Directories to Avoid

Since Google removed the PR (Page Rank) from all link pages since 2007 the pursuit of PR in directories is no longer possible. This doesn't mean there still isn't some value in those linkgs but it does mean the PR value is less. There are also many dishonest linking methods that either prevent the PR (if there is any on the page) from being transferred to your site or there are other methods that can harm your website so use discression when submitting to any of the types of sites listed below.

How to Spot a Penalized or Banned Directory

Search for a directory's business name in Google before submitting and make sure they haven't been banned or penalized. If they are banned they will not be indexed. If they are only penalized their home page may not be listed first like it should be and they won't rank for their own business name or title. Use the Google tool bar and if you see a grayed out bar (no white) they may also be penalized. Also check to see if they allow bad neighborhood sites to be listed in their directory. If they are selling links for the purpose of gaining PR they will most likely be penalized also.

The Only Safe Method of Gaining Links

The best method of gaining links is to provide information that people will link to without your asking. If you pay for links then only submit to sites that charge a fee for the review (not for the purpose of gaining PR). Those directories might still prevent the link from passing PR by putting a rel="nofollow" tag on the link but at least you might get some traffic.

Too Many Links

This is one of the most important features to look for because page rank is divided between all the links on the page. Even though the page itself may have a high PR what it passes on to other sites may be next to nothing if there are hundreds of links on the page. So the less links the better!

302 Redirects on links

Some directories put code on the outgoing links that uses software that tracks clicks. Most of these codes are harmless but some still (often mistakenly) use 302 redirects in the wrong way and end up stealing PR from your website.

Whenever you are looking for a directory to submit your site to run the mouse over one of the links of a site listed in their directory and look at the actual link. It may have the following in the URL "redir.asp?" or "id=(some number here)." Notice the "redir". That means there is a redirect on this link . Also the "id=" is another clue that it's being redirected as the number is used in place of the site name. Check this link in a server header checker and you will likely find a 302 or even a 301 redirect telling search engines that the content of the site listed in their directory is now the property of this directory. It may be a tracking code and not a malicious 302 redirect so check in this search engine friendly redirect checker also.

Javascript Links

Some directories use javascript around links. There are various ways to hide the Javascript: (1) Sometimes the supposed link to your site is actually a link to their cgi bin where they have another page with a Javascript redirect pointing at your site. Search engines can't read Javascript so you get no credit for that link in their directory. (2) Sometimes they will list your site in their directory but when you run your mouse over the "link to your site" all you see is "Javascript://". This link takes the visitor to the site but the search engines cannot pick up that link because they can't read javascript. So all JavaScript controlled links in such directories are worthless except for some occasional traffic.

Links in frames

If their outgoing links are in frames search engines will never see it as they cannot read what is in frames. You can tell this because that portion of the page will have it's own scroll bar. Sometimes the link that appears go be going to your site will open in a frame still on their site. Either way the visitor will never get to your site unless you add a Pop out of Frames Script.

"More Info" Pages Steal your Keyword Rank

Directories sometimes list a site and include a "more info" or "Details" link or they may call it something else but it always results in their putting your title in the title of that page and that page is designed to boost their site (and not yours) so it looks like the directory has lots of content, when what it is actually doing is using "your" content to promote their own site. This can result in those "more info" pages ranking above your site if their site has higher PR than yours and it can hurt your traffic.

Some sites take it one step further and put all relevant info for that site in an image (which search engines can't read) and provide no link whatsoever to the site in their directory, so they are not only NOT linking to the site they are stealing their rank and traffic at the same time. Human visitors seeing that second page can't visit the site when there is no URL and of course with no link the search engines don't credit the site for the link either.

Often these sites have Ads on them and get paid for anyone who clicks on the ads. The human visitor will probably get bored and click on one of the Ads to go somewhere else. Guess what? This directory is designed specifically for that purpose, to bore their visitors so they will click on the Ads.

.PHP and .ASP Scripts

Those sites developed with .php and .asp scripts with session IDs to track clicks often prevent PR from passing to any site they link to. A .php script looks like this: www.domain.com/link.php?id-990. The most important part is the ID=. Not all PHP and ASP sites use session IDs but some do.

