Are Internet directories still important for SEO?

1. 60

   am301986posted 11 years ago

   
   I understand the importance of backlinks, but it seems that Google has to be putting more importance on editorial links than on link directories. Am I correct in assuming that time spent on link building would be better allocated in different ventures?

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      osandalkposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There are some "ok" (at best) general directories out there that will pass a little juice and help you in very non-competitive spaces but a far majority are complete junk.  However, there are many "business" directories that are HUGE for SEO, especially for local search results like Google Places.  I'm talking directories like:
      
      www.google.com/local/add
      local.yahoo.com/
      ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCen...
      www.local.com/
      www.superpages.com/
      www.yellowpages.com/
      www.magicyellow.com/
      www.infousa.com/
      www.macraesbluebook.com/
      www.localeze.com/
      www.judysbook.com/
      
      There are many more, and they're FREE.  Do-follow, or no-follow, they're all solid places you want to show up in for the search engines to add trust.  They're trusted because they are pretty strict for spam and you need an address and phone number in most cases.  I've found they greatly help in local, but even appear to add trust over all for web only based sites.

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      1. 60

         am301986posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Good one! most are known and valuable too.

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2. 59

   iefox5posted 11 years ago

   Some important directories like dmoz and yellowpages are still valuable for SEO.

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3. 79

   Greekgeekposted 11 years ago

   Danny Sullivan, perhaps the most respected name in the SEO industry, recently went on a rant on this topic at SMX (the main get together for the search engine tech indudstry). Danny's rant has been making the rounds all over the SEO blogosphere and Twitter sphere with hearty cries of "Hear, hear!"
   
   Here is his slightly less slap-happy version, for those who are less familiar with Penguin, Panda, and the whole linkbuilding side of SEO. Read the section about directories carefully. He's been studying SEO since before Google existed, so he knows what he's talking about.
   
   Danny Sullivan's linkbuilding basics in a post-penguin world

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   1. 67

      Teresa Schultzposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That ws an interesting read (the Danny Sullivan article) - thanks for the link to it.

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   2. 89

      Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      SEO types cannot give up on the link building front. It is just so deeply ingrained in their psyches. It is also pretty much their sole raison d'etre.
      
      The guy says that making a post, comment or article purely for the link is no way to go but at the same time the whole article is about link building. Idiotic.

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4. 83

   CMHypnoposted 11 years ago

   His comments about sites that had 'no barriers to publishing' being hit by Google were interesting.  Maybe its time that HP raised some hurdles to jump before you get published and content being eyeballed by a real human  seems to be a big + for the big G?

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