Directory Submission for 5 month old website

[Nextman]

Hey guys. I recently started doing a directory submission program for new website. Right now I am submitting to 20 directories per day, as well as social bookmarking around 10 blog posts per day.

I noticed a small drop in our Google rankings since doing this. Is this because it is too much? Or is it just Google re-adjusting itself to cope with the changes.

As ever, really appriciate the help I get off the guys on here. Big love to you all

[RobertFisher]

questions would be...How new? How many pages roughly? Rankings drop for all pages or just random, home page?

With new sites, I try not to look if at all possible I will never fully get that I get a report on a client page that has them overnight to 11 on google for termX. Then a week later drop >39 (off chart). Next week back to 25, then 17, then 9, then drop 27 when no change. So, let it settle a while is my advice. Second, are you being careful about the directories you are submitting to? Cyrus's post on directories (Keri linked to this on another earlier) is helpful along with the SEOmoz Web Directory list should serve you well.

Assuming you are not linking to every casino be happy directory or those in Urdu or Sanskrit or Chinese, and that you are not over linking pages, etc. You should be ok. Without more context it is a bit of a struggle to assist, but I hope this helps.

[Nextman]

Hi Robert. Thanks loads for helping on this.

The site is around 4 months old. There are around 70 pages in total as we blog quality content 2 or 3 times a week now.

The rankings have dropped for the home page, which is the page we are adding all of the DIRECTORY links too. We use the list in the program fast directory submitter. We are careful not to add to a directory that is irrelevant....

In regard to the blog posts, we add these pages to followed social bookmarking sites. one link a day for one month per post.

Thanks loads for the help

[Nextman]

Hi Robert. Thanks loads for helping on this.

The site is around 4 months old. There are around 70 pages in total as we blog quality content 2 or 3 times a week now.

The rankings have dropped for the home page, which is the page we are adding all of the DIRECTORY links too. We use the list in the program fast directory submitter. We are careful not to add to a directory that is irrelevant....

In regard to the blog posts, we add these pages to followed social bookmarking sites. one link a day for one month per post.

Thanks loads for the help

[RobertFisher]

Nextman,

I would say that if you follow the rule that is shown in the above link:

Pace yourself. A good hint I got from Ian Lurie's Fat Free Guide is the 2:1 rule: for every two directory links you build, make sure to build one genuinely natural link. This helps to keep your link profile looking “natural”.

That rule will guide you with your link building. Also, remember that links are about 20 to 25% of SEO depending on who you speak with. So, make sure all else is right as well. Spend time on on page optimization and quality keyword research then write compelling content.

Best.

[Nextman]

Hey thanks Robert. The on page stuff and viral, compeling content via quality blog posts resulting in high levels of SM shares, are the things I am 100% fine with. I would class this as a more modern part of SEO and I no troubles with it, as I work for social media agency.

The site I refer too is / was in the top 3 for regionalised keywords after just 4 months of going live, this is 90% via blogging, shares and social media work.

The thing I am quite new too, and not 100% sure about is the 'traditional' methods of SEO such as directory submission. When you say a"natural link" can you just clarify exatly what you mean? For example, this week I spoke with a foreign company who are very relevant to our business and they agreed to give us a one way link from their site, for free. The site is extremly well ranked from the point of view of SEOmoz and a page rank of 5. Is this a natural link?

Sorry for all the questions, if you can just clarify that for me I will leave you alone

[RobertFisher]

Yes, from what you say here, i would call it a natural link. Make sure the link comes from content and not footer or sidebar and that the content around it is good and germain to what you do.

[Nextman]

great stuff. thanks for your help Robert