SEO Tip - Directories are not Dead

Directory links are dead, right?

I bring this up because I see tons of questions in forums and nearly every directory I visit lost PR over the last few updates. The popular questions: “Are directory links still valuable?” or “Should I still get directory links?”, from what I’ve seen most people still believe they’re valuable if - they’re relevant, located on an indexed page and located on a page that doesn’t have hundreds of outgoing links. I’ll go a little further and suggest that if you can find a reputable service that does hundreds or thousands of manual directory submissions, and it’s not too expensive, do it hands down.

Here’s why -

A couple weeks ago I managed to accidentally rank a website on the first page of Google for several keywords that have absolutely NOTHING to do with the site that was ranked. Yes, I own a couple #1 positions. No, the keywords were not extremely competitive, but you can bet your paycheck that there are at least 50 companies, in one state, that want the spots I have more than I do.

So how did I rank a website for several off topic keywords? FREE directory links, that’s it. The directories used were general directories and the categories that the links were placed in were not relevant to the site, just to the keywords I was accidentally targeting.

My rankings will likely drop because my site sticks out like a Backstreet Boy at a developers convention, but if there was relevance, I’d be one step closer to owning my niche.

For now, I can positively assure you that free directory links are still valuable and that they should be an important part of your complete optimization strategy.

Here’s a nice list of directories -

Directory Critic

Here’s the directory submission service I used - you can find better deals on DP but they always do a good job.

GreenStalk Web Directory

Happy submissions!