A tool to submit websites in directories

[caseyhen]

First, no, SEOmoz does not offer any automatic directory submission tools. We do offer this page as a service to our customers, and you may find it useful: http://www.seomoz.org/directories

Yooda does seem like a nice piece of software, though I can't say that I've used it.

I've also heard decent things about this one:

http://www.fastdirectorysubmitter.com/tutorials/73-fast-directory-submitter-video.html

For the most part I've found automatic submission tools to be pretty frustrating, and almost certainly never worth the money. I'd also be careful not to run wild with directory submissions, as Google could pretty easily detect spikes in backlinks from directories.

I hope that helps!

[bigtimeseo]

Thank you for your answer.

But there is something not very clear for me: I think you have said once than a website needs at least 150 links or something like that, that means you submit all directly in directories, but it is very time consuming no? Because we need to gain time to do this.

Or what else would you advise?

We are a small growing web agency.

[caseyhen]

There is no set amount of links that a site needs to be successful. I think you may have that 150 number confused with what we usually consider an acceptable amount of links ON a page. Not links pointing TO a page.

A good strategy might be to submit your site to a few directories a month, spend time working at creating partnerships (that might bring links), while also creating compelling content that people want to link to naturally.

If you're seeking link building ideas, I'd highly recommend reading through our linkbuilding category from the blog. Tons of great ideas there!

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/category/4

[JoeQuery]

I use SubmitEaze, and they just recently upgraded their software to include a captcha solver (since many directories use the same platform). The software is good at getting you into directories - whether those directories actually add any value is up for debate. Generally the directories are mediocre to low quality, so chances are your listings won't get indexed for a long time.

So far, I haven't seen sites get "in trouble" for low quality directory listings. At the same end, I haven't seen sites increase their organic rankings from low quality directories either. There might be a case for using directories for local search, since Google Places generally looks for a citation as opposed to a backlink (and Google Places is all about quantity as opposed to quality. )

[ilyaelbert]

digixmas has a decent article submitter and directory submitter, but this obviously produces mediocre-low level quality links. It does have tools for checking the submission and outputting the exact url of the link, so that you can use services like linklicious or other indexing/spidering services to expedite google's finding these links. The results range from 0-38 PA in OSE. Obviously using these tools won't get you ranked in highly competitive niches, however you could probably achieve top 10 in somewhat competitive local results such as 'industry + cityname". If you're going to use these tools, i would strongly recommend using the submission report features I mentioned otherwise your links will not be spidered for a LONG time.

[KrisRoadruck]

small caveat to the endorsment above... IP diversity does seem to be a rather important ranking metric. It's been my experience that Quantity and Quality need not come from the same source. If you've got some great quality links, and a bunch of quantity only type links.. it seems to still result in a net positive.

Six things I normally look at linkbuilding wise (in no particular order):

Authority/Trust
Niche Relevance
Segmentation (links in content > links in sidebar, footer, comments)
Anchor
IP diversity
Linkweight (Juice, PageRank, whatever)

As long as you have elements of each of these SOMEWHERE in your link profile you generally do well.

Other than that I agree with these fine folks. Also automation is great for scaling but it almost always leads to a great reduction in quality and possibly could end up being a wasted effort if the rejection rate goes up enough as a result.

[AlanMosley]

I find whitespark Local Citation Finder gives god results, it does not post for you, but does give a good list for given keyword and location

http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/#

[Nowdoo]

I find automatic tools are good to fill up the portfolio of older established sites with a lot of backlinks. Just try to use the tools in a whitehat-style. Split linkbuilding packets in 4-5 time frames (always leave 2 monthes to submit to next).

My recommendations for semi-submitting is SubmitEaze with the new version (also own sites in local languages can be setup); try to enhance time frames for link building to prevent landing in g*****`s sandbox. If you have to make more backlinks, I recommend Sick Submitter - it can submit automatic to phpld - directories, BUT take care and only use it also in whitehat style. Also only use own scraped high quality phpld domains, as built in sites are full of spam. Scraping software what is good -> scrapebox. Hope this helps.

[christinarule]

What about a good automatic tool for submitting local directories?

[elephantseo]

I would recommend creating your own long or short list of directories you want your site in then outsource the submission using odesk.com. Others here have offered great advice on building that list (Casey & Kris).

One thing you should always check is that the URL your link is going on is in the Google index. If you have a link to your site on a page that is not in the Google index try pinging that link or dare I say tweeting that link so it has a chance to get picked up. If the URL the link is on is not in the index it passes no value.

[UPform5]

there are some good ones out there (fast directory submitter, IBP, webceo) but they are meant to be viewed as supplementary ones for the ones you create manually.

[eyepaq]

I'm having some issues with the directories from http://www.webdisney.com/suggest/default.asp

A lot of the sumbit links are 404.

If that's just on my side sorry .. if not it will be great if someone can review them : add new ones if needed and remove the expired ones.

Thanks.

[magicrob]

If you have a list of sites you are going to submit to then using an extension like Roboform or AutoFillForms can take a lot of the tedium out of the process and save you a few £/$/etc if you need to do that.

[IPINGlobal54]

Submission to directories in general used to be seen as the big way to promote a site, these days however (as has been said by many) generating back links needs to be a bit more thought out than just blasting out submissions. I have used IBP and WebCEO in the past with success, but actual traffic and link juice gained is very nominal.

Personally, once submitted to the major SE's - Google/Bing/Yahoo etc, I would spend the time/money on specific link mining and building instead.

[kolio_kolev]

This post is deleted!

[christinarule]

Is this worth doing or even effective? I've been reading that you don't see to much of an effect when using automated  tools. In fact, a few people have said that they've seen better results just filling out a few "Top" directory listings. Love to hear everyone's thoughts!

[Ken_Jansen]

I would agree. If Google, Bing/Yahoo, and my buddy Blekko can find the site I move one to more specific directories or link building. ( I like Blekko 'cause they rank me higher for my top keywords than the others, so I think they are brilliant - hah)

[PaulRogers]

Directory Maximiser seems pretty good - you can add multiple variations of submission titles and descriptions and there is a list of the directories they submit to on the website.

This service is very cost effective at around £6 per 50 submissions, and you can also pay around £0.01p extra per submission for them to set up an email address and manage the confirmation emails too.

They also have a service called 'Social Maximiser' which is a social bookmarking submission service with a similar pricing structure.

Does anyone have any experience of using this service? A few different people have recommended it to me.

Paul

[OrganicDigital]

Yeah we trialed Directory Maximiser for our own site and it seemed good and they did what they said they would do.I've also noticed that one of the submitted directories has appeared as one of the best quality in our SEO moz reports.

I'd be interested to hear though from others whether its been effective for them as we're tempted to use them for a client's site.

[KeriMorgret]

Just wanted to leave a quick note saying that SEOmoz has upgraded our Link Directory! You can view a post Cyrus wrote with more information about the directory update and link building via directories at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices