Directory strategies – What can you get away with?

This post by Aaron Wall made me think about directories and their SEO value going forward (again). The question: what place should directories have in your link building plan? They used to be the bulk of many sites’ link aquisition targets, but going forward, I would advise that you give them a much reduced (but still existing) role. Aaron agrees:

Sure everyone ends up with some spammy links, but I think it is only probably worth getting links from around 10 to 50 directories depending on your niche. Beyond that you want to look for other links that are serious votes of editorial quality.

If your site can’t get those sorts of links then eventually you are going to need to change the site profile if you want to compete in Google in a competitive marketplace.

I recently interviewed Greg from BOTW (a directory owner) and he said he believe for most sites directories should only be a small part of your link profile.

I agree with Aaron’s figure of 10 to 50, but I would lean more towards the 10 number.

Here is the way I see the current Google algorithm: it puts up with a lot of "junk", as long as you make it proportional to the amount of trust you earn. So, for instance, if your site has links from About.com, Engadget, and a few prominent authorities in your niche, it probably won’t hurt you to grab 50 or so directory links (these probably won’t help you a ton, either, but they’ll help you some).

On the other hand, if you have a brand new site with zero links, I think getting in 50 directories quickly would do nothing for Google (and it could possibly hurt).

Bottom line: Google loves seniors, but hates n00bies. Make sure you know where your site fits, and what you can get away with. (And when in doubt, stick with directories that have quality indicators.)