Directory (Web Directory)

Web directories can organise and list your website in a way that tends to involve categorising it and placing it among its online peers. The use of directories was especially popular in the early days of the web, when people used to use them heavily to discover new websites.

There are some popular examples of directories from the early days of the web, including Yahoo Directory and volunteer-run DMOZ. Back then, using a directory was a functional alternative to search engines, and you could browse to a category and find a specially curated list of websites linked to your search and click through to them.

Directories are still popular today, but their role has changed significantly over the years.

Importance of Directories

In terms of link building, directories occupy a tricky middle ground. If you’re wondering if using a directory is any good, the answer usually boils down to the quality of the directory itself.

For instance, a reputable, curated, and genuinely useful directory, especially one that covers niche topics, industries, or regions, can offer legitimate, relevant links that bring genuine referral value.

Similarly, a respected local business directory or well-regarded industry association listing is perfectly fine to have. However, mass-submission directories that list any website for a fee or reciprocal link can provide no value and actively harm your rankings.

There’s a historical precedent for the damage that can be caused by low-quality directories. In the 2000s, directory submissions were popular for link-building, and thousands of junk directories were created as a means of selling links.

Google caught on to the trend, and these low-quality, irrelevant directory links quickly became associated with spam. Many were heavily impacted by Penguin, or rendered worthless, meaning that stuffing your profile with them today is more likely to carry the appearance of a link scheme than to provide genuine help.

With this in mind, the blanket directory submission approach is definitely best left confined to the history books.

Telling Directories Apart

The way to tell a worthwhile directory from a harmful one mostly boils down to common sense. Be sure to ask yourself whether the directory is genuinely useful to real people, whether it’s curated or just accepts anyone who pays, whether it’s relevant to your industry or location, and whether it has its own authority and standing.

Local citations are a related and important consideration. Listing in legitimate local directories and business listing sites can offer real value for local SEO purely because they can help you to establish your consistent NAP details and local legitimacy.

Using Directories

Adding your website to a directory can be rewarding for building your presence online for a variety of reasons, but it’s always best to be selective rather than systematic.

With this in mind, only pursue listings in the handful of directories that matter to your industry and location, the ones that a customer might actually use, and ignore the long tail of generic submission directories as a whole.

It’s certainly worth gaining a few quality, relevant directory citations leading back to your website. However, setting yourself up with a hundred junk listings can be nothing more than a liability for your rankings.

As always in SEO, quality and relevance tend to pay off when it comes to directories.