{"id":859,"date":"2014-05-12T14:40:28","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T14:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silkstream.net\/blog\/?p=859"},"modified":"2019-03-28T10:02:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T10:02:18","slug":"seo-benefits-of-website-directories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silkstream.net\/blog\/2014\/05\/seo-benefits-of-website-directories.html","title":{"rendered":"What are the SEO benefits of using website directories? [Video]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s video, Hayley explains the SEO benefits of using website directories and what you should be looking for to differentiate a low quality directory from a good, valuable one.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lW5mDtDv8vM?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Please scroll down for the full video transcription.<\/p>\n<p>This is the final chapter of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL_2UwvoTh32iNRD70ElNJl9Qn3ckXKmz_\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">our 3-part series about online directories<\/a> and their online marketing value. Don\u2019t forget to check out <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/0pdU4ppFAHw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">part one<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/bkEvo-n9KgU\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">part two<\/a> if you haven\u2019t watched them yet.<\/p>\n<p>For more of our videos, please subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/Silkstreamnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Silkstream\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Video Transcription<\/h2>\n<h3>Hayley<\/h3>\n<p>In the last few years Google have been quite aggressively tackling web spam in order to clean up its search results. In 2012 we saw that they started removing low quality directories from their index, which meant that if you had a link from that site, any benefit you would\u2019ve gained would\u2019ve been lost.<\/p>\n<p>As far as I\u2019m aware, there wasn\u2019t any penalty dealt out to sites that were listed in the directories. It was presumably because of the high amount of websites that had used them in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Now I\u2019m specifically talking about low quality directories here. There\u2019s a few easy ways you can identify these by asking yourself a few questions:<\/p>\n<p><em>Is it part of a larger directory network offering something like guaranteed submissions to over 200 directories?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Do they allow you to choose your own anchor text backlink?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Are they linking out to gambling, pharmaceutical or pornographic websites?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Do they offer a reciprocal exchange for a faster listing or do they ask for payment in return for a faster listing?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So if you answered yes to any or even just one of these questions, the chances are that you\u2019re wasting your time and that directory is very low quality and will do absolutely nothing to improve your SEO.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t mean that all directories a waste of time though.<\/p>\n<p>Going over the directories that Leigh mentioned, such as Yell and the big ones, and directories that are relevant to your niche \u2013 they\u2019re all valuable when it comes to SEO.<\/p>\n<p>The way to identify a good quality directory? I\u2019d say there\u2019s probably 2 or 3 questions you could ask yourself when looking at them:<\/p>\n<p><em>Is a directory asking for more than just my website anchor text and a short description?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Is it asking you for a business address, a geographical phone number, an in-depth description of your business? \u2013 That\u2019s a good sign.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Are links back to the website, if they allow links (not all quality directories allow a link but if they do), are they branded or even junk anchor text like \u201cclick here\u201d or \u201cvisit website\u201d? \u2013 even if they\u2019re nofollowed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The last question to ask yourself obviously is will it drive relevant traffic to my business?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you answered yes to them, the chances are that it would be the right directory to have a mention in.<\/p>\n<p>What I think is that when it comes to SEO, there\u2019s just one question you need to ask yourself when you\u2019re looking, the same with directories or anything is: \u201cis this a trusted source?\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Leigh<\/h3>\n<p>Would you consider Google Places to be a directory?<\/p>\n<h3>Hayley<\/h3>\n<p>Yeah. When we initially start our <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/2N59tCBncBr\">SEO Toronto<\/a> service for clients, Google Places, Yell, there\u2019s quite a few that we go to straight away because you know that its good to have them in there.<\/p>\n<p>Google Places is probably one that people overlook quiet a lot. I\u2019d say its simple but of course Google doesn\u2019t like to make things simple but it\u2019s free.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019re in there it then helps because to have your consistent Name, Address, and Phone Number on your site, your Google Places and then out in 10 plus other directories (even as a citation, it doesn\u2019t matter about the link). <\/p>\n<p>Then Google can aggregate and pull them all together to understand that the listings in those directories are relevant, enforcing your authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s video, Hayley explains the SEO benefits of using website directories and what you should be looking for to differentiate a low quality directory from a good, valuable one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-marketing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What are the SEO benefits of website directories? - Silkstream Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hayley explains the SEO benefits of website directories and what you should be looking for to differentiate a low quality directory from a valuable one.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.silkstream.net\/blog\/2014\/05\/seo-benefits-of-website-directories.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are the SEO benefits of website directories? - Silkstream Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hayley explains the SEO benefits of website directories and what you should be looking for to differentiate a low quality directory from a valuable one.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.silkstream.net\/blog\/2014\/05\/seo-benefits-of-website-directories.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silkstream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/silkstream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-12T14:40:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-28T10:02:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@silkstreamnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@silkstreamnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.silkstream.net\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/seo-benefits-of-website-directories.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.silkstream.net\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/seo-benefits-of-website-directories.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"What are the SEO benefits of using website directories? 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