How many free web directory submissions do you recommend?

[topmatt]

Hi all,

I'm a little confused and would appreciate some collective feedback.

I work with a couple of SEO guys who have different views on the number of free web directory submissions that should be conducted to kick off an SEO plan.

One says 50 max to start then slowly build from there month on month (5-10 new submissions p/month)

The other says 1-200 p/month for the first few months until you achieve reasonable SERPs, then do less (5-10 p/month) to maintain and strengthen rankings.

Would welcome your thoughts on the matter, are both safe/acceptable for the SEs? What is most effective?

Thanks

[caugas]

Hi all,

I'm a little confused and would appreciate some collective feedback.

I work with a couple of SEO guys who have different views on the number of free web directory submissions that should be conducted to kick off an SEO plan.

One says 50 max to start then slowly build from there month on month (5-10 new submissions p/month)

The other says 1-200 p/month for the first few months until you achieve reasonable SERPs, then do less (5-10 p/month) to maintain and strengthen rankings.

Would welcome your thoughts on the matter, are both safe/acceptable for the SEs? What is most effective?

Thanks

IMO -In my opinion, I would go the slow & staggered route. Meaning find the top 1-20 directories (paid and free) and submit and pay for inclusion when practical. I would also solicited links from universities, government locations, and industry niche sites with a vengeance. I personally feel, that you don't want to submit to a high amount of directories (either when you first launch or after) because Google will be monitoring. Google expects new sites to be aggressive when first launch, but if they all of a sudden notice your site map, followed by 100-200 paid and free link referrals, they are going to raise an eye brow. IMO,

15 high quality links are equal to 100 par links, remember it's not quantity, its quality! ;)

[Insurance Phoenix]

My seo guy instructed me to go slow, when my site was new. I guess you don't want to do anything to make google think you are a spam site by growing links too quickly.

<snip>Link drop removed</snip>

[khalidh]

I would not wast time on submitting my site to more than the top 20 directories. The web is full with low quality directories that are flat out useless. There are many other techniques that can produce better results for the same time investment.

Khalid

[Chris Boggs]

We have had moderate success, as part of our overall linking strategy, with submitting to a limited number of free directories, once they have passed some prequalifying tests mostly revolving around their page saturation and their own inbound links.

In the case where you have thousands of links going to a site already, a few additional (even dozens) of free directory links should not draw too much scrutiny, in my experience. Of course, you should be taking advantage of targeting keywords that may be a little longer-tailed or less represented in your current IBL anchor text. If it is simply a submission of the URL and an auto-acceptance, you may want to reconsider. I would also recommend using these types of directories (and paid ones for that matter) to link mostly to deep pages or category "home pages."

[gabs]

Long term or short term goals?

If you don't give a dam about the site get 100's a day and see what happens...

Think about whats natural vs unnatural..

And as always test ;)

But imho for a good "keeper" site stick with yea oldie slow and high quality .. Look at the content of the site linking to u.. Ignore the fact it's a directory and if you happy with that site linking to you because its "quality" then go for it..
IMHO ;)