Does Website Directories help rankings at all?

I've seen people who said that they experience a jump in ranking after submitting to web directories.

Some said their site got sandboxed, some said they got google danced for a long time with no improvement in rankins or whatsoever.


So does web directories help?

anyone?

Thanks, sycthos.

I really appreciate to submit to directories.
Once i promoted a site only with directories and got PR jump of 0 to 3.
Today we know that a good mixup of different linktypes is the most effective.

Mix web directories, social bookmarks, web 2 propertiers and article sites to promote and you'll succeed.

But keep in mind that this is continious thing. Keep the amount of builded links / month and don't stop after submitting. Be patient and don't build all your links at one time.

With the recent update to Google's algo, i personally believe directories are not good linking strategies anymore. Unless it is a well known high PR directory you should steer clear as it may have a negative effect on your website.

well that is interesting gorang, i submitted my main website to 1000 directorys through a service offered on BHW.

my ranking is hovering between position 14 and 17, no improvement recently.

my second keyword is ranking me 442nd.. lol i expect i am sandboxed for that keyword

Yes you are. You're stuck in the trust filter, you need to show Google you're reputable and then re-submit for re-consideration.

I'd take a bet you could have good rankings with 50-100 links from other sources. A lot of my niche sites hit page 1 once they achieve 100 links for keywords with 1-15 million competing sites.

Is your site very old? If it is new, then the site will automatically enter Google's trust filter until it feels it can trust the site to be rnaked well foe a keyword.

if i was you i'd look at two options.

Look at buying a new domain and getting some fresh content. This time building more trusted links.

or

Start removing some of the spammy links you've created, then begin article marketing with varied anchor text as well as using some of Angela Edwards backlinks.

gorang said:

Yes you are. You're stuck in the trust filter, you need to show Google you're reputable and then re-submit for re-consideration.

I'd take a bet you could have good rankings with 50-100 links from other sources. A lot of my niche sites hit page 1 once they achieve 100 links for keywords with 1-15 million competing sites.

Is your site very old? If it is new, then the site will automatically enter Google's trust filter until it feels it can trust the site to be rnaked well foe a keyword.

if i was you i'd look at two options.

Look at buying a new domain and getting some fresh content. This time building more trusted links.

or

Start removing some of the spammy links you've created, then begin article marketing with varied anchor text as well as using some of Angela Edwards backlinks.

Click to expand...

hehe i dont think so my friend

firstly, site is only 1.5 months old, secondly, a site doesn't tend to get sandboxed for one keyword and not the other, google doesn't have a sandbox function in their algorithm - it is simply a phenomenon of the algorithm, that is to say that they didn't intentionally implement it.. its just a feature of how they rank sites overall.

secondly, it takes a long time to get accept by all directories, a very long time... ontop of that it takes even longer for google and other websites to find these backlinks. in yahoo site explorer i have seen maybe +10 backlink increase and its been nearly 1 week since i purchased directory package.

thirdly, and most importantly, my site was ranked 400 something for that keyword before i brought the directory submission package (lol)

we will see, time is the key.

They have an internal name for it, it's called the trustfilter and every new site begins their journey in the trustfilter.

I can only give you my best advice and i assure you this is true.

Either way, your site is new and you need to give it time. No matter how many links you get right now, Google won't trust you until you're out of the trust filter. Which means you should make your site as least spammy as possible and get trustworthy links to speed up the process.

Right now, all Google can see is links from directories which are very easy to be accepted in and it's judging your site based on that fact.

gorang said:

They have an internal name for it, it's called the trustfilter and every new site begins their journey in the trustfilter.

I can only give you my best advice and i assure you this is true.

Either way, your site is new and you need to give it time. No matter how many links you get right now, Google won't trust you until you're out of the trust filter. Which means you should make your site as least spammy as possible and get trustworthy links to speed up the process.

Right now, all Google can see is links from directories which are very easy to be accepted in and it's judging your site based on that fact.

Click to expand...

mm i have a lot of sites, i also am saying that these directory backlinks are flitering in slowly and are not being found quickly. ontop of that i already have a good 500+ backlinks.

fact of the matter is, i am ranking very low of a particular keyword but highly for others (i am first page on other keywords)

this is not a trust issue with my site and google in my opinion. regardless i agree that directory backlinks are not high value links in general, but provide link juice regardless. i buy 1000 directory backlinks but only expect the value of 75-100 quality backlinks, this is not a problem for me.

You've gained 500+ backlinks in under 2 months? That is an excessive amount of backlinks in such a small amount of time.

If you have 500 backlinks, and you're not on the front page and also your specific keywords are dropping out of existence then you are being penalized/filtered/sandboxed for some reason.

Do any of these backlinks happen to be blog comments? I've experienced similar scenarios with blog commenting. You have to be very specific about what blogs you comment on otherwise it can have a negative effect ojn your site. Google suggested recently to remove blog comments you don't trust and submit your site for re-consideration. This will be because they can have a negative effect on your site. By removing some blog comment spam your site will rank better.

Spammy links don't "provide link juice regardless". They will have a negative effect on your website.

Google has put your site on an uphill journey, no matter how many more links you pump into this website Google will restrict it's movements, an uphill battle. This is what you're currently experiencing.

I think, what you really need to understand is just how a bad link neighborhood affects your website. Do not assume anything, those links are "not ok" pointing to your website. They will be taken into account and your site will be judged upon them.

