Five Criterias of Web Directories That May Hurt Your Page Rank

Badly Hurt

There has been hundreds of questionable SEO companies and freelancers offering website submissions from hundreds to thousands of web directories in a measly couple a bucks.Not to mention lots of people are creating senseless web directories on either to flip the site or monetize it through PPC programs like Google Adsense.

If you are thinking that having links to these directories will increase your page rank, think again.

The truth is, this may hurt you even more. Why? Because Google in particular, does not brings you Google juice from just any directory that you know out there.

In a blog comments from Matt Cutts of Google, he mentioned that you should check the quality of directories you intend to submit your website. Not every directory, if not most of them, is worth to submit your site to.

So how do you know if a web directory may potentially damage your seo effort:

  1. If a web directory accepts all or any kinds of URLs. These directories serves no value to Internet users and so with search engines. If so, then why submit their sites to them?
  2. If a web directory accepts low quality and spammy websites. They may be filtering submission but in a low quality standard. You want a directory with high quality standard.
  3. If a web directory is asking for reciprocal links. There are paid per link directories that reciprocal links is required. If you have paid for it, why ask for back links?
  4. If a directory is not managed properly. Websites listed in a directory can morphed from simple, innocent looking site to become a spammy site. The directory owner should regularly check his listings to maintain the ranking and quality of the directory.
  5. The directory itself is engaged in black hat. If this is the case, any site that is link to the directory will be suspected as involved to any scheme to manipulate search engines. It’s important to link good neighbor as they say.

These only serves as a guideline and only Google can really tell which and which site not to link to.

The two safe known directories are Yahoo Directories and DMOZ. The rest, extra effort to scrutinize them is necessary. So don’t just submit your site to these bad directories. Your extra effort may serve as your advantage over your competitors.

February 7, 2008 | Filed Under Search Engine Optimization 

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