How to work with directories for SEO?

[activitysuper]

Hi,

How many directory links do you tend to build in 1 month? And what do you look for in a directories before you submit?

I could build 2 links a day from directories but the thought of 60 links being built a month from directories shouts bad news to me.

I've had a look and come across a few directories with high DA/PA but at the end of the day they are just link directories, no content, lots of thin pages with lots of links pointing out.

A couple of examples of good directories would help.

Cheers

[Aeronet]

Hi there,

You can check this http://www.seomoz.org/directories to begin with,

Like you said, it's quite easy to submit a website to directories, and I quote the SEOmoz Beguinner's Guide :

"Be careful: links that are easy to get often carry risks when pursued aggressively and in volume.A diverse, well rounded link profile is always best."

[activitysuper]

Thanks,

I agree the easy links you could pick up 1000's a month, all the form fields are exactly the same so pretty much copy/paste job but at the same time complete waste of time.

And when you look at the better directories, they charge - so now your looking at paid links. I would rather pay for a copywriter to produce a guest post then by a link.

I just picked out a directory from the SEOMOZ directory list.

http://www.joeant.com

This directory wants you to pay for the link, and I thought paid links was a no go.

[donford]

Hi Activitysuper,

I can speak to this matter in some degree. All directories are not bad, paid or otherwise.

Quick history, before panda, penguin updates a link was a link was a link, the ones that passed the most juice were high page rank, with the least amount of other outgoing links. If for any reason a site was bad, the links it was linking to were simply ignored or passing no juice.This wasn't that long ago mind you.

What happened is what always happens when money is involved, people starting manipulating the hell out of this. Directory owners started artificially pumping up their page ranks by creating elaborate link rings and exchange programs, once they reached pagerank 4+ they could then sell you a paid listing for big bucks. And it was actually worth it (if you don't mind the grey area) because you would get the link juice and a bump in your page rank as well. On top of this any place that allowed for users to post links were getting spammed.

Google swept in with their swift hand of justice and deemed many of these directories as spam, and further punished sites that were spamming their links all over the place.

So today you look at directories and you do have to wonder should I list there. The answer is very easy. Look at the directory, does this look like a place you would visit for information about your industry? If the answer is no, you don't need to be there.

Some examples of good directories from my industry.

<cite>www.efunda.com/</cite>
www.globalspec.com/
www.saeglobalsuppliermarketplace.com
www.eng-tips.com/
www.thomasnet.com/
www.yahoo.com
www.dmoz.org

What is all comes down to is:

Does the directory offer something of value to the industry?

Does it look like a place where I would search for something in my industry?

Are my competitors there?

If you said yes, to any 2 of those then you probably should be there.

[KristopherWho]

Paying to be included in a directory is not the same a a paid link. You are paying for membership, & if your website meet the requirements then the directory will accept you & link to your site as it does with all it's members.

I have used directories for a long time, they have worked great, & they will continue to work great.
Think the key to making it it work is diversify your links, you need all kinds of back links to be successful.

Also when it comes to directories, I try to create unique description for each listing. If you copy & past the same description for every link you build then some them may get ignored.