Web directories suck. Plain and simple, they suck. They are a waste of time.
The main reason for submitting to directories is to get a higher PageRank. Now, the more I think about it the more I realize how stupid this reasoning is. All of these web directories talk about having PR4+ pages, but for most directories their home page is probably the only PR4 page on the entire site.
PageRank, which is Google’s way of letting us know the “importance” of a page, ranks pages, not sites (duh). Too many web developers think just because a home page has a high PageRank the rest of the site does. Even Google says PageRank is for pages and not sites. This is why it is important to have a good navigation system set up.
Alright, so back to the topic. In most cases, the directories that do have PR4+ pages only have them because they require you to link back. Many free directories do not give you PageRank juice unless you link back (they add the nofollow tag), and a few of them won’t add you at all unless you add some sort of link to their site. If you have to link back to every directory it kind of defeats the purpose of submitting your site, doesn’t it?
Heck, even the paid directories claim their category pages have a PageRank of 4+, but just like the free ones they are lying 99% of the time. There are a few out there that are telling the truth, but in general their category pages will only be PR1 or 2. You would be better off writing a good blog post and submitting it to your favorite bloggers to see what they say.
The same thing is true for blog directories. A lot of them claim they have high PageRank pages, which is only true because (surprise, surprise) they require link backs. I don’t know about you, but I despise looking at blogs that have dozens of ridiculous blog directory badges all over the place. One or two may be alright, but many blogs have 5+.
Oh, and lets not forget most web directories list over 30 URLs per page, so even if their category pages do have a high PageRank you will be getting very little juice from it.
So is it worth trying to get your link in the few good directories? I don’t think so. Your time could be spent doing something more constructive like writing good articles (which is always more important than SEO).
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February 26th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Directory submission may matter early on in a site’s life.. just to get a link or two out there, and get the Googlebot to come by. But once your site is established, I’m not sure there’s really much / any benefit to the directories anymore.
Off-Topic, but have you considered installing the “Subscribe to comments” plugin? It helps me follow comments I leave, so I don’t lose track.
February 26th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Ahh so its called “Subscribe to comments” I was looking around like a mad-man last night seeking it, thanks
And yeah, directory submission can help a little bit to get out of the sandbox, but other than that they are pretty worthless. Unless you can score a link in dmoz or an equivalent directory (which of course has high pagerank for its pages, doesn’t require a link back, and its free).
February 27th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Ahh yes DMOZ. People say DMOZ isn’t worth much, but I’ll take a PR7 or PR8 link on ANY of my sites, any day, thank you very much. I have a few sites in there, but several that haven’t made it in yet. Gotta be patient with those folks though.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:35 am
I’ve been trying to get into DMOZ for years!!
Some directories are better then others with benefiting you, but in general most of the pages don’t have a very high pagerank..
February 28th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Still no DMOZ here either, they are miserable. Kind of a submit once and forget about it type thing.
March 1st, 2007 at 11:03 am
DMOZ does have a bad habit of taking for-freaking-ever… that’s for sure. But you’re right, submit and forget is the answer there. If you submit more than once, you’ll just tick off the moody editors, and you’ll never get included. Better late than not at all.