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The Elephant In The Room When It Comes To Link Building

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Link Building

Want to learn something that most professional SEO’s know? A little fact that – when it comes to link building – is often dismissed for being terrible? Well, here it is.

Directory Submissions Work!

Now, before I continue, there are two caveats associated with this statement.

Caveat 1. You Should Never, Ever, Submit To A Directory

The time taken for you to find a directory to submit to, fill out the details, click on the link to confirm your email address in the vain hope of a link isn’t worth it. So you should never submit to them. However, if you have a spare $15-$20 knocking around (and – in reality – you have) the most effective form of link building for that amount of money is directory submissions. Outsource it to a company then focus on more important stuff – such as guest blogging, social media and link acquisition.

Caveat 2. Directory Submissions Shouldn’t Be The Be-All and End-All

Far too many people use directory submissions as their only or most important links. They are not. Think of them as your bread and butter links, an accompaniment to your main course links from news websites, high pagerank blogs, and industry partners. To rely solely on directory links is a mistake, but likewise relying on any sort of link for your link building process is a mistake.

Google are after what we call in the industry a “Diverse Link Portfolio”. Basically this means that you want links to come from a range of sources and sites, linking in such a way where your site looks natural. Whilst 500 links coming to your site from low quality directories doesn’t look natural, neither does links solely from guest posts on one high quality site. You need a mix of both.

What You Get For A Directory Submission

For a directory submission you (eventually) get a dofollow, keyword rich backlink to your blog. They are also – in my eyes – ethical. Are you spamming dofollow blogs for a link? Are you hiding links on other peoples blogs? No. Instead you’re submitting your site to a site that allows submissions.

As such, they are also one of the easiest links to get, which makes them perfect for outsourcing. Directory submissions work. Trust me.

About

Rhys Wynne is a 8 year blogger that has been featured on the BBC and The Guardian in the UK, About.com in the US and on a number of blogs around the world. Rhys has 4 years experience of working in SEO, bringing results for large multinationals down to freelancers. He runs The Blogging Dojo, which latest work is How I Ranked Page 1 In Google For Under $50 - a profitable side project for all bloggers.

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{ 24 Responses }

  1. Robin Jennings says:
    I find directories essential when you have a new website as well regarded directories categorize your product better than you can in the early days of the site.
  2. Floyd Andrews says:
    Directory submissions do work, but as you've said, it should not be considered as an overall solution. Link building can also involve creating relationships with other people who are interested in the same niche. If you solely rely on directory submissions, people might think robots are spreading the links to your site.
  3. Peter says:
    Totally agree Rhys. In this business it's all about return on time invested. We all know the importance of search engine backlinks The question is where do we spend the time in our portfolio. Do you think automated submission has any value - even if it does border on spam?
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      It can do. Automated bookmarking tools can work well if you know what you're doing. However a manual approach is always better, and they're remarkably cheap.
  4. Andreas says:
    I like directory submissions because they can get the ball rolling in terms of indexing in search engines especially for new sites. If one does not have budget to outsource, it would be enough to focus on the top directories and several niche related directories.
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      Definitely focus on niche directories for manual submission, but I wouldn't got *striaght* for top directories. The problem with this is that the top directories approval process is quite slow, delaying the amount of links you'll get.
  5. ant roen says:
    Interesting as there seems to be a bit of a divided, some SEO's liking Directories some not. I think that some people submit to 100's of directories a week and this is not good as a previous poster said your link profile is important to Google. So everything in moderation. Ant
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      To be honest, I have no problems submitting to 100's of directories a week. The fact that each directory has an approval process & each one will take a while to be indexed means that unlike some methods (such as social bookmark spam or footer links in templates) there is a more natural growth of links.
  6. Harsh Kumar Agrawal says:
    Rhyas that's quite an insight and also directory submission is bad because if that directory is quite reputable, it will outrank your original content and Google might start looking your own content as duplicate. This is what happened to many bloggers who posts were partially copied by auto blogs or partially posted anywhere else...
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      Sorry but I've yet to see a directory listing outrank a blog in SEO.
  7. Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
    Actually I'm still wondering what the elephant do in link building, though to me is a strange title because I don't see elephant being mention anywhere in the post but anyway, you are right relying on just directory submission alone is always not enough, you just have to mix all the other traffic together to make it big.
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      "The Elephant in the Room" is an English phrase. It refers to the fact that "Something is true, but nobody acknowledges it."
      • Rhys Wynne says:
        See this for an example - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room
  8. Mark says:
    I actually run two link directories both of them deep-linkers, meaning I allow multiple deep-links. I just want to say this...many of the people that submit, are submitting web pages that already have a high level of trust rank and Page Rank...so obviously they know something. Mark
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      Yes, yes & thrice yes :) It's like a filthy little secret really Directory Submissions. They were abandoned by many SEO's because they were told it didn't work. Turns out they still did!
  9. Edgar says:
    I personally try to diversify my linking strategy as much as i can. I still submit to directories, comment, do article marketing, guest posting, blog networks and social media. I emphasize always on the fact that if you want to win Google's love, you need to be yourself (natural) and don't try to do unnatural stuff.
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      Unnatural stuff doesn't really exist too much. It's more unnatural patterns. Think of it like eating McDonalds. Eating one every so often won't harm you. Eating it every day and being the sole purpose of your diet is bad. Same with any form of link building really.
    • Dianne says:
      This is pretty much my strategy. I lean more towards social media and commenting. I'm just now getting to submitting to directories, blog networks and article marketing. I like your statement about being natural because Google does look for signs of unnatural behavior such as building 100s of backlinks in one night.
  10. Dave Lucas says:
    Hey Rhys! Somewhere here in my 10 years of blogging I've probably submitted URLs to a directory. I can't see if it's done much good. Apparently, its done no harm. About 7 years ago another blogger wrote me "if you get one visitor a WEEK from a link you left or submitted someplace, it's worth it - years later you may get ONE very important visitor who finds your site via that one link." I second Ileane's question! Which directory IS best?
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      I don't worry about getting visitors for the link, I care about the link. It's a simple inbound link which is keyword rich pointing to your site.
  11. Ileane says:
    Hi Rhys, I have to ask a question on this one - which directories do you like the best?
    • Rhys Wynne says:
      Hi Ileane, To be honest I don't have a "favourite" directory. Usually the directories I submit to in the method described above I don't even know about until they are submitted to me in a report. So I don't really have a "favourites". Some I get links from easily, some I don't. I just hedge my bets :)
    • Bruce Stevens says:
      I take it you outsource all the submission work. Do you have a particular service you use, or do you post the project on freelance type sites each time? I've been concentrating on other methods, (guest blogging, commenting etc), but do see value in diversifying a little. I'm seeing pricing ranges of $20 - $200 for a similar number of submissions however, and am trying to determine if the old saying of "you get what you pay for" holds true here. ~Bruce
      • Rhys Wynne says:
        I use a selection of services (here's a tip - google "Directory Submissions" and see what comes up!), depending on the nature. $20's fine and a fair price. Not sure about $200!