Are General Web Directory Submissions Still Considered to be an Effective SEO Backlink Building Method?

A backlink from a general web directory might not be as effective as it was a few years ago although a backlink from a topic specific web directory which relates to your website’s niche would be a lot more effective. In my opinion, regardless of what some people might say, web directories are still a good tactic for building backlinks to your site and any good SEO will have at least 100 – 150 backlinks pointing back to his/her site from both niche and general web directories alone.

Whether it’s a general web directory or a niche web directory, what benefits can you expect from having backlinks from these directories? If you were hoping for a flood of traffic then I’m sorry to dissapoint you because that’s definately not going to happen. Instead, the whole point of web directory submissions is to have enough high-quality web directories pointing back to your site which in turn would boost your Google Pagerank.

Wont backlinks from directories get me penalized by Google?

It’s true that web directories generally do have a bad reputation with Google, whether it be a general web directory or niche directory, as last year Google removed thousands of web directories from their search engine database for various violating offenses. The main reason was because a lot of those so called web directories were in actual fact linkfarms. So it goes without saying when dealing with web directories one should always practice caution and follow a few very important safety guidelines.

How to use directories without getting penalized by Google

Try not submit your site to each and every web directory you find:
By not submitting your site to each and general web directory you come across you will lower your chances of obtaining too many links from linkfarms. Rather be more selective by trying to find and choosing web directories that are in good standing with Google. Make use of some general web directory submissions but pay more attention to those web directories that are in the same or similiar niche as what you are in.

Try to avoid web directories that require reciprocal links: It’s not very often that you will find web directories that are 100% free. I would estimate that 90% of all web directories out there offer you two options as follows,

1) A web directory that charges you a small fee: They usually start at $5 and for that you get a guaranteed listing within a week. The only downside is that if you do that a few hundred times it all could add up.

2) A web directory that requires you to place a reciprocal link on your website linking back to them: You usually end up waiting a little bit longer for a listing and there are two factors I advise you to take into consideration when taking this route.. Make 100% sure that the web directory you are linking to is in good standing with Google, (ie: not a linkfarm). Remember, Google knows that we cannot always control who links to us and that we have control over who we link to. Secondly, the whole point of this is to create one-way backlinks to our site. Linking back to them defeats that purpose and we won’t enjoy the full SEO benefits. I recommend checking back on such sites on a regular basis to see once you are listed on them, and as soon as you are remove that reciprocal link from your site.

If and when paying for a listing on a web directory avoid site wide links: Site wide link listings are offered by a lot of web directories, both general web directory and niche web directory. This option costs more and is when they place your link on each and every page of that directory. Google knows how to look for this and when they see your link posted site wide on a web directory they will know that you paid for that link. As we all know Google does not like paid listings.

Stay away from automatic directory submission services: You must have seen these websites at one point or another. They are all over the internet. Yes, the ones that tell you to enter your URL in the little box and they will submit your website to 600 web directories. This is the biggest SEO mistake you can make when it comes to general web directory submissions. When you enter and submit your URL on one of those websites you will almost instantly obtain 600+ backlinks from linkfarms. The result? Google will take notice and you will be penalized. I do not even know if it is in any way possible to remove those links. I strongly doubt it though. Submitting your URL manually to 100+ web directories is no easy task. Trust me, I know, it is extremely time consuming and people often look for shortcuts. Your SEO efforts will pay off in the end if you take the time to do things right.

Make sure that the link you get is SEO friendly: There are lots of web directories out there that claim their outgoing links are SEO friendly when in truth they are not. It is up to you to make sure that these links are indeed SEO friendly otherwise there would be no point in getting links from them.

Do you think that niche and general web directory submissions are an effective method of linkbuilding? Leave a comment and let me know..