Directory, does it work?

[bobleaksss]

As an SEO, do you think we should always submit to thousands of Directory Submission Sites? What are the benefits of the these thousand Directories to the site were optimizing?

[Tiggerito]

I've never done it and I don't see the point. Getting links from website pages that don't even get indexed by Google seems to be a waste of time.

I get the most benefit from a few quality directories that actually generate traffic and are ranked in the search engines.

[rengoering]

Links from directories count less and less. Wouldnt waste my time submitting to thousands of directories

[AirForceOne]

Hi,

In my own experiences, submitting to directories would be not so effective as it used to be though it would still be helpful for increasing link popularity purpose since your could not setup correct anchor text using your targeted keywords.

all the best,

[Living-seo-life]

I would say choose your Niche carefully make a list of 20 best Directory in your Niche and Submit. Submitting in good related directories still have good values. and also consider submitting some good Local Directories along with all the big names, locals are good source of quality traffic too.

Regards

[shaniadavid]

Well i will also say that do not waste much of your time on directory submissions.. Make it an extra activity and do it only if you get time else spend your time on more productive activities!

[fansi099]

ofcouse it works ! just not choose them radomly,choose good directories

[lillygil]

SEO is a necessary condition for an Internet business. Blog commenting,Directories submissions,social bookmarking and forums posting has improved my site rank better than anyting.

[offshoreally]

There's no point on submitting your sites on thousands of directories as it won't help you get backlinks as most of the link that's are approved by these sites are not indexed by google.I myself have tried it and got no good response, in place of this you can try some good 20 to 30 paid directory of your niche.

[bobleaksss]

Thanks for all the answer guys! But i still don't get it ? If directory submission is a waste of time , then all of my submission are useless ?
Are paid directories worth it ?

[offshoreally]

No it's not useless, point is very few of them gets approved you can do one thing make a list of all those directories on which your site get's approved for future use also make sure they are indexed in google. Yes there are some good paid directories like avivadirectory.com which are manually approved which can help you build some good backlinks.

[GlaringFacts]

I've had such difficult time finding a value to directory submissions, I've done so many and they haven't even produced one air of usefulness. I've probably submitted my website to hundreds with no value added. Directory submissions are such a scam! Uggh, don't even pay for it either, waste, I assure you!

[Kent22]

I think it's not a waste of time as long as you submit only to quality directories. Make sure that it's quality over quantity.

[jaikanth123]

It will give backlinks to your website as well as it helps to improve your keyword ranking to your website.

[facebookguru01]

I also think that Directory submission has its own place in link building,and there is no true in saying that it is a waste of time.As far as traffic is concerned it might be specialty of high PR directories,they really are the source of traffic but low PR directories also help your sites getting it weight, when spider finds your link in these directories while crawling.

[AJKpeter]

Nowadays directories are only used for link building, I doubt you'll get traffic from there

[WhitePunk]

well,maybe..but for me.. submitting in to thousands of directories helped me... but in a very long time... if it is free it takes 2 weeks... but if being paid... for days only...

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[manim]

In my experience, directory submission works fine, when you submit to best directory those who are approve your site and periodically generate sitemap and ping to search engine.

Also remember, don't submit too many directories. Because many sites referring the same page will get negative impact. So do research the best directories and high PR. Try lillygil suggestion also.

[rwsseo]

I don't prefer submit your site in thousands directories, but you can submit your site in good pr and niche directory.

[allis0njane]

only top rank directories can help ..

[Jane.Choco]

work only if you use high rank Dir. sites...

[phoenix06007]

it's a factor but not that important as before.

[brandonna]

Think of it this way...

Link building is similar to the idea of building your reputation to the public. If you have 1000 people who basically have very little ability to improve your image by just knowing you (let's call them people with a PR of 0), your reputation is out there with 1000 people. If any of those people become better in terms of their ability to improve your image, your reputation potentially could increase, but the liklihood is low. However, if Oprah (PR 10) comes along and says you're the best writer, your reputation increases quite a bit. Your value becomes very strong as well.

You shouldn't stop building up your network of relationships with all those people who don't have much of an ability to hurt/help your relationship, but it does help to build relationships with people who can help you in your industry or developing higher valued connections.

SEO's have been doing it for quite some time though. Check out this post (especially the comments). You'll see Aaron Wall (the SEO Book guy) saying it "was" effective in 2006 for him.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/weigh-in-on-directory-submission-do-they-have-any-juice

Directory submissions do have diminishing returns though. Jill Whalen touches on this:

http://www.highrankings.com/directory-submitting

It might not be returning as much value these days as it did in the past when it was a competitive advantage in the early days of SEO. I wouldn't say it's worthless, but you should think about how to spend your time since there's SO many distractions online.

[sindont]

Is true, is better quality than quantity.

[IntegratedS]

Directory submission only increase few number of visitors they don't help much..

[Flower]

Directory submission is the basic activity for any website in seo process. I think they are effective and good source of collecting one way link for the site. It helps when it done in quality directories.