Web Directory News

These days many webmasters and wannabe web marketers - specially inexperienced ones are confused about the usefulness web directories! The other day I was browsing on a popular webmaster forums ( digitalpoint forums  ) and found a so-called web marketer opening a thread regarding how he submitted a client’s site to one web directory and found the site listed on several more directories with the same anchor and  description. As a result he complained that his client’s site went from page one to last of page 2 on Google search!

Now, why won’t it go! Of late Google has most probably developed advanced algo that can differentiate one link from another based of several quality factors such as age of the domain and if the character of the domain has been changed from one to the other, inbound links and age and quality of those links, quality of outbound links and so on parameters that even some smaller companies offering seo/webmaster tools can determine.

So, it will not be impossible Google from differentiating a low quality directory just about giving out links to each and every site from those who maintain editorial control and only list quality websites in their directories! Google has also started to punish those directories which were made on dropped domains solely to monetize the high PR those old domains carry due to their past history.

So it is not really a difficult job for an experienced webmaster or marketer to determine which directories are of quality and which are not. Below are some of the simple guidelines that I use to determine quality of a directory –

•  First and foremost check if the domain is penalized by Google irrespective of PR — just type “mydomainname” without the TLD on Google. If it is in first page (some domains with different TLD may rank ahead) - it is perfectly fine by Google.
• Second check is - to check index pages. Once you visit a directory you have a rough idea of how many pages it might have — so type  ” site:www.mydomain.com ” (without quote) and search on Google. If you get good amount - the directory is well indexed and will give some value to your site.
• Check if the category you want to submit is really indexed and how old it is!
• Another very important thing that I do is check it on Web Archive . It starts archiving sites after they become more than 6 months old. If there is no archive of the directory - avoid submitting into it. And if it has old archive showing another site - just avoid the submission.
• Check if the domain has 8 sitelinks or 4 mini sitelinks . Sitelinks means it is well trusted by Google bots.

How can directories harm your site :

• Do not submit to those new high PR directories with amazingly odd domain names like “xyzxyz.com/.info/org/.net etc. even if they are FREE. Most probably those directories will be penalized by Google, loose the home page PR, de-indexed by Google or worse the sites will vanish after few months.  If Google indeed index the category that you have been listed- there is a chance that Google will treat your site as link renter. My personal experience is that the older alink gets - the more trust juice it flows into your site.
• Another thing that will hugely benefit your site is - to submit everything manually yourself and vary anchor texts, descriptions as frequently as possible.  I emphasize to do it manually yourself - because your site might just land on  my gambling directory ! Please check the image carefully and imagine - I approve those sites what will happen to their SERPs -

No wonder the above mentioned member who was complaining about loss of SERPs submitted into a directory network who post the link on many directories at a timeusing some automated channels.

I am always propagating against use of automated softwares if one wants to get benefit from web directories. Goneare the days when one could just use the same info and sleep tightly knowing that the software will submit his/her sites to hundreds of directories while he is asleep. Back then - all links were counted - but no longer.

Also always try to submit to directories yourself  or hire a renowned submission company that is trusted by the industry even if they cost much more than those who offer cheap submission but what they do is evident from the screen-shot. If you can not afford to hire big companies, then do it yourself - slowly but surely. You will still get great benefit from quality directories if you know how to use them.

Quality web directories like Yahoo, BOTW can still give great SERP boost to a site along with some rare brred of other quality directories. One just has to work harder in choosing the best directories for his/her own sites. This separates the big boys (SEOs who know how to use directories) from infants (wannabe SEOs).
You feedback are welcome.

As far as I remember Google took unprecedented action against web directories by penalizing them en mass on first October - 2007. It was at the height of Google’s war against paid links that passed ranking juice to other sites.

It is to be noted that human edited web directories existed even before Google came into being. In fact Yahoo started as a web directory. But the craze for directories begun with the introduction of Google’s search algoritym that is based on links and Page Rank. Once, Google became the most dominant search engine, all webmasters and SEOs wanted to get links for their sites which was now hard to come by. Actually, Google says that they want the web to run on links given to sites editorially. But the rat race for top placement gave birth to a market for buying and selling liks. Still there were short for links thus glorifying human edited web directories.

Many big companies and some inspired individuals started web directories to cash in on the situation. They promoted their directories heavily and soon gained high page rank. The Bluefind Directory, a start-up of  John Scott, owner of V7N network is the clear example that gained Page Rank of 8 with PR5/6/7  internal pages shortly after it was launched. Some others followed and vigorously promoted their directories and gained both page rank and traffic in no time.

