Are links from a directory worth buying?
Most definitely, the answer is YES.
Backlinks in directories are a valuable and good way of link building leading towards better search standings.
Due Dilligence
Before purchasing a link in a directory, you MUST determine the quality of the directory: not all are the same.
I’ve listed below some of the criteria and methods to determine the worthiness of a directory but in short:
- Paid Listings (never free)
- PageRank 3+ and above
- Target Specific Vertical (Industry or Location)
Paid Listings
A paid (follow) link from a domain authority directory is very good value and a great step in link building.
Creating online citations in directories and refining your inbound link profile will improve your domain authority as well as your search performance. But citation and link building is not a free-for-all like it once was.
Citations should be consistent: your business name, address and phone number as they appear on your website and Google Places (Google+ Local) should be exactly the same as all other citations across the web. Old listings with outdated phone numbers and addresses will have a negative impact on your business.
Link building, once one of the fastest ways to improve your search ranking, is now a more refined art. You should be mindful of your inbound link profile. If you’re an accountant and your site contains links from a dodgy weight-loss website, visitors will think you’re unprofessional or untrustworthy.
You want links from sites which are valuable to users, relevant to your business and do not employ dodgy online tactics.
*Domain authority
Domain authority is a metric, developed by SEOMoz, to predict the ability of a website / domain to rank in search engines. Domain authority uses a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale. A high Domain authority score means your complete website / all the pages on your domain have the potential to rank well in search engine results.
Domain age vs Website age
This tool calculates Website age because it’s a better and more relevant SEO factor to measure. Especially when you compare PA, DA, PR and Website age to see how a domain has developed over time. A Website age of 6.4 years means a website is 6 years and 4 months old.
- Domain age – the number of years since a domain has been registered.
- Website age – the first time since a website appeared on-line
Tool suggestion
Improve your website authority? Use the Valuable Backlink Tool to check the backlink profile of your competitors and get some vital insights. Who is linking out to your competitors and would they be willing to link to tour website? Analyse your most important competitors and start building new relationships and links. Receive more quality backlinks, based on Domain / Page Authority, and improve your chances to rank for relevant search terms.
Directory Death
In 2011, Google deranked directories in its search results leading the SEO world to believe backlinks from directories were of no value.
Not true: if anything, the value increased providing a criteria was folllowed:
- Paid Directories (not free listings or “nofollow” links)
- Quality Directories
- High domain authority*
