Directories in the linkbuilding strategy

[juanmiguelcr]

Hi all, what's your opinion about the impact of directories in the seo strategy? Are they efficient? Is it worth to pay attention to them? Could you give me some exemples of well-considered directories (apart from dmoz and yahoo)?

Thanks

[mblsolutions]

Hi Juan

From what I have read most directory sites, outside the likes of Yahoo, are actually link farms in disguise. Google is targeting these websites and you will receive no benefit from the transfer of link juice. You are far better off spending time creating strong links with relevant sites and share-able content that will provide great information for your visitors.

Rhea has created a great webinar on the subject of link building that would be worth watching http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/link-smarter-not-harder

[juanmiguelcr]

many thanks Oliver. Do you use any tool to manage the linkbuilding process? On the other hand, I've seen sites that have thousands of links. Taking into account that obtaining links via content generation implies much effort and time it makes me think that some of these links are "artificial" or something. I'm just starting with the the linkbuilding process from the scratch and believe me it is difficult! I'll watch the webminar you suggested.

Many thanks.

[JonathanRolande]

There are a few good ones. Check out the link profile of www.housebuyfast.co.uk (my website) for an idea of the ones I have used.

[juanmiguelcr]

Thanks Jazy

[gfiedel]

If you are focusing any of your strategy on local search there are worthwhile directories to look at using such as Yelp, foursquare, hotfrog, bing, google+, citysearch, superpage, YP, localize, info group. Regardless of the value that comes directly from these links, there are other more indirect but valuable results of being listed and getting reviews on the review directories.

SEOMoz getlisted.org is a great free tool for these.

Also, if there are any reputable niche or industry directories that relate to your business, those are worth investigating.

Hope this helps.