No Follow Tags

If the page has www.AnyBody'sDomain.com/ rel="NOFOLLOW" on the links (you have to view code source to see this) then it's telling the search engine to not follow the links and thus to not index or record the link and not pass on the PR either. Some directories will even charge a fee to get your site listed and then they put a no-follow on the link. NOTE Google has started penalizing directories that sell links for the purpose of gaining PR and tells them to use the No-Follow tag on all outgoing links or disallow those pages in robot's text file. Directory owners are doing this to protect themselves to save their PR.

Directories Banned in Robots.txt

Check every site that looks too good to be true to see if they have dissalowed Googlebot for the directory you are submitting to. To check this just add robots.txt on the end of their domain and look for
User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /TheDirectoryYouWantToBeListedIn/

Avoid Directories that Sell Text Links

Search engines are trying to prevent dishonest means of gaining backlinks so sites that sell links can lose their ability to pass PageRank and as of spring 2006 this is indeed happening to Text Link Directories and also bidding directories where you can get your site ranked higher on the page.

Avoid Spammers

Sites that use Javascript spam, comment tag spam, alt tag spam, JavaScript redirects, doorway pages and other means of spamming the search engines will cause your site to be banned or penalized if you link to them so don't trade links with such sites and check all your outgoing links with the Google tool bar and remove any that are gray barred which means they have been penalized by Google. Also check to see if they are indexed in Google.

Avoid Placing Their Link on your Home Page

If they require you to trade links and insist on your putting their link on your home page it will drain PR from your most important page. Never do this.

Check their Refund Policy

If you pay for submission check to make sure they have a guaranteed refund if they don't list your site otherwise they can keep your money. Yahoo and other quality directories charge for Review and not submission. It takes time to review a site so their charge is fair, however it's not safe to submit to sites that don't refund at least part of the money if your site is not accepted.

No Contact Information

If you pay for submission check to make sure they have contact information first because sometimes they accept payment and then don't list your site and with no contact information you can't get your money back. You can try the whois contact info for that site, however often that information is outdated, especially if the site is running a dishonest submission scheme.

More Directories to Avoid

Alphabetized Listings

Usually directories that list sites alphabetically have to continually upgrade their pages when they get too long and this results in your site being pushed farther back and constantly changing the linking page and often the PR as new pages have no PR.

Too Many Banners, Logos, Thumbnails

Unless they limit each page to only a few images this will result in too many images per page, thus the page will load slow and search engines may not index the content of that page. Unless they also add link text to the images search engines will never see the link text and thus not your keywords either. Avoid them.

Too long URLS

Many directories will put your link several directories deep. The more directories you have to pass through to get to your link the less benefit that link will pass to your website.

Dynamic URLS with "?"

Some directories are run by databases that produce dynamic URLS that have "?" in them. One "?" isn't so bad but if there are more than a few it will probably not pass any benefit to your site.

Too many Google ads

If the main purpose of the directory appears to be for displaying ads, and the ads appear before the directory listings and have several versions of ads on the page don't submit to this site as they don't have your benefit in mind, but their own. Sometimes they appear to be linking to other sites but when you follow the links it goes to an inside page on their own site and there is no link to the site you wanted to check out. So what do you do? You click on one of the Google ads to go somewhere else. And who gets paid for this? The directory you just left that cheated submitters out of a valid link.

Not Enough Sub Categories

Often sites will group several categories and sub categories on the same page to save space or time but this will make the submissions irrelevant. Avoid them.

Text is too Small to Read

Small text may be readable on a PC but the same text is unreadable on a Mac. If the text is too small they don't have their visitors best interest in mind. Avoid them.

Avoid Link Trades When Possible

You shouldn't trade links with all sites you submit to as Google has started discounting traded links. Only trade links with quality sites.

For more information on this topic see:
Directories that Pass PR (Page Rank)
How to find Scraper Directories
Keyword Strategy
Getting good Backlinks

If you would like your web site analyzed for a drop in keyword ranking please check out the Website Evaluations page.