It appears that Back links are crucial to SERPs so I was wondering if submitting my site to lots of small (probably no PR) directory sites was worth the time? Or would it be better to try and focus on reciprocal links? Any thoughts? Cheers.
1 Cool File is PR6 and was just started in August. So, you won't see the effect now(toolbar) but later. It also depend on are they are marketed. Also, they may not have the nofollow because of being PR0. I added nofollow on my site because I don't want to loose it. It may not matter if they are free directories.
I think that it worth the time if and only if they have a specific category for your web site related to your strategic keyword, otherwise go away. One or two dozens per week is enough. And you may have the chance to submit to a directory that will grow and send you many visitors. You may have a look at what your competitors are linking from using Site Search Explorer and follow their steps.
More importantly there are tools that can stick your URL in these directories - which makes the whole task very easy. I remember seeing someone advertise directory updates for just a few dollars - I'm a firm believer in 'you get what you pay for' so the fact that it's very cheap to do probably means that it's not actually worth doing. If you're worried about where to spend your time effectively then concentrate on creating a decent website that SEO'd with regularly updated quality content. Good luck, Cheers, p.
You should try to get a variety of different types of links with different PRs, including PR0, and acquire them gradually but steadily. That is what would happen naturally, and is less likely to cause a penalty than if you bought a bunch of high PR links over a short period of time, which wouldn't be a natural pattern.
They are worth it because: 1. The directory will not stay a PR 0 forever and as the PR increases so does the importance of your links there 2. It is best to submit to the appropriate category in each directory because the latent semantic indexing portion of the engine algos will notice if the other sites and text describing those sites is indeed related to yours and this also helps.
Let's look at this another way.... Many of the larger and high pr directories only accept paid submissions. Of those higher pr directories that accept free submissions, it can take months for them to review your submission. I submitted to one a few days back that said the current wait is six months for free listing reviews. Many no pr sites will actually have pr, but it will not be exported to the toolbar until the next update. Since there was a recent toolbar pr export, I suspect that many of the pr 0 and pr nr shown in the toolbar is still accurate. But that will change as time goes on. I hate to say it, but on any new site I launch I specifically look for new directories to submit to. I don't have months to wait for backlinks. And since most directories sort by pr, a listing on page 30 for my pr nr site does me no good - even if it were a pr 10 homepage. It's actually BETTER for new Websites to submit to newer directories. New directories have less listings, so your listing won't be on page 30. New directories have a higher rate of acceptance. And new directories approve submissions in days - not months. No slight against any paid directories, but I am a firm believer in submitting to newer directories first. Then after that I will submit to higher pr directories and pay for submission reviews. As with anything else, don't leave any stone unturned. List where you can when you can (articles, blogs, bookmarks, etc.). If your budget permits, pay for submission reviews at established directories so you don't have to wait months for a review. Plus, you can get some deeplinks submitted as well. But consider featured listings if you pay for submission reviews. As I said, being listed on page 30 does no good. Reciprocal's have lost their steam to some degree, and I suspect that is niche dependent. Meaning directories swapping links does little good now, but other niches may do better. If you can get reciprocal links on pages that are relevant, then do so. Just don't get links on pages that look like linkfarms, because they hold no value.