Every day, when I’m browsing through forum threads, I see many posts with people offering their services in submitting your site to hundreds of directories. The buyers have no idea that their PageRank isn’t going to increase at all. The reason for this is that everyone judges a directory based on its home page PageRank, while your link submission isn’t going to be on the home page, but rather it’s categories. For instance, viewing the image below you see that the directory has a PageRank of four on it’s home page. Most people would submit to this directory in hopes of receiving a PageRank backlink from them. But let’s click under the Entertainment category for Music. You will see that you wouldn’t receive a PageRank 4 backlink, you won’t even receive a PageRank 0 backlink. Approximately 90% of the directories that your site is submitted to, don’t have a PageRank in its categories. I have an even better example to show. Let’s pick a category that they do, in fact, have a PageRank in. You may think that you have found a directory that would give you a high PR backlink, since the category has a good PageRank of 4. Well guess what, that doesn’t mean anything yet. Looking at the image attached no.2, on the right side, you see that the newer sites that were submitted, appear on the last pages. So let’s say you sent in your site to this directory for music, you would be placed on the 6th page, which has a PageRank of 0. I hope that after you all have looked through these images, and read my comments of each, you all understand why it’s virtually useless to purchase services from people who will submit your site to hundreds of directories. I, myself, ran a small test and picked up a list of 1,000 directories. In each directory, I looked through the categories and went to the pages where my link would appear, and guess what I saw. From the 1000 directories, only EIGHT of them would have given me a PageRank boost. All 1000 directories had a PageRank higher than 4 on the index. Well, now that you all understand this, you’d be able to make wiser choices in selecting which directories to submit your link to, and using your time more efficiently. Tips: The truth behind directory submissions is found beyond the intricate marketing and promotion of out-sourced mass entry. Move beyond the illusion, and you reach the power of quality over quantity. Just my one cent.
The good thing about these cheap submissions - when they are actually completed, even though you're way down on page 12, it'll eventually be indexed, so you'll eventually get some benefit from it. Maybe not much, the worst it can do is search engines giving little/no ranking power for that link. 1000 submissions, usually I've seen quite a high percentage actually approve my link. And over the last few months, for the keywords used, I'm slowly moving up the ranks, day by day. I do see your point and do agree that PR hunters shouldn't be using said services as they won't help your PR. Proven by the fact I have a site with approx 8000 backlinks, thousands of them PR N/A or PR0, and a few higher PR links, but am only a PR4. Whereas I've seen sites with only 100 backlinks and are PR5, simply because they don't have thousands of low/no PR backlinks.
Thanks for taking the time to post your experience. Hopefully most webmasters are aware that directory submissions offer 1.) A backlink to help with SERPS 2.) traffic (from quality directories) and 3.) PR boost if applicable in that order.
I think everybody knows about that.. And those submissions are around 10cents/submission. (10$ for 100 directory submissions ) So you cant get PR links for 10 cents.
just because a category doesnt have a visible PR value does not mean it has no PR directory links do increase your PR whether they show a visible value or not
We are all well aware of this. The 1000 submissions or whatever will have some pleasing results on SERPs, inbound links, traffic and possibly one or two jumps on that little green bar.
I guess everybody knows the "facts" that you have just posted. But I have seen my PR shoot from 0 to 3 in 4 months just on the basis of directory submissions. No blog commenting, no forum posting, no link exchange was done. BTW, I started offering 4 cents manual submissions after I bought a service from someone and they ended up posting incorrect domain name on directories.
Interesting read, from most of what i've read i've understood that suddnely getting 1000's of directory links can be a bad thing rather than good? and it's better to go for a slow growth by posting links to a few directories every day ?
I've noticed this in a way too. My site has a PR of 3, but the parts that people visit have a PR or nothing.. I have a ton of links back to my site, im hoping i build even more as time goes along, but i dont know about directorys...
It will take you forever if you just submit to a few a day, the benefit comes from doing plenty submissions often.
