Do You Use Directories?

Not anymore, before I use it as one of my link building techniques but I realized that it is not as helpful as before. For business listing I suggest Google Local business listing instead. For online businesses just submit your site on search engines and do SEO on it if you want to increase your visibility.

 

Hi,

I know the directory industry has changed over the last few years and with updates from google it has had a big impact on people running directories and using them.

I did not want this to stop me from continuing to run one and using them for other advertising ventures.

That's why i run a business directory now, Concentrating on quality mainly and my business directory is doing well and for people looking to advertise within directories, All i can say is too choose quality ones, Do some research and list a business in a few directories over a space of time, Directories may not have as much value as they once did but good ones still do to a point.

J

 

You should list your business in reputable directories. Consider big general directories, local directories and niche directories. However, you should stay miles away from shady directories. To know if a directory is shady or not you should look if it's too easy to get your business listed. That's not a good sign. Directories that do a review of the listing are more reputable. Moreover, you should do a quick Google search and see if the directory shows up. If it doesn't, stay away.

 

directories are only good for link/diversity, nothing more.
It would be ok to add a few to your portfolio, but like
with anything, if you over do it, then you could get a penalty...
(IMO: high authority sites can absorb higher risks....)

 

Directory submission can be rewarding for building good quality backlinks and increasing traffic on your website. Choose wisely and according to your niche. Also don't forget that a lot of directory services are a spam service. And when it comes to listing, I would suggest Google My Business.

 

@Gosuperb is making an important point here that is worth to listen to. Keep in mind that there are directory services that are in fact spam services. So stay away from them as they will do more harm than good.

 

Well ı used couple of it but the ones qualified its with money.

 

Directories are still good for link building but the quality one not spam. Choose paid quality high authority directories instead of free directories. Go for botw, dirjournal, jasmine directory, joeant, bhanvad, and leading link directory.

 

Are you offering any discount coupon for your directory?

 

For the most part, no. Although I think local directories still serve a purpose.

 

As many others said, probably only paid directories are actually good quality. Maybe few free ones too.

However, from our experience, many directories in our field were outdated and it’s just a waste of time to apply to them. End note – if you can find active, professional directory then definitely give it a go. If you can afford paid ones – even better. Otherwise, I would rather try to find other ways of getting your name out there.

 

Almost no one usess them anymore, most times they are not up to date that's the main reason.

 

There are many still online and some that show the 'Pending Sites' you can tell they have been abandoned when it's in the 1000's.

Best Regards

 

I agree with nycgraphicdesign
Directories can get your site indexed, but am not sure if any SEO benefits are left in it...

 

I think if it’s a new site / business it’s going to be probably low down in search results, submitted to a select amount of quality web or business directories depending on type will help as chances are the directory listing detail page will show higher more than the website in search results to begin with.

If it’s a already established website then submitting to directories will probably only get traffic from the directories if people are using it.

From a seo point of view may help with domain authority to a point.

If you build a good site with good content and use a seo checker for different insights like site loading times, link structure, h tags, paragraphs, alt and title tags and so on is probably a good starting point.

Best Regards

 

I can't seem to find the article now, but I think google announced long ago that it does not gives much importance to links from forums and directories anymore.

 

@JEET

That’s right, they don’t (very little now), remember page rank been influenced by how many links pointing to a site? Then came the updates to put an end to that.

In all honesty, quality directories will help new sites if only using a few over time, for established sites maybe help domain authority slightly, Other than people using a directory to search for services.

Forgot to say I don’t think general links in posts but more to do with forum signature links that Google does not like.

Best Regards

 

May be you are right about quality directories, but who will decide if the directory is a quality directory?
Even Yahoo and DMOZ are not considered as quality directories by google anymore...

 

It all goes back to how Google used to rank websites, My thought is they could have just adjusted the algorithm to only allow x amount of rank no matter how many sites are linking to any one site and be done with it but no, I feel that now it’s ok to advertise with one but not with others, My personal opinion.

Best Regards

 

the problem is to find these directories. even searching the quantity of "junk" is enormous....