Frequently tempted by the dark side - need reassurance!

[daxvirgo]

I'm a DIY seo with a video production company - our website has been given some solid foundations by an SEO friend and we are climbing nicely up the rankings..

Everyone and their dog constantly warns of not straying into black hat - and I totally understand and appreciate the reasonings.. my issue is - pretty much ALL of the competitors use what I would perceive to be pretty shady web directories.

These directories seem to account for 80% of each of my competitors inbound links (according to open site explorer)

If all the front page of google for "corporate video" are submitting to all these directories - should I?

Cheers

AC

[DougRoberts]

What do you mean by "Shady" web directories?

Are these directories relevant to your niche (corporate video) or a broader but relevant market (corporate services?).

I would say that if there is a reasonable expectation for a normal human being, your prospects, to find you listed in the directory, (alongside your competitors) and the directories aren't involved in anything that clashes with Google's guidelines then I don't see that there is a problem.

That said, I would wonder how much the link from the directory is actually work and whether it would be better to spend the time to get better quality links elsewhere that would beat your competitors anyway?

How does your site stack up against the competitors in Open Site Explorer? Is your domain authority way off?

[daxvirgo]

This post is deleted!

[activitysuper]

There is a reason why your climbing the rankings nicely, because the link profile of your competitors by the sounds of it are poor.

Increase your MozTrust by getting links on Auth websites, Increase your MozRank by gaining more links and this should increase your PA - PA I think is more important then DA.

Those competitor DA stats are not that great.

[EGOL]

I don't have any problem with a person submitting his website to a few directories... but if I want to beat my competitor, I will not mimic his methods.  Instead I will do something clearly superior and kick his butt properly.

If I was the boss at a video production company a good portion of the production staff's time would be spent making videos for our own website.

Video production companies are where webmasters often go when they need some awesome linkbait for their own websites.  Not only does it serve as great linkbait but it is also a great way to "strut your stuff" for anyone who visits your website.

Perhaps you don't make that type of video but maybe it would be beneficial to consider.  It could open a whole new line of business for you.

[DougRoberts]

I don't think I'd bother with the type of directory you've used as an example. You'd be much better off getting the kind of high quality links that your competitors aren't going to be able to get near just by getting directory entries.

If your customers would expect to find you there, it would be a different matter.

See EGOL's response for the kind of things that would really make a difference.

If you're still climbing up the ranks then it's not time to give up and succumb to the dark side!

[daxvirgo]

i totally agree...

and we do a reasonable (not enough) of stuff for our site.. of course need to do more..

it's a bit of trade off - im happy to invest time and money on making cool viral stuff for our site - but i'm nervous about marketing it coz spending 5k and the video only getting 300 hits and not going viral would suck!

[EGOL]

but i'm nervous about marketing it coz spending 5k and the video only getting 300 hits and not going viral would suck!

You can't hit a homerun if you never step up to the plate.

I think that it would be totally honest to have several videos on your site with only a fraction of them going viral.  If you tell everyone that you hit a homerun every time that is not a good way to control client expectations.

[DougRoberts]

It is a trade off, you do have to balance the return on investment when it comes to link-building. Try and think about the longer term rather than trying to get quick results.

Don't worry that things have to go viral to deliver any benefits. Don't think in terms of hits, or rankings - think about your conversion rate, how many visitors you need to make a 5k investment seem like a good idea...

[gfiorelli1]

When I read the question I was imagining something like: I am ready to do some well craft cloaking and, why not, injecting links in my competitor sites...

To submit you site to directories, if they are relevant to your industry, doesn't have their PR cut (easily to check if you confront the mozRank with the PR... if the PR is - let's say - 3 and the mozRank says 6.4, then that directory has been penalized by Google), and the page your site will be listed is regularly crawled... then it is licit. Remember, a link profile should look "normal" to Google eyes... and it is normal that as site is listed in directories too.

On the other hand, being yours a video company, I can only imagine the infinite opportunities you could have in order to create a smashing inbound campaign... I suggest you to read this amazing post published just yesterday in the SEOgadget blog:

Why You Should Supercharge Your Video Strategy & How to Do It

which surely may give you great ideas.

[gfiorelli1]

Mmm... even though it is totally correct to go for authoritative links, remember that they are not enough in order to obtain the desired rankings... and it is not just me saying this, but people like Wil Reynold, who surely a link building authority.

[matbennett]

Don't forget: Just because they have a link, it doesn't necessarily follow that it is helping them.

I know a couple of SEOs who use directories mainly to obscure their more valuable links.  Questionable tactic, but the same happens naturally: When you look at a competitors backlinks it is human nature to assume they are all working, even when the truth might be quite different.

Assume that the 80% is doing almost nothing and start looking closely at the other 20.

That said, I would call low quality directory submission black hat.  It's not great (either in terms of effectiveness or feeling good about your work), but it doesn't harm in the same way as other methods can.

[daxvirgo]

that's a cracking article - many thanks