I provide a directory submission service to mostly brick and mortar companies (my service is not cheap). Here's what I have learned: Don't waste time submitting to free high pr web directories (except Yahoo and DMOZ). Most of the high pr directories take months to review free submissions, and some just delete them. Even though some will never approve free submissions, they still want the traffic and backlinks from being listed on various free directory lists. If you like a high pr and well promoted directory, spend the money for an express review. Newer web directories tend to have more relaxed listing standards and a low backlog of submissions. These directory owners want to populate their directories, so they tend to approve much quicker then established directories. Newer web directories have fewer listings, which are normally sorted by pr. If you have a new site without pr, listing at a newer directory with few listings will result in quick indexing of your link. There is no need to limit daily directory submissions. Besides the time these submissions sit waiting to be reviewed, the search engines must index the link once it is posted. I have never seen a site penalized from too many directory submissions (manual or semi-automatic). Submit to as many as you can as your time permits. And when new directories are released, quickly submit to them as well. Every pr update 10-20% of the free directories will turn paid once they get some pr. So submitting now to newer free directories saves money in the long run. It is best to do the directory submissions yourself or hire a well respected and proven submission company. I've outsourced work before and have witnessed many problems. There is nothing like a submitter that submits 1000 links to the wrong category! Then there are the shady submission providers that shave submissions, only submitting to 400 directories from a 1000 submission package. Seriously, backlinks are very important. Consider doing this yourself or spending the time to research the company/person you plan to hire to do it for you. My sig contains the list I submit my client sites to. Dramatic and very positive results are seen within one months time after submitting to this list. It's always updated because some of my clients are on maintenance packages, where I submit weekly for them. I hope you find it a good resource, as well as the tips I noted above.
Every link counts to some degree, maybe it wont boost your PR, but it will add to your SERPS. If you are listing a site that you intend to run for a long time, and submitting to an established directory, you are going to see some benefit in time. Patience has it's virtues in this game!
while i agree what what you said, i dont understand the obsession with pr ? i own 370 websites and i have worked on more than 30 Big Seo projects, i achieved 95% of my rankings including top 3 for some of the most competitive keywords in the internet industry using only relevant links regardless of pr (80% of the links that i create and get are pr0), it's true that that those free directories are almost usless but not because of the "pr reason" but because: 1- most don't have a real backlinks profile 2- you don't get to choose your optimal anchor (it's already taken, or the directory owner wont accept it), anchor text is the most important ranking factor. 3- unlike paid directories, your website is listed with 20+ other websites in the same page (more websites = less juice for your site) 4- because of the HUGE numbers of submission that those directories get, your link may end in page 7 of a 3 level category which is not even indexed. 5- you have to wait up to 6 months to see your links go live, (by this time your competitors will be rich) 6- Most free directories are proved to disapear after 1 or 2 years of their creation (so why submitting at all ?) 7- Duplicate content (Most free directories wont edit the descriptions), and i have seen links disapear completely from the webmaster central because of duplicate content issues. 8-SPAM, you do a 1000 directories blast and you are good for receiving 200 Spam emails per month for the rest of your life (garbage offers, other submissions offer, and even viagra sometimes). Peace.
But the "few a day" strategy does work over the long run. For several years I have submitted regularly, sometimes daily, to the several new directory listings that are posted each day in Digital Point's Directories > Solicitations and Announcements sub-forum. The positive benefits? • Backlinks have grown steadily to nearly 20,000. • My choice of anchor text now exists in thousands of backlinks. • Home page PR is 5, with many PR 4 and 3 inner pages. • Yahoo, MSN, etc., don't care about PR, so all those links count for them. I have never once used a "get 100 (or 1,000) new links" directory submission service. You can do it yourself, regularly and consistently, and see excellent results over time. Remember, to make a good, lasting website, you're not growing an overnight mushroom, but a long-lasting cedar.