there for some time.
I realize that you can not post a link yet but this conversation lacks much meaning without seeing what website(s) you are submitting. Depending upon the site, 10% might be a great return. Also, are you following the submission rules posted on the directories? Before you answer, did you even read any of the posted TOS? Are you providing a good description or are you simply listing all your keywords disguised as a sentence? I do not mean to insult you but sometimes the site(s) being submitted just don't meet the quality standards or abide by the posted rules for inclusions and under those circumstances would not be accepted by most directory owners. With my directories there are a few rules that if broken will lead to your submission being deleted without me even visiting the website first. Many directory owners do this as well. Directory owners are not sitting by their computers just waiting for submissions - many have full-time jobs and businesses to run. Some directories receive hundreds of submissions every day and it is just a matter of the directory owners having not gotten to reviewing your site yet. How long ago did you submit to the directories and tell us about your site and maybe we could help you to raise your acceptance rates?
I own a few sites that I promote only on free directories and they are doing quite well. Those who say you need to submit to paid directories to be successful are usually paid directory owners. It may seem strange for me as a paid directory owner to tow this line... But you have to understand that I am an honest directory owner...
I'd go with the list at vilesilencer. Directory critic is not editorially checked any any directory is accepted.
10% approval is too low. As I notice, one of three directories reviews submitted sites within a week. So if you do submission correctly, you'd get at least 30% approval after a week. You may have to look at how you do submission .
You are probably having issues because of either poor submission info (including category placement), poor site content, and/or you are one of the many chasing high PR directories. And I'll gamble here and guess you are submitting to mainly high PR directories. Review your submission info, clean up your site (if needed), and try submitting to my free directory list. You will probably do better submitting to the newest directories/lowest PR directories first as they are more likely to accept your submissions. If you have a moment, read this article about getting the most out of free web directories. It's more detailed then this post and explains the difficulties with free submissions to high PR web directories. Good luck.
First of all Any link counts (one way) Secondly if you are doing it right wich i doubt it still takes time to see some effects ...
Be patient. I've had great success getting good positions in the SERPs by submitting to free directories. Spend 15 minutes a day submitting to free directories, spend 45 minutes looking for other potential links, and then spend the rest of the day writing good content. You'll wake up six months from now feeling pretty good about your link profile and SERPs positions.
If it's manual submission, you shall receive around 30% approval. Remember that not every directory will send you an email when your link is approved. I submitted to around 1000 directories, and then my pagerank boost to PR4 from PR1.
I have observed followings when you submit links to one way free directories. Observation is based on DC list. 1) You start getting unsolicited link building services from plenty of them who run a ring of directories which are setup only for this purpose. 2) If you ignore above and don't reply to them you got rejection. 3) About 2-3% are paid directories in disguise of free directory, even though they offer free submission on their website the confirmation e-mail says to pay for it. 4) Most of them prefer link exchange. Problem is I can't do link exchange, always, with my client websites. They don't prefer to make their professional website looks like link farms. So I've to rely on on free one way which is more of miss than hit. Question: Does anyone have a list of free directories where I can get 90% + success rate. I can live with delays, which I understand, but failure is not an option.
Good article, looks like you have been doing a lot of research lately Well for me any link matters low PR or high PR as far as directories are concerned. I wouldn't be bothered about PR when submitting to free directories in Bulk. However I keep an eye on any useless directories which are waste of time and filter them out from my list.
Since it's the free directories, there is nothing to complain. Many of the free directories owners just care about the quantity not the quality and they dont have time to manage them all.
In my experience as directory owner and directory submitter I have observed that following factors affect website acceptance: 1. Is the directory dead? There are many directory owners who simply ignore maintaining the directory after sometime. 2. Review time for directory: again, many directories don't even have captchas in submit form and they will have a long pending queue. 3. Adsense on website: If there is a lot of adsense (or other ads) on website some editors will reject the submission. 4. Content on website: If you submit a one page website to directories it's likely that no good directory will accept your submisions. 5. Website design/css/html validity: If your website design sucks, don't expect too many directories to approve your submission. 6. Category of submission: I guess everyone understands this one 7. Title and description: all capitals in title, very short description etc. are some of the things that will fetch instant rejection. 8. Submitting non-english sites to english directories: rejection 9. Submitting deeplinks or subdomains: some directories only accept top level domains for free 10. Submitting to niche directories: don't submit your kitchen related website to a finance or webmaster or travel directory Okay.. that's it for now