Is Directory Listings helpful for Blogs?
When I started blogging and was lost in an ocean of blogs, not knowing what to do to get my blogs noticed, I went to every free blog directory and got my blog listed there. Then I went home, smiling to myself that tomorrow, i will surely see a few hundred visitors to my blog. Did I? I’m sure I don’t have to answer that. There wasn’t a single hit from all those listings that I submitted.
Many people submit to directories for the links that they will be getting once their blog gets listed. Some big names like Yahoo, charges as high as $299 for commercial sites but free for others. The big daddy of all free directory listings is of course DMOZ. Almost every blogger I know have sometimes or other made an attempt to get their sites listed there. It’s not easy getting listed in DMOZ. It could take up to a year before your site is on the list.
According to an article on Octopus Juice, directory listing sites claiming to increase your rankings in search engines is a fluke, as quoted here,
The misconception by most people is these directory listing are great tools to build incoming links to your site fast. There are a lot of paid directory listings that claim to help your site to generate incoming links which will result in high rankings for your site your site on Search Engines.
Let me remind the 3 rules of Search Engine Optimization:
1. Quality Content
2. Great choice of keywords (phrases)
3. QUALITY INCOMING LINKS
Not taking what was quoted in context, all I can deduce is if you get your blog listed, whether on paid directories or whether on free ones, the most you can expect is a link to your blog and it would not even be a Quality Link. Blog traffic from your listings? Stop dreaming. Your blog will be buried so deeply within the directory that it will never see the lights of the day and no one will be digging for it.
Having said that, if you must have your blog listed somewhere to be happy, you will be much better of listed in those Online Articles Directory. Most of them are free and you only have to submit your articles regularly to be seen by millions because most of these directories have “recently submitted” column on their front page. It doesn’t stay there long enough to attract much attraction though. A full list of the more popular Directories can also be viewed at October Juice.
So am I a sucker for Directory Listings? Nah.. to me, it’s all bullshit. But do keep in mind that I’m no SEO guru, so don’t take my words for it.
