Directories are under fire, and a debate has ensued concerning just