Directory Quality for Citation Building
-
Hello All,
Just started to work on a new clients site that has been hit with multiple google penalties. I was looking at their backlink profile and noticed they have numerous links from what seem to be very low quality directory websites. My question is, when building citations and looking for directories to submit to, what makes one directory more credible then another one? If most of them are just publishing links and business information, why does google consider one credible and the other spammy? Clearly with some it's easy to tell if they are credible or not, but with some it is not as easy. Should you only really be submitting to the best of the best or are some lower lever ones ok too? Have read a few things on this topic, but most is older and just want to hear what people have to say on this today. Thanks.
-
No problem.
A big give away is normally the URL, for instance anything with numbers in is a big red flag.
I have just updated our profile as I noticed we hadn't included our websites. Hope you find some useful citations on the list!
J
-
Hey Jamie,
Thanks for the response. Yes I agree that the eye test is usually a good barometer for determining the quality of a site and good to hear this applies to directories as well. I'll check out the post, pretty sure I can find it, thanks for the heads up.
-
Hey jStrong
Generally a lot of web directories are seen as spammy but you can separate the wheat from the chaff by looking at the DA and PA using the Moz toolbar. Normally your first impression will tell you whether you should be leaving a listing or not. My advice would be to stick to well known local directories and ones that are attached to reputable news/media outlets that have enough readership.
Incidentally we have a blog post on our website at the moment with a list of must have citations that are normally our first port-of-call with new websites. PM me if you want the link as i'm not sure if its classed as advertising on the forums.
J
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Best Way to Optimize 38 Local Directory Listing In Major Directories
Hi Folks, I am trying to figure out the best way to get our company's 38 U.S. locations in the major local directories. To start, I'd like to get us listed in the major ones: Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Yelp. I do have the resources myself here on staff to do everything manually. So, I don't necessarily need a service like Yext (but would also like any opinions on that offering if anyone can offer it). But, from what I know in the past, every time you try to claim a local listing within each platform, you have to confirm your existence there somehow - whether it be by a mailed postcard or some sort of automated call they give you. Considering that we want to manage all social and local platforms here at corporate, how can we do this? I am not physically at these locations, but I'm sure this is possible to manage everything through one account. The addresses will be local, but the phone numbers on each local profile will route to our customer service here at corporate because the local locations are mostly administrative. In other words, businesses is booked through corporate and carried out at local destinations. Thoughts/Comments?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CSawatzky
I want to do what's best for SEO and also dont' want to harm anything or our link equity. Thanks,
Pedram0 -
How to build links to landing pages?
I have been using link baits like infographics to get quality links to my site and I have observed that these tactics are great to get links to the home page or that particular post page where infographic was originally posted. But we have various other important landing pages and we want to transfer some link equity to those pages. Whenever we publish an infographic we post it on out blog with an embed code carrying anchor text pointed to our site’s home page. People who share our infographic, normally links to the home page or to the post page where they find that particular item. So, what are the possible ways to get links to any other landing page? Can we post some bait on other landing pages as well. I need to know some more techniques to attract deep links. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | shaz_lhr1 -
Building High PR Links
Would this technique work well for ranking? Get a relevant guestpost on a relevant site. Then send high PR links to that page to create pr3-5 relevant links to your main site.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | court120 -
It's a good idea to have a directory on your website?
Currently I have a directory on a sub domain but Google apparently sees it as part of my main domain so all outgoing links may be affecting my rankings?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Valarlf0 -
Link Building for "State" informational pages
I have a webpage for all 50 states for specific info relating to relocation and was wondering if there are any recommended links to work at getting for these pages. I would like to do "state" specific and possibly health related links for each page to help in the SEO rankings. I can see that if I just wanted to get 10 links on each page that is going to be 500 links I have to build and it is going to be very time consuming but I feel it is necessary. Thank you, Poo
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Boodreaux0 -
Link building idea - Will it work?
The SEO agency I am working for are currently trying out a unique link building tactic that i was hoping for some feedback about. Basically, we have launched a Free SEO package, and have posted it across various established social media profiles. So far we have had about 20 sign up. We gain access to their site and provide them with 4 keywords that we will be working on, we do the necessary on page optimization to get them ranking. We will then perform some very basic link building tactics on their site. In exchange for our services, we will get the following: Firstly, we will place a link on their home page linking to our own site. Secondly, we will personally write content related to their site, create a new page within their site that will contain this article. We will then have a link from this article leading to one of our own client's sites. (paying customers) What do you guys think? The Free SEO client sites have minimum PR's of 2, and we are hoping to build a database of these free clients that will be responsible for boosting the ranking of our paying customers. Is there anything that could be improved with this technique?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | danielblinman0 -
Planning a Link Building Campaign: Which keywords to focus on?
Okay, so looking at my ranking tab for my campaign. It shows the increase in traffic from my keywords, ranks, etc. My goal is to increase traffic, thereby sales. I am trying to plan a link building campaign (aside from the onpage optimization) and get as many keywords within the top 10 as possible: Do I start focusing on a certain number of keywords that are on page 2 (lets say 10) and try to build links to get them within the top 10. Then pick another 10 keywords? Do I pick a variety of keywords from various pages? What is the smartest way of trying to optimize campaign keywords as far as linkbuilding?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | inhouseseo0 -
Redirecting www.example.com to www.example.com/directory/
Hi All, There's been some internal debate going back and forth about redirecting the homepage of a site to a directory. There are a few different POVs circulating, one of which is that it's no different than redirecting to a /index page. Basically, the homepage is ranking for the keyword that we want the directory to rank for but I can't seem to justify placing this type of redirect. The content on both pages is different, but for the term both the homepage and the directory make sense to rank. Has anyone ever done anything like this before? Can anyone see any reason to do something like this? I believe this move would dilute the link value we currently have going to the homepage and potentially cause us to lose our #2 slot with the homepage in favor of a lower spot with the directory. I'd love to hear any thoughts on this/learn if anyone has experimented with this tactic. Thanks in advance!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JamieCottle280