I think you need to consider what's having an effect on your site, fix it and then submit your site for reconsideration.

wth guys, why are you all going off-topic?

From answering a question to a conversation. lol.

gorang said:

You've gained 500+ backlinks in under 2 months? That is an excessive amount of backlinks in such a small amount of time.

If you have 500 backlinks, and you're not on the front page and also your specific keywords are dropping out of existence then you are being penalized/filtered/sandboxed for some reason.

Do any of these backlinks happen to be blog comments? I've experienced similar scenarios with blog commenting. You have to be very specific about what blogs you comment on otherwise it can have a negative effect ojn your site. Google suggested recently to remove blog comments you don't trust and submit your site for re-consideration. This will be because they can have a negative effect on your site. By removing some blog comment spam your site will rank better.

Spammy links don't "provide link juice regardless". They will have a negative effect on your website.

Google has put your site on an uphill journey, no matter how many more links you pump into this website Google will restrict it's movements, an uphill battle. This is what you're currently experiencing.

I think, what you really need to understand is just how a bad link neighborhood affects your website. Do not assume anything, those links are "not ok" pointing to your website. They will be taken into account and your site will be judged upon them.

I think you need to consider what's having an effect on your site, fix it and then submit your site for reconsideration.

Click to expand...

i think you are wrong, you are free to have your own opinion but i dont believe that to be the case.

firstly, and this disproves your entire point of view: if that was the case and bad backlinks devalued and put a dent in the ranking ability of the site, then i could get my competitors deindexed and have them NOT rank.

as far as google has said, all we know is certain types of links are valued LESS and its very specific.

secondly i dont believe that google can discriminate between spammy and "unspammy" links, this is a label you have given. there are sites with high outbound links and low pr that provide a low amount of link juice, there is no such thing as some of the concepts you are talking about.

everything you are saying is just what you assume. you dont actually know. im doing what works for me and im ranking multiple websites for competitive keywords.

good luck to you..

also never ever submit your website for reconsideration, that is silly - why would you draw attention from a real person at google to your site? do you want to get deindexed unless you are completely white hat?

gurkoboy said:

i think you are wrong, you are free to have your own opinion but i dont believe that to be the case.

firstly, and this disproves your entire point of view: if that was the case and bad backlinks devalued and put a dent in the ranking ability of the site, then i could get my competitors deindexed and have them NOT rank.

Click to expand...

But what you're saying is not true. You can place another website in a bad link neighbourhood. However, it makes no difference as there is always another site to replace it.

as far as google has said, all we know is certain types of links are valued LESS and its very specific.

secondly i dont believe that google can discriminate between spammy and "unspammy" links, this is a label you have given. there are sites with high outbound links and low pr that provide a low amount of link juice, there is no such thing as some of the concepts you are talking about.

Click to expand...

You're making too many assumptions. Mattcutts has spoken about these points in his blog and there's other sources. For example, read this blogpost http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/11/hard-facts-about-comment-spam.html

Google now suggests that you REMOVE blog spam form your link neighbourhood and then submit your site for reconsideration in Google's index. That's why the tool is there, if Google penalises you, it gives you the option to resubmit for reconsideration.

Matt Cutts has spoke in the past about the trust filter (AKA sandbox). Although i can't find the link anymore.

I think, the best thing you can do is some tests. Numerous times it's been said that Google takes your link neighbourhood into account when ranking your website and if you have a bad link neighbourhood you're not going tog et very far at all. Which is why you have 500 links and you're nowhere to be found.

Here's a quote form the blog

Q: I've cleaned it up, but will Google penalize me if the hacker linked to any bad neighborhoods?
A: We'll try not to. We're pretty good at making sure good sites don't get penalized by actions of hackers and spammers. To be safe, completely remove any links the hackers may have added.

Also http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/10/dealing-with-low-quality-backlinks.html

What all this means is if you saturate your website with bad neighborhood links then they will affect your ranking. If you link/backlink to good neighborhoods and make sure your site is obeying all other good ranking rules then it will diversify and decrease the negative effect it is having.

Also, it's not that Google can't discriminate, It's simple because Google is very intelligent but mindful of not wrongly penalizing a trustworthy site.

However, you're giving it reason to.

everything you are saying is just what you assume. you dont actually know. im doing what works for me and im ranking multiple websites for competitive keywords.

good luck to you..

also never ever submit your website for reconsideration, that is silly - why would you draw attention from a real person at google to your site? do you want to get deindexed unless you are completely white hat?

Click to expand...

Our sites are completely whitehat, that's why the rank better than blackhat sites with much fewer links.

I suppose it annoys me the misconceptions that other marketers spur onto people. Claiming 40,000 links to get to you page 1. In reality it's a false statement, you can do it much easier with a lot less links and a lot less hard work. Also Google picks up more long tails with a good site.

Really, i wouldn't be typing all this if it wasn't true. I'm trying to help.

Isn't being sandboxed different then being de-indexed? If you are sandboxed thn your site is just bumped way down in the serps - thus you wouldn't re-submit. If a site is not indexed or de-indexed then you would need to re-submit once you fix whatever got you deindexed

If your site is sandboxed then you need to remove the offending problems then resubmit once its clean.

De-indexed, well, you can still resubmit because Google will know about your site, it will still have it indexed but won't rank it at all.