Waste Your Time - Submit to Directories
Where to start….
First off, your link will end up in a page along the lines of
http://directory.com/Main_Category/Sub_Category/4/
This is, technically, 3 subfolders in and Google drops the amount of link juice with each subfolder.
Next. Lots of directories have a PR4,5,6 homepage, but what happens when you dig a little deeper? 99 times out of 100, PR0
What does this mean? When search engine spiders reach that subfolder of a subfolder, they think the page is crap and give you slim to nil juice for your link there.
Now you say to yourself, “This just isn’t true. I see lots of directories that have PR3 subcategory pages.”
Okay, so you’ve found that lucky 1/100 and what do you see when you go to the page where you are to be listed? About 50 links of your competitors, which completely destroys your chances of getting any PR juice from it. If you don’t know how pagerank juice works, its like this:
“The more external links on a page their are, the less pagerank each link receives” - Oleg
Couldn’t have said it better myself. So your link is to be placed on a PR3 with 50 other sites turning that PR3, into a PR 0. (<4 links = PR3, <10 links = PR2, <20 links = PR1, >20 links = PR0 - All numbers are estimations)
So you don’t believe me and submit to that directory and 6 months later, you get an email saying you’ve been listed! Your all excited and go to check out how your link looks but when you arrive at the page…. ITS NOT THERE!
But where could it be? Did you try checking page 27? So not only did you get listed on a page that isn’t spidered by search engines, but if by some crazy chance it does, you share a PR0 page with 50 other sites. Perfect.
I used to submit to directories all the time, until I figured out that most are complete crap. There are a few good ones out there, but you are going to have to find them on your own and keep them to yourself. Let the directory out of the bag, and you’ve turned your PR3 link into a PR0.
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Filed under: Directories, SEO
Totally agree with you. Most directories - apart from the larger better known ones - are a complete waste of time. In fact, I’d say they’re using false advertising by using their homepage PR to entice people in.