Linking Strategies: Directories
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michael26a
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I think high quality paid directories still work to some extent, free directories certainly don't anymore from my experience (especially if they are very low quality). Three way link exchange would be useful if the search engines couldn't detect it, one way link exchange is no good (and very easy for search engines to detect).
Rhondagrace
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Hi Michael,
if you believe all of the above don't work for gaining more back links then what do you suggest? Thanks
michael26a
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I'm a big believer in free and natural looking links, so things like articles, blog comments, forums, and press releases. If you have any other effective link building methods, feel free to add them 
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Every link works, IMO. one-way, three-way, paid, ..... With that said, there are some link types that have absolutely no value anymore (for Google) and that is simply because they have devalued them. Those links are:
1. Free Directories (some that Google decided are bad for Google)
2. Blog Links (some blogs that Google decided are bad for Google)
3. Paid Links (That Google has discovered are purchased to increase rankings and PR)
Let's suffice it to say that if Google thinks a website will have links in order to pass value (PR or SERPS) to another website, they will devalue that link.
The majority of links are still good and will help your site.
That is my very uneducated synopsis of links
1. Free Directories (some that Google decided are bad for Google)
2. Blog Links (some blogs that Google decided are bad for Google)
3. Paid Links (That Google has discovered are purchased to increase rankings and PR)
Let's suffice it to say that if Google thinks a website will have links in order to pass value (PR or SERPS) to another website, they will devalue that link.
The majority of links are still good and will help your site.
That is my very uneducated synopsis of links
Directories absolutely work. I have seen a few sites rank where all they had were directory links.
There are a few things to consider however.
If you submit to a directory that has 100s of pages per category and your submission ends up on page 100 then the chances are that this page will not get indexed by Google, that means that your submission was useless. You can submit to 1000 directories but if none get indexed then all of them are useless.
Submitting to 1000s directories today will do no good either, Google can detect activities like this.
Both free and paid directories work, it is just finding the quality ones.
Keep away from reciprocal ones, they are bad news and are pointless really.
There are a few things to consider however.
If you submit to a directory that has 100s of pages per category and your submission ends up on page 100 then the chances are that this page will not get indexed by Google, that means that your submission was useless. You can submit to 1000 directories but if none get indexed then all of them are useless.
Submitting to 1000s directories today will do no good either, Google can detect activities like this.
Both free and paid directories work, it is just finding the quality ones.
Keep away from reciprocal ones, they are bad news and are pointless really.
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michael_b_seo
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Yes, links are working, yet recently they are working even more, since sometime ago google started to index nofollow links and social networks links as well. So, feel free to add your links to those.
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I was pointed to a good link article last night by Rak. Below is the portion of the article that I thought was interesting.
Importance of Link Building Tactics, before & after…
Since the launch of the Google Farmer-Panda update, some core traditional SEO tactics have reduced in their effectiveness. The graphic below outlines my thoughts on the difference for specific tactics before and after the Google Farmer update. If I had to summarise the Google Farmer update in one paragraph here is what I would say:
3 Tips for link building in 2011
1. Don’t focus on the link
It’s all to easy to just go after a link, so much so that you only ever measure yourself on how many links you have or how many more than your competitors your website has. While this is one KPI, if links doesn’t drive traffic or conversions either directly or through ranking increases, then it is not worth the time & effort.
Instead focus your time & energy on creating reasons for people to want to link to you. This could be because you are generating amazing blog posts, publishing white papers that raise the bar in your industry or it could be that you turn complex ebooks into interesting graphics that are easy to consume.
So, think about your audience and create content that they will find amazing & deliver it in a way that makes it fun to consume. If you get this right, then people will link to you or they will request to feature you on their site. This approach can help generate shares and tweet to your network (all good for your social score), or a blog post reviewing your content but this will ensure a much. more natural & scalable way to generate links.
2. Make your content inherently sharable
As mentioned above, core to successful & natural link building is amazing content. Making that content easy to share, reference & interact with is just as important. Giving visitors the option to share the content direct from the page through tools like Facebook likes, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon as well as the more traditional bookmarking & send to a friend services will give you the best chance of your content been linked to and shared. Second to this, is making content easy to access through publishing content on sites like SlideShare, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Feedburner etc. By publishing your content on and via such platforms you make your content accessible to people and therefore they are more likely to a) find your content b) share / link / comment on your content both of which are key to generating links.
