Directory Lifespans & Submission ROI Rates - a little experiment

Discussion in 'Directories' started by YMC, Feb 6, 2009.

  1. #1
    After reading a claim that someone saw a 0% return rate on their directory submissions from several years ago, I wondered how my own submissions performed over time.

    I took my submission spreadsheet and looked for submissions that were at least a year old. OK, I admit, I cheated a bit here - I only included directories that started with the letter A in my sample. I did not want to go through thousands of submissions and websites to simply prove that a 0% return rate is simply not credible. :rolleyes:

    Needless to say, my results were much higher than 0%.

    If anyone's interested, I blogged about my results and listed those A-named directories that passed my little experiment. Directory Life Spans and Submission ROI

    Keep in mind this was not about PR, SERPs or backlink counts since all of those are at the capricious whims of Google. This was purely an exercise in determining directory longevity and submission acceptance.

    Comments anyone?
     
    YMC, Feb 6, 2009 IP
    jitendraag and hyper like this.
  2. mikey1090

    mikey1090 Moderator Staff

    Messages:
    15,869
    Likes Received:
    1,055
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Digital Goods:
    2
    #2
    Not bad. Perhaps replicate that sample twice more in other areas down the list. Wonder how much benefit you're receiving from those alive directories.
     
    mikey1090, Feb 7, 2009 IP
  3. Timehacker

    Timehacker Peon

    Messages:
    121
    Likes Received:
    4
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    Sounds good, 50% success is not bad. But as mikey said, I'm also wondering how much does it really help.
     
    Timehacker, Feb 7, 2009 IP
    hyper likes this.
  4. hyper

    hyper Peon

    Messages:
    1,565
    Likes Received:
    214
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    2 years ago I was playing with a basic free directory, that quickly became popular at that time. I used to do directory submissions myself daily (we are only talking about directory backlinks). I erased that directory since 1year+ ago.

    Today, after 1 year+ since I closed that directory, I was looking in Yahoo! site explorer and saw 999 backlinks pointing to it. Those backlinks are mainly from the free directories I submitted that time.
    If you know how to select directories & you also have a little luck, you can get some steady backlinks from directories.
     
    hyper, Feb 7, 2009 IP
  5. YMC

    YMC Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,787
    Likes Received:
    404
    Best Answers:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    190
    #5
    I'll probably go back and pick another letter because I'm curious now. It will be interesting to see if the stats hold up if the sample size grows.
     
    YMC, Feb 7, 2009 IP
  6. Obelia

    Obelia Notable Member

    Messages:
    2,083
    Likes Received:
    171
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    210
    #6
    That's interesting, and more or less replicates my experience. Submitting to free directories is always a bit of a lottery (although the same can be said of the less established paid ones).

    I don't know how you can estimate figures for the attrition rate of websites in any industry, without having a lot of bias due to the way you define real websites. I mean, every topic has blackhat spammers who register and drop a bunch of domains very quickly, so there has to be some line drawn when you decide which websites you include in your tests. The old Vilesilencer list was quite selective in the first place, and it's even more so now. The more picky you are about who you put on the list, the longer those websites are likely to last because good quality tends to lead to success.

    That would probably make a really good metric for the quality of any directory: what is the attrition rate of the listings?
     
    Obelia, Feb 7, 2009 IP
  7. Sandrocrown

    Sandrocrown Active Member

    Messages:
    139
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    51
    #7
    Usually Directory Submission help but our link from directory just for 1 week/month
    if You have the software maybe it is more easier because our registration data has been save one by one
     
    Sandrocrown, Feb 9, 2009 IP
  8. hyper

    hyper Peon

    Messages:
    1,565
    Likes Received:
    214
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    I didn't understood a word :rolleyes:
     
    hyper, Feb 9, 2009 IP
    wisdomtool and snowbird like this.