As much as they were promoted, most of those web directories were charging some FEES for inclusion or listing in those directories and webmasters were happily paying them. It is true that those directories didn’t only charge FEES for inclusion - they really did maintain their directories well and maintained high editorial standards and integrity. Most of those FEES went into developing and promoting the directories that benefited webmasters with traffic directly from directories. I too started one web directory called Best Internet Resource and managed it better than my wife and child.

Then came a brigade of unethical webmasters who bought expired domains - installed the directory script ( the FREE version), loaded category dumps on the database and started to sell links on the basis of the home-page PR. It was too much for true directory owners and Google to swallow. Soon Google started to punish most web directories including the established ones who have became very popular and market leaders at that time. The punishment came in many forms - some were stripped of PR, some had reduced PR, some got reduced PR and -50 penalty,  some were given -50 SERP penalty and also lost PR . The directories which fell amongst the last category also lost almost all their indexed pages and my directory unfortunately fell into this category. This continued for more than 2 years.

It is therefore ironic that, these days webmaster forums are flooded with directories on expired domains with same characteristics as earlier- but Google has returned back the SERPs of the penalized directories though PR penalty still continues. Hopefully, that too will go soon as most of them have gained some organic or natural backlinks over the years with age and promotion.

So, has Google worked on its algorithm that could differentiate between a well maintained and quality directory from a directory on expired domain. It seems just like that.

Well done Google - you rock.

As the title of the post says – “Is the directory industry dead?” Many webmasters think so. But I don’t go along with them – not because I am a directory owner – but because their views are simply immature. Going around webmasters forums and finding discussions on how web directories are root cause of wow for some sites has become very common these days. Most of those webmasters just blame directories without analyzing real causes behind their misery. With Google constantly updating their search algorithm, there might be hundreds of other causes for a site being penalized. The truth is, most of those complaining have only themselves to blame. In their pursuit for Page Rank and SERP glory, they might have bought paid links from blogs or other sites that might have flagged off the Google filter. Even if they have not done it and only used web directories – I am sure most of them hired those cheap submission services who claim to manually submit sites to hundreds and even thousands of directories. These services are the real culprit which has been highlighted by John Scott, renowned SEO consultant and CEO of V7N Inc. These cheap services use automated or semi-automated software which makes the submission low quality with wrong category selection, keyword stuffing on titles and pathetic descriptions.

Here are some examples of bad submissions that I get on one of my free directories –

Have a look at the title of the submission, description and category selection! Personally, I have no time to edit the information as I don’t earn any money from this free directory. Same goes for second submission -

I know these submissions have been done by services because I get different sites from same IP address with different owner’s name. I am sure most directory owners reject these submissions outright. But some directory owners are not careful enough to maintain higher editorial integrity and approve these. Now can anyone get benefit out of those directory listings? Don’t you know Google guidelines are against keyword stuffing? Are not you aware that too many links too soon might cause you trouble? So why complain?

For long webmaster and SEO consultants used web directories for easy source of high PR links. It was quite easy to get a PR3/4 link from directories for a small fee. Over time, Google has adapted to the situation by stripping directories of PR on category pages. This is very understandable policy by Google as it goes against its terms. Google and Matt Cutts have always maintained that they are not against web directories with editorial integrity. But it is against manipulation of its organic search results. What irks webmasters is that they have spent good amount to get listed on PR3/4 pages of directories and now those pages have no PR!

So I believe web directories are still very much alive and remain one of the important sources of link building process – especially to give initial boost to new sites. But the roles of directories have changed – no doubt about that. Previously, they were used for Page Rank and SERP. These days, the primary objective to submit to directories is to drive traffic. Many would laugh at this thought! Most would swear that directories do not send traffic. My view is totally different. Just think of it – your site is listed in the perfect category, with good title and relevant description to illustrate the site. Get listed in 2000 free directories. These huge amounts of links will come up on SERPs from time to time and send you traffic from search engines. Also, if one gets 5 direct visitors per year from each directory – it is a cool 10,000 visitors for the year. And over time, when your site gets older, directory links will also get older. Together, they will help you rank better even in organic search results.

But as I mentioned before – one has to have plan and implement it in order to derive benefit from web directories. One has to find some time to submit his or her own sites – so that the submission title, description and category selection is perfect. Rather than hiring a submission service for 500 directories at a go – one can do better by submitting to 10-20 directories per day. I know it is time killing and tedious – but one has to give some to get some – isn’t? Still if there is no time, then you should hire a submission service of repute with longstanding and impeccable track record. This will undoubtedly cost more than those cheap services, but ten you will not cry on webmaster forums complaining about directories.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first question that comes to mind after reading the title is -

“Does Google still consider directory links as quality?”

