I’ve written about directories before here at SEO Zombie and promoted them as method of link building you SHOULD use to promote your niche blogs. Well, many uninformed SEO’s, Internet Marketers and “Make Money” bloggers go on about how these links are discounted. They talk about linkbait, good content, etc.
Well Rand over at SEO Moz caused controversy this week when he outed a company for ranking #1 for “SEO Company”. You can check out the conversation here at Sphinn. Its a long thread of crap and people attacking Rand. I’m not going to get into that debate here, because it has been well covered. While everyone else is all worried about the ethics of this outing, I am only concerned about one thing.
The site ranks #1 for “SEO Company” using DIRECTORIES!
Now, having low quality links in a highly competitive niche like SEO can get people like Rand reporting you. But who do you think is crawling all over your links for your super long tail niche sites? Most likely, nobody. And likely, nobody as informed as SEO’s, like Rand.
So there are two things I want to take away from this. I’ve talked about them both before.
First, can low quality links hurt you? Yes. I’m not in the school that believes that incoming links cannot hurt you. You know Google is going to give the site Rand outed a nice little manual review. This will likely result in a penalty or a discounting of their links.
Second, should you get low quality links? Yes. Of course, using them on high profile sites creates risk. But if you use them on long tail niche sites, you run a lot less risk.
So go submit to directories =P
Related Posts:
How to Rank Well In Google
Should You Submit Articles?
Directory Submissions – Classic Link Building
Paid Links
Finding the Best Link Directories
{ 8 comments }
Hi Justin, question about directory submissions. Most of the directories provide two options: submissions with reciprocal link and submission without reciprocal link.
Which option do you recommend? I know it’s better not to have a reciprocal link on your site, but on the other hand, the directories might be more willing to accept the submission.
What do you think?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
I personally avoid doing a two way link unless it is a directory I like or really support. Directories that require a two way link are usually low quality. Plus, exchanging links reduces the value of the link. I usually save exchanges for high quality related sites.
I always go for the w/o reciprocal link.
Also, you can receive penalties for linking out to bad sites. If the directory is using shady practices or is supporting spam sites, it could place your in bad associations. (You supporting sites that support spam) If you do link out to a directory, take the time to research them some to know what you’re linking to.
You know, Rand has made it a habit of sticking his nose in other people’s business. I’m not sure if he does it for the attention or for link baiting purposes.
One of these days he’s going to make the mistake of sticking his nose in the wrong person’s business! Can you imagine how much NP stands to loose if they get penalized?
Just thinking about it makes me cringe.
Don
btw, you were stuck in my spam box =(
Yeah, he does have a history of outing sites or talking about stuff people don’t want to have shared. I personally do not get caught up in the “ethical” SEO stuff. I don’t think it is our job to help police Google’s SERPS. The search results are an artificial ranking system designed by a business who is interested in making money. We shouldn’t consider the rankings or Google’s guidelines as anything of moral/ethical value. All that will happen from Rand’s post is that NP will have a drop in business. I think people forget the human element behind all this SEO stuff. The deindexing of a site means a real drop in income for someone. This could be people will families and kids. A massive drop in income for several people, just because Rand didn’t agree with the practices this company was using. (kind of spammy yes, but not blackhat at all)
Hey Justin,
I am a total Noob at seo. What exactly is a directory. Can you provide an example. What is a link directory, also can you give an example. Is blog catalog a directory or a link directory.
I am just following the articles you posted on the number one ranking for seo company. Did the guy who had a number one ranking before being outed submit to a bunch of sites like blog catalog.
Can you give some links to good directories to help a beginner in seo.
I have just started reading your blog and dig the videos. I like your case studies too. I think you are the only seo expert who does this.
You have to wonder how long the directories will last as a way for webmasters to rank. Personally, I think that its days are numbered as google starts to head toward the semantic web (which I welcome but don’t know what it will do to my money sites)
Directories and Article submissions are all going to be burned sooner or later. Directories already have been devalued, but 1,000,000 low quality backlinks is still 1,000,000 links. It’s gotta count for something. I HATE directory submission, and always find its worth my time and money to farm that out to some Indian company where they will do this for pennies.
I’m sure article submissions will be devalued sooner or later as well. Free blogs are soon to follow. The trick is staying ahead of the curve and always reading so you stay in the game!
I don’t think Google can or ever will stop giving some value to low quality links, what will it give weight to? It would leave most new online business owners needing to use adwords to get any traffic as the only other seo enhancing aspect is domain age!!
If Google devalued low quality links completely then the internet would not be a worthwile way of getting business, this goes against Googles ethos.
Sites in the index as we speak are sitting at the top with a stack of low quality links. In the money making niche I know of a site that has PR 4 it outranks a PR6 site on the keyword make money online. When you look at the links to the site there are 16586 PR 0 links and only 60 with PR above 2? One thing I did pick up on was that most of the low quality links I checked were highly relevant and anchored. I can’t really name the site because I DONT want to make the information public.
I have come to the conclusion that low quality links as long as there is a good degree or relevancy can make all the difference. Anyway lets see what happens with NP, as far as I am concerned I will continue article marketing, submitting to directories and requesting link exchanges. Whats the worse that can happen, Google may take low quality link value away but they can’t penalize your site for it, otherwise mallicious linking would occur.
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