Link Building – Why We Don’t Use Directories
October 14, 2008
Using directories to build backlinks to your website was once a very useful website link building practice. If you are not a student of the website marketing community you might still think it is a vital useful tool. Just go to any SEO or webmaster forum and you will see dozens of threads about free directories and submission tools.
Many of us have known for some time that backlinks from directories have been devalued by the search engines for some time now. But like anything questionable in this industry it is best to get Google’s opinion on any subject.The best source of acceptable practices is Google webmaster guidelines.
These guidelines are an SEO bible of sorts. The guidelines offer a very clear picture of what is good website behavior. Until recently, Google only recommended one directory; this should have been a hint that Google no longer values these mostly useless links.
However, it did recommend the DMOZ directory. Most likely, because it was human edited and appeared to be spam proof. That has changed with Google removing its reference to this directory. For us this is a very clear indication that Google does not value directory links.
I have been trying to explain on forums for about a year that Google has devalued directory links. I have meet with fierce resistance until this recent development. It is somewhat amazing how people get certain web based marketing techniques ingrained in their marketing efforts and have a difficult time giving them up.
What it all boils down to is this. Almost all of the easy links building methods have become obsolete. The reality is that link building has become a much more difficult and time consuming task. This is why we are such a big proponent of creating great content that is worthy of linking too.
We would like to invite you to become part the conversation and leave a comment. We also would like to invite you to continue this conversation on your own blog, perhaps maybe even social bookmark this post, give it a Digg or Stumble it.
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4 Responses to “Link Building – Why We Don’t Use Directories”
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I agree with you to an extent. All the smaller directories that you can submit to for free and very easily are not contributing anything to you being indexed or ranking in Google, but directories like Dmoz, yahoo and a few other paid inclusion directories still play a roll in Google’s indexation i particular.
Google uses these Dir’s to find new fresh and unique content that’s not spammy to be indexed.
In my view having your site on Dmoz is a must!
Admin: Thanks for the great response…
Link building is very time consuming I agree, but how other than making comments on industry related sites are we supposed to get links? How often do you have to create new content?
Admin:If you have a static website your job is going to be much more difficult because it is more difficult to create fresh content. This is why we have always recommended having a blog on your website and then using it on a regular basis. You do not need to know code to use a blog. You simple need to know how to type.
Link building is a very, time-consuming SEO Optimization technique, but I think quite essential in getting websites ranked. Article marketing is another good tool. Thanks for the work you have done on this page as it contributes overall to SEO optimization.
Admin: Comment edited… link deleted.
Your reply to Zappi’s comment was that you recommended the use of a blog on the website. Do you have other posts on your blog that go into how to start a blog? I would appreciate any information you can provide.