Beaten to death but still have to ask, low comp area spammy directory links

[ilyaelbert]

I have a client that wants to rank for low comp local keywords (i.e. service + suburban area). Would several well written blog posts on relevant blogs be more effective than 100's of low level spammy directory links? I just want to give him an initial base of a few links, aside from submitting to the local search engines such as those in whitespark citation finder..... please keep in mind this would be a low competition area where on-page would probably rank in the middle of the 2nd page.

[AnthonyMangia]

A spammy link blast might just do the trick, but your SEO results won't have anywhere near the type of longevity that it would have had you used high quality link building tactics like guest blogging.  A few great links will solidify your client's position in the results and make the lives of competing SEOs that much more difficult in the future.

Moreover, while low quality exact-match anchor text links might help out one page for one keyword, building strong, high quality links to individual landing pages will have a cumulative effect on your ENTIRE domain's authority, and with increased domain authority comes increased long-tail traffic across the board.  Plus, once your domain is viewed as authoritative, you'll be able to rank for mildly competitive terms just by publishing content.

[EGOL]

I agree with Anthony. Given the choice between spammy directories and guest blog posts I would go with the blog posts.

And I would be willing to do a little work to get them on the best possible blogs.