Directory Submission Software

If you read almost any article on SEO (search engine optimization) it will assure you that backlinks are essential in reaching a high placing on Google and that amongst the optimum ways to build links to your website is to submit to web directories - grouped listings of web sites.

This is Bunk! Hokum. Nonsense

The way to accomplish the fastest directory submissions is obvious - don't even bother.

Many SEO gurus will take issue. There is a plethora of directory submission tools and directory submission websites each offering the fastest directory submissions. The orthodoxy is: links to your site are important, the more you have the better, directories are an easy way to achieve links to your site.

Let me cover the last item first. Directory submission is easy. Okay we cannot claim that it is mentally challenging. However it is certainly not easy on your time. For every directory submission there is a form to fill in - and even with semiautomatic directory submission tools, you will generally have to fill in a human-verification field or CAPTCHA and choose a category from a drop down list (because the categories are rarely standard).

On many directory sites you will then have to create a reciprocal link - which requires editing your site. Then you need to click the confirmation link in the email that they send and visit their directory website. You may think that this isn't too burdensome. However, I would figure that you are probably going to spend about 5 minutes on each directory site even utilizing automated directory submission software. And those 5 minutes all add up.

For a good backlink, this is probably acceptable. Howerver this is the crux of the matter, most of the directory links are totally pointless. Most of the directories have very low, if any, PageRank and what little they have is then shared between all the links on a page.

Soon I'll give some real evidence. First though, look at this from Google's position. The Google algorithmic program takes into account "relevancy" in determining the measure of a link. There is low relevancy in a link list. The strongest indicant of relevancy or importance for Google is arm's-length linking. That is, someone unrelated with you, connecting to your internet site.

Blowing your own trumpet does not indicate quality. Yet the only means to achieve a listing in a directory is to self-promote. The online directories do not come searching for the quality internet sites. You submit your web site to directories. Thus logically, submitting to directories doesn't add up if we view at it from a search engine's perspective.

I mentioned empirical evidence. I have to admit that I have thought directory submissions were a waste of my time for some years but have nevertheless submitted to them in any case. I decided to experiment. I created a site and no promotion  than submit to directories employing a mix of manual directory submission and semiautomatic directory submission software (I have spent too long exploring tools to achieve the fastest directory submissions). Then I began to count the backlinks. Weeks later, despite the hundreds of submissions - a smattering of links.

I found this surprising; therefore I tried re-submitting my website at a reasonably high ranking directory. It informed me that my site was already had a listing. So I then did a search of the directory site using Google. No sign of my supposedly listed site. Now I know that it may take time but it was now many weeks later - I would have expected Google to have checked a site it felt to have any kind of significance reasonably frequently.

I am now going to qualify what I have said somewhat. Directories do exist that justify the effort. Gaining a listing in dmoz will certainly have a hugely positive effect. This also applies a number of the paid directories, in particular the Yahoo directory. The reason these top tier directories have weight is a reenforcement of my earlier comments about the Google perspective: the top tier sites are reviewed by humans. They do not tolerate from automated self-promotion without some confirmation.

My advice is: the path to the fastest directory submissions is not to bother. Rather, spend effort finding links on the websites that your target market use. This will mean that you get the benefit of a link that counts and you could even acquire direct visitors (which you certainly never get from from a directory).