Are free web directories still good in SEO

Hello,

The rate of free web directories are going down. The rate of social bookmarking is increasing.

I am not sure if submitting our sites to free web directories still good in seo or not.

When I submit my sites to social bookmarking sites, my sites show up under Upcoming pages immediately. However, this does not apply to web directories.

So, Are free web directories still good in SEO?

Thanks.

 

If the free directory is no more than a link farm no, if it’s a quality directory then yes.

Thanks Brian

 

Here are the results of a test I did using only free directories. It still works.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2172178

 

Directory Submission is still a good practice. Why do you go for the paid directory because Google heat the Paid Links.

 

Most free directories get hundreds, and some thousands, of submissions daily. This is why the review wait is so long. If you want to be reviewed quickly, help support the directory you are submitting to with a paid review option.

The social bookmarking sites that list submissions immediately are either auto-approve or are placing new listings in the upcoming section. The upcoming links are almost always nofollowed. In addition to using nofollow, many social bookmarking sites exclude upcoming stories in their robots.txt file. So while you may see your submission, the search engines are prevented from seeing it or will not count the link for your credit.

There is no replacement for quality. Many of the free places to list at are spammed to death. This places a strain on their operators and lowers their value in the eyes of search engines. If you have a site worth a marketing budget, then I would recommend allocating part of this budget towards submitting to quality paid directories. Many paid directory owners reinvest a portion of their revenue into new features and promotions that benefit those sites that appear in their directory. Most free directories lack the revenue to do this.

@ weknowonlinemarketing

Since you know online marketing then you should know that Matt Cutts has covered the concept of paying for a review vs a link. Many paid directories actually spend time reviewing submissions with research and an editorial description. Some submissions get rejected. That's a service and far from a paid link.

 

yess as long as its is quality yess otherwise waste of time

 

I myself is doing a regular weekly submission to free directories but I make sure that the site and the contents I submit is relevant to the categories I use and even in some free niche directories that I use. Having a free link to any of those free directories are still good for seo, afterall its a backlink to your site. But you still have to choose the right free directory that has no link farms, illegal contents and any black hat elements.

 

I don't even know what directory is to be trusted. So I don't do directory submission. Only on DMOz.

 

Check the PageRank, so you'll know if its a reliable directory site.. Also, always make sure that you are submitting to a directory that has a category relevant to you site. You may study the backlinks of your competitors to have an idea of what they do to promote their sites.

 

Hello friend,

yes, directory submission is still good but submitting your site in high PR and quality directories for good result.

 

Thank you for share

 

quality of article directory is less than the past after google panda

 

If your question is free vs paid, so I can tell you no difference.
If your question about directory submission in general, so it is not that powerful as it used to be in a past, but it will not hurt you.
Just make sure you not submit duplicate descriptions.

 

Well, the actual fact is due to too many popularity of directory submission and the rapid working process it take time to update the result, on the other hand social bookmarking shows result rapidly as it is a bit direct and little time consuming process.

 

what's their to trust about? you are just supposed to submit your websites link in the free directory and you just have to make sure that the directory is not blacklisted in Google. rest if fine and you don't need to worry about. DMOz is kinda dead and their is no surety of inclusion so you better not waste your time in DMOz when other valuable options are still open.

 

I too had this question. Thanks for clearing it up. I'll try and make sure the directories I submit to are safe.

 

Directory Submission is still working well for getting easy backlinks, although you won't get much from low quality directories. So, only submit to high-quality directories, otherwise you are wasting your time/effort to gain almost nothing.

 

free directories still affective for google. if you submit few high pr directories, then its easy for google for quick indexing.
type fast approval directories in google and you get list of quick approval directories!
maximum 10 days required for your website approval in quick approval directories.

 

I think it is still one of easiest way to get backlinks but time consuming one

 

Yes,It is benefit for SEO. If you have submit your site links only quality base directory.