3. Create a relationships not links
In the past link building has been about building a list of websites you think you need a link from and then trying to work out the best way to “get” on that website. Times however have moved on and that method was never very effective anyway.
Instead, consider where your audience are currently active online and think if there is a way you can add value to their experience on those websites. This could be by becoming an active member of the community or it could be by forming a relationship with the site owner where you feature as a guest blogger or maybe you supply ebooks / white papers for them to use on their websites. Back to my initial tip, do not approach it for the link, approach it from adding value to the customers this way you will create a relationship both with other websites but crucially its users. This will help grow awareness of you / your brand which in-turn will generate traffic to your website and therefore give your content more opportunities to be shared.
From Source: 3 post Google Farmer update link-building tips > Smart Insights Digital Marketing
Importance of Link Building Tactics, before & after…
Since the launch of the Google Farmer-Panda update, some core traditional SEO tactics have reduced in their effectiveness. The graphic below outlines my thoughts on the difference for specific tactics before and after the Google Farmer update. If I had to summarise the Google Farmer update in one paragraph here is what I would say:
If you utilized websites / services that either hosted or distributed your content onto low quality content hubs that often contained more adverts than content, you are likely to have suffered as a result of this update. Any such services were always havens for poor quality content & lazy marketers. It was a low energy way to generate links. Of all the Google updates I think this one will have a more positive impact on the industry and really help it become a more exciting & non technical / geeky channel. It supports marketers who want to build engaging online brands!
3 Tips for link building in 2011
1. Don’t focus on the link
It’s all to easy to just go after a link, so much so that you only ever measure yourself on how many links you have or how many more than your competitors your website has. While this is one KPI, if links doesn’t drive traffic or conversions either directly or through ranking increases, then it is not worth the time & effort.
Instead focus your time & energy on creating reasons for people to want to link to you. This could be because you are generating amazing blog posts, publishing white papers that raise the bar in your industry or it could be that you turn complex ebooks into interesting graphics that are easy to consume.
So, think about your audience and create content that they will find amazing & deliver it in a way that makes it fun to consume. If you get this right, then people will link to you or they will request to feature you on their site. This approach can help generate shares and tweet to your network (all good for your social score), or a blog post reviewing your content but this will ensure a much. more natural & scalable way to generate links.
2. Make your content inherently sharable
As mentioned above, core to successful & natural link building is amazing content. Making that content easy to share, reference & interact with is just as important. Giving visitors the option to share the content direct from the page through tools like Facebook likes, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon as well as the more traditional bookmarking & send to a friend services will give you the best chance of your content been linked to and shared. Second to this, is making content easy to access through publishing content on sites like SlideShare, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Feedburner etc. By publishing your content on and via such platforms you make your content accessible to people and therefore they are more likely to a) find your content b) share / link / comment on your content both of which are key to generating links.
3. Create a relationships not links
In the past link building has been about building a list of websites you think you need a link from and then trying to work out the best way to “get” on that website. Times however have moved on and that method was never very effective anyway.
Instead, consider where your audience are currently active online and think if there is a way you can add value to their experience on those websites. This could be by becoming an active member of the community or it could be by forming a relationship with the site owner where you feature as a guest blogger or maybe you supply ebooks / white papers for them to use on their websites. Back to my initial tip, do not approach it for the link, approach it from adding value to the customers this way you will create a relationship both with other websites but crucially its users. This will help grow awareness of you / your brand which in-turn will generate traffic to your website and therefore give your content more opportunities to be shared.
From Source: 3 post Google Farmer update link-building tips > Smart Insights Digital Marketing
michael_b_seo
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Nice article, though what kind of directories were taken into consideration when people were creating this statistics? I dont think that links from DMOZ directory will give 0 link value as we see on the picture. Another thing is that people that are involved in wood-flooring won't agree with this statistics, because they mostly have directories links and they are sites are OK - I checked...)))
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Some directories, like DMOZ, are considered 'authority' I would bet
And, directories aren't completely de-valued. It does show that they have value... and 1,000,000 directory links is still a LOT of power (IMO)michael_b_seo
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It would be a brilliant thread, if people were posting the list of such authority directories... I can start with Yelp, Superpages, Google Local Business Center...