I would like to say that - “YES” , it still does if the directory is old, its PR is not inflated by way of buying links, it has appropriate category for your niche, it has good amount of quality contents and over-all the category you are looking to list is recently indexed!

Ooops - so many things!

Second question that struck is - how do I find quality web directories that would give me links counted by Google?

IMO - this is the most difficult answer to give even for Matt Cutts! In a world obsessed by the green pixel on the Google toolbar, webmasters and SEO industry is just hooked to the Google trick that makes webmastering, seoing or simply browsing the net more interesting.

Far too long Google tolerated a monsterous link market where webmasters were buying and selling link based on Page Rank and thereby successfully manipulating SERPs without giving a damn on Google’s webmaster guideline on quality.  But those days are over. In the last quarter of 2007, Google came down heavily on those though the market is still vibrant beneath the surface i.e. underground. But the message has been delivered and heard loud and clear. Big Daddy has penalized all and sundry - directories, blogs, open source development sites (aka Linux) and took away all that important tool-bar green pixels.

One does not have to be Einstein to understand the relation between Page Rank, SERP and SEOing.  In those days, one just had to buy a domain, host it, install an easily available directory script, buy few sitewide links from high PR sites and got PR5/6 with internal pages too having high PR. Then promote it on webmaster forums and blogs and the $$$s poured into his/her Paypal account.

No longer! Along with stripping sites of their homepage PR, Google has found a way to hide the PR of inner-pages too even for the old, content rich and trusted directories like botw.org and Yahoo Directory. Thia has made the job of webmasters and SEO experts difficult and has provided a level playing field for those small directory owners who look to build quality websites/directories with contents.

So a quality directory these days does not mean having PR on inner-pages/category pages. But the quality depends on how frequent is the site crawled, indexed and how much content it offers to normal visitors except webmasters and SEO experts. As they say, “content is the king”.

A quality directory should not only consist of listing websites on various categories, but it should also provide real quality contents to visitors.

So look for those type of web directories and you get a quality link even from web directories.

In my view I have neglected this directory for long in terms of promotion or advertisement. As a result it has an embarrasingly low rate of submission and hence there are too few listing on this directory for a 9 months old site.

It seems I have finally woken up that this directory can be of good value to webmasters, SEO/SEM community by way of their submission to this directory. All these factors ( more listed sites in most categories) will go a long way in making this site really useful to visitors who come here looking for some information.

As a first step towards achieving the goal, I have started a huge discount on Silver Membership Package. Original price for the package was $10, but I have made it $5. I am promoting the offer on many webmaster related forums. This is my way of viral marketing . That is to make people aware of the existence of this site at a price.

This might also get many link-back to the site from people interested in directories .

The offer is valid till next Tuesday.

Of late, Google has been cracking down on paid links - i.e. penalizing sites selling or buying links. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s anti-web spam team says, due to buying and selling of links based on Page Rank , webmasters and SEO/SEM experts are manipulating search results by putting low quality sites on top of search results which goes against Google’s TOS -i.e. providing organic search results based on organic link-building.

While Google has no problem if some-one buys links for traffic, it  asks webmasters to put NO-FOLLOW tag while giving out links or use URL redirect so that the link does not help in manipulating the search result.

Web directories by nature gives out links to submitted sites if approved. Many established and high PR directories also  charge fees from webmasters who submit their sites on them - basically, as review fee. As these directories have high PR on even inner-pages/categories , some directory owners try to market their directories on the basis of of high PR. There goes the conflict of web directories with Google. It has already penalized over hundred of high PR and established directories.

So is Google against directories? I personally think - the answer is a big NO. Because -

1) Matt Cutts, time and again told that, Google is not against quality directories - but is against directories that sell links based on PR. One can also demand a reasonable fee for the time it takes to review a site.

2)  Google webmaster centra, in its guidelines to webmasters clearly advices webmasters to submit their sites to DMOZ and Yahoo Directory, and other industry specific directories.

3) The most important reason for which I believe Google is not against web directories is it has not only penalized web directories - but it has penalized big and established authoritative sites and blogs all over the net. It has downgraded the PR of old and high PR blogs like searchengineguide.com and seroundtable.com for selling links. It has also decreased the PR of real authoritative sites like linux.org, phpnuke.org and statcounter.com.

Here we go. Google is not against any specific niche of web sites but is against all those that sell links based on PR.

There will always be  a place for web directories in Google world because Google technology also nees links to find and index new sites or contents. Quality web directories that have high editorial integrity will always be relevant to Google bots and help a site for SEO purpose. As the internet grows beyond our imagination, quality web directories can help Google bots and they are complimentary rather than antagonistic with each other.