Are directories dead ?

By directory I mean a site where you submit your website name, a title and a description. In my country there are tons of them and they are still heavily used.

Why is no-one speaking about them here ? Are they dead on the international, english speaking market ? Do you still build directory links or not ? How many of them do you build ?

They won't boost your rankings very much but you can still use them as a fast option for pillowing your link-profile with URL and Misc anchors.
Although I'm not sure how long it will take to index them after the last google update.

If you are doing local seo, getting listed on local directories will help. Other than that, there is very little effect. Btw, I am just curious, which ones more popular in your country - Google or Yandex?

With google bot and google webmaster I'm also wondering why the need for those directories, it will index your site anyway. Bing and yandex works same way.

In fact on a new site I found bots on Awstat report within 24 hours after going live, and that was before registering my site anywhere.

My question is what would happen if I don't submit to directories?

rft120 said:

If you are doing local seo, getting listed on local directories will help. Other than that, there is very little effect. Btw, I am just curious, which ones more popular in your country - Google or Yandex?

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Google or Yandex ? What do you mean ? I am speaking about places like websitelists . com

Every site in my country is listed in many country-specific and also english directories. I have checked even new authority sites created in the last few months and they are still listed in 10-20 directories like that. It's like a standard practice.

I have seen domains with nothing but such links standing at TF 2 CF 8 made out of 15 such directory links.

This is why I don't understand why nobody speaks about them here on BHW. It's like they don't exist over here.

EasternEuropean said:

Google or Yandex ? What do you mean ? I am speaking about places like websitelists . com

Every site in my country is listed in many country-specific and also english directories. I have checked even new authority sites created in the last few months and they are still listed in 10-20 directories like that. It's like a standard practice.

I have seen domains with nothing but such links standing at TF 2 CF 8 made out of 15 such directory links.

This is why I don't understand why nobody speaks about them here on BHW. It's like they don't exist over here.

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It's like I said, because they are weak and just a way to balance out your link-profile. There's nothing special about them, some of them also propably won't be indexed anyway after the last algorithm update.

EasternEuropean said:

Google or Yandex ? What do you mean ? I am speaking about places like websitelists . com

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Nooo. I meant which search engine is more popular. Last time I checked Yandex and Baidu weighs links differently than Google.

EasternEuropean said:

Every site in my country is listed in many country-specific and also english directories. I have checked even new authority sites created in the last few months and they are still listed in 10-20 directories like that. It's like a standard practice.

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Umm, what do you mean by 'new authority' sites? blogs?

EasternEuropean said:

I have seen domains with nothing but such links standing at TF 2 CF 8 made out of 15 such directory links.

This is why I don't understand why nobody speaks about them here on BHW. It's like they don't exist over here.

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Whats your focus here - building blog network or search traffic?

If you are after search traffic, links from generic directories wont give you anything. Directory submissions used to work back in days, when search engines where slow to index new sites. Nowadays it doesnt give you any extra edge.

A simple thumb rule for good backlink sources - how strong is the moderation.

Heres an example :

1. online directories >> no moderation >> anyone can post anything == little to no seo value.
2. trade association member directory >> very slow and tedious moderation == great value seo-wise
3. .gov sites >> very strict moderation == great value
4. profile links >> no moderation == shit

Hope this helps

I have seen a few sites with just directories rank well (not for any big keywords mind you) but they don't seem to hurt.

if you buy some directory links they will boost your site a little bit but not much, and they ask minimum of 10$, i think its more a waste of money.