Comments on: Five General Web Directories Worth Getting Listed In

By: Wesley LeFebvre

Wesley LeFebvre — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:00:18 +0000

That makes good sense Andrew. Thanks for sharing.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:04:02 +0000

I think this is good advice (these 5 directories). Google uses them as filters. Remember you don’t pay for the link, you pay for the review. A lot of dodgy sites won’t risk losing $299 (which they would likely do if there’s anything untoward about their website).

As we know Google is 100% automated, so using human-edited directories as a filter is one signal for Google to say “this site ought to be OK”. NOT being listed here means you have to work that much harder with other links.

I’ve seen this with hard data by the way, with the sites I’ve been running. I invest money into my most valuable sites, and I know my clients who’re listed in Yahoo! or business.com get very good traffic.

It’s ridiculous we have to pay so much, but that’s also part of the process – why would you risk so much money if there’s even a small chance you won’t get listed?

By: Wesley LeFebvre

Wesley LeFebvre — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:07:36 +0000

Hi Gil,
Absolutely you can rank well without them! However with all else being equal – a company listed in these directories will surely rank better than the company that is not. That alone suggests there is some benefit to being listed in them.

The purpose of this post was to suggest a few low-risk directories people could use to increase their rankings.

I have seen a handful of websites jump in rankings after getting listed in just a a few of them.

By: Gil Pauley

Gil Pauley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:39:50 +0000

Wesley,

I really enjoy your write-ups. However, I personally don’t think that any of the “paid” directories are worth the price. I realize you have qualified how one should purchase any or all of these and I agree with those qualificatios. With that said, “In my online youth, I did purchase a listing in JoeAnt” and two other inexpensive directories. I thought Yahoo, BOTW, and Business were a waste of money then and still do.

Our site is proof that you can exist and rank high in Google without them. We are number 1 in both the organic search and the local search for our two main Key Word combinations. Our rank in Yahoo is more variable, but still OK. Link building is just a very long term and ongoing task.