24 replies to this topic

[Sharon]

Hi all,

I have a web site with a PR of 2. To increase its rank, I submitted the site to a number of free directories listed in the pinned list on this forum topic. (Reciprocal links were not required).

Before the last PR toolbar update in October, there were 20 new directory links pointing at the site. Yet the site's PR did not increase. I didn't expect it to go through the ceiling - but I thought it would go to PR 3 at least.

I do know that PR isn't everything. But I'd like to know if I did something wrong. Or do I just need more links? Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,

Sharon

[qwerty]

You didn't do anything wrong. I'm not going to give you a lecture about not worrying about PR, since you know it's not all that important, but keep in mind that those links potentially have other benefits: they may help your rankings (that's ranking for a relevant search, not PageRank) and they might send you traffic.

I can't tell you how many links it will take to get the toolbar PR to go up a point, partly because it's not just a matter of how many links you have, but don't worry about it. (That's not a lecture, is it?)

[SearchRank]

Backlinks updates and PR (the green bar) updates through toolbar are not updated in conjunction of one another. While the last backlinks update may have occured in October, I think the last PR update was back in September.

[Michael Martinez]

Sharon, if you want to boost PageRank, you either need to get a lot of links from low-PR pages (don't think in terms of "sites") or you need just a few links from high-PR pages.

Free directory pages tend to have low PR. So, you'll need an awful lot of those types of links.

However, Google appears to have devalued many of the sites that rely extensively or exlusively on one type of links. Free directory links by themselves are not bad, but if that's all you've got, they may no longer help.

Seek out diverse sources for links.

And...you've heard this before...stop worrying about PR!

[Jill]

But I'd like to know if I did something wrong.

Something wrong by submitting to a directory?

It's not a right/wrong kinda thing. At best, your listing may bring you some traffic, and perhaps a little bit of link popularity.

At worst, it will just sit there and do nothing.

Either way, it's neither wrong nor right, it just "is."

[Sharon]

Thanks so much for the feedback.

I was getting worried that I had either
a) obtained too many links all at once; or
submitted my site to a "bad" directory

...and was somehow being penalized for one of these offenses.

It sounds like this hasn't happened - I simply need to pursue more links from a variety of sources. (And not worry too much about PR, too :-)

Thanks to all for your comments! You've reassured me.

Sharon

[Jill]

...and was somehow being penalized for one of these offenses.

The engines really don't work like that much to many people's amazement. Some people think that the engines spend their days/weeks/months looking for more sites to penalize just for fun. But really, it doesn't work that way.

In reality, they WANT to list your site and as many pages as possible. Just don't go trying to deceive them into thinking your page is something that it's not, and you will never have to worry about getting penalized.

[mysticalfairy]

Aren't most directory links devalued now a days?

[Michael Martinez]

Aren't most directory links devalued now a days?

There is no way to know that, and you should not trust any definitive statements either way on the matter.

What we know is that many fake directory sites, and some sites that look like fake directory sites, have been delisted. And we know that many other sites which apparently rely upon free directory listings for all or a majority of their inbound linkage have lost positions in the search results. But so have many other sites that rely on reciprocal linking, and so have many other sites that rely on press releases, etc.

On the other hand, there are still people who rely mostly on one type of linkage who claim they are doing just fine.

So, whenever you see someone write "Well, X links are dead or devalued", you know they are just blowing smoke. No one knows exactly what happened.

If you can get a directory link and you feel people actually browse that directory, you have a good reason to get the link. Don't get directory links just to build up link popularity. Get links because they will work for you.

[Jill]

Welcome mysticalfairy!

Aren't most directory links devalued now a days?

The useless ones probably are.

[jonbaker]

Is there a way to know which directories are worthwhile to submitting to and which aren't? Are there any directories that if you get a link from their site it will hurt your site more than help it?

[chrishirst]

A link to your site may not help much from some directories but should not "hurt". It's who you link TO that causes problems

[jonbaker]

Thanks Chris. Some of those directories did request reciprocal links. One for example was the SEO directory. www.cmseo.com/resources/seo-directory.htm. Is there a way to tell if its bad to link to a certain site or not in general or more specifically to a directory. I read in other places on the site that reciprocal linking wasn't necessarily bad and since we had very few links to start out with, directory submissions seemed like the way to go.

[chrishirst]

poor quality directories are a bit like pr0n. You know what it is when you see it.

[Jill]

We have an old thread full of Important Directories that you may wish to wade through. (I wouldn't really deem them all "important" as I don't think any directories are actually important, but they certainly won't hurt you to submit to. Might not help, but won't hurt.)