Are Directories Dead?

[Timemerchant]

(Sorry if this has been answered earlier.) I am thinking of buying a domain, (which is not cheap) and has the keywords of; myniche + directory.com.au in it. On the domain I plan to build out a directory, probably using a word-press theme and word-press directory plugin. It will be an industry specific directory (only for that profession) and will be hand edited by me. It will be exclusive, that is, all listings will be manually approved and no spammy links or bots allowed with the hope that it add value to the user experience. My plan for the directory site is long term as I am qualified in the profession and I like SEO. It will begin with free basic listings, also hand edited by me and I will at some stage allow paid listings for reasonable fee. Directories have a bad name currently in the SEO world, since Panda and Penguin and Poodle (only joking about last one) smashed many of them out of the park for good reason. That bad reputation may stop some in my profession from purchasing a listing or even wanting a free listing. But directories seem to have an influence on local search which could be the value that I add to the business that wants to list on the directory. e.g www.yellowpages.com.au has a PR of 7.

I quite liked this article on directories which suggested they may not be dead. Do you agree with that?

http://www.seopoint.com.au/blog/are-listings-in-directories-good-or-bad-for-seo/

My question is: Are directories dead? Are directories good or bad for SEO in 2016 and moving forward if they are not spammy? Do directories add value to a business? Therefore should I go ahead with my plan?

Thanks in Advance :-).

[MickEdwards]

IMHO directories in the main are dead.  Where they do succeed is when they are very niche and actually human managed.  If you have the skills and passion in your niche then there is a good possibility you will make it work and become a valuable resource.  Using NAP in the detail will provide valuable citation for the business listing.  SEO impact will be minimal, but for the business it is still a movement in the right direction.

You'll need to heavily market the directory to the business customer base as an invaluable one stop shop for their needs.  That will then drive referral traffic to the listings and allow you to charge a reasonable fee for inclusion.

[Timemerchant]

Thank you Michael Edwards. May I ask what is NAP?

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey

I agree with Michael in that largely, directories are dead. However, the evolution of directories and sites that add value to the listings are alive and kicking. Yelp (not so much in the UK) is one but TripAdvisor is really a a directory of sorts and that provides boatloads of additional value.

In the UK we have several directory types that are alive and well:

• TripAdvisor
• Trade Directories - plumbers, electricians etc
• Care Homes

My father is actually working on a directory at the moment - it is a list of all pubs in the UK that are dog friendly. It will detail everything for dogs, walks in the area etc etc. It will allow for

So in some respects it is the wrong question - Google does not punish wholes categories of sites. Rather they demote sites that have no real value and don't add anything (or that are set up to help other sites rank and for no other reason).

To make this work you have to ideally have a USP and provide a level of value that makes it desirable for folks to look at your site rather than the sites of the businesses in this category and to build up enough traffic so the business owners want to pay to be listed and get a preferential listing etc.

Hope that helps
Marcus

[LayGiri]

Maybe I might say fly by night directories are dead but I won't entirely say directories are dead... The real directories, the ones that actually understood the meaning of running a directory like DMOZ, BOTW and a few others I won't bother to mention are definitely not dead.

They still make up for some very valuable links in any link profile in my honest opinion. They still work... Very well if I might add.

If you do want to run a directory and its niche specific and properly managed I think it's a swell idea if you have your marketing properly planned out.

Hope this helps.

[MickEdwards]

Name, Address, Phone - you should provide comprehensive contact details.  Part of your service could/should be to double check their details on their site and make sure it identically matches on your listing.  Businesses are still lapse in this, or try to extend their address to capture more than one county, as if it will somehow do them good.

They also need to give you fresh new content about themselves, not some default directory description.

[Timemerchant]

Thank you everybody for your great answers. Marcus Miller may I ask if you have any more suggestions on what would constitute a USP for a directory in a professional niche? Would reviews of the professionals be a good idea? Any thing else?

Thanks for your help.

[Timemerchant]

Marcus Miller, thank you so much for your great answer. I have to ask you something further though. You say that

" In the UK we have several directory types that are alive and well:

• TripAdvisor (no need for that one)
• Trade Directories - plumbers, electricians etc
• Care Homes"

Can you give me the URL's of these directories so that I can have a good look.

Thanks mate.

[JamesNorquay]

If you are using niche specific directories I think they will be fine.

The directories you need to stay away from are sites like freeSEOdirectory.info

Do your research and see if the site is active, if they have quality content, if they have an approval process on new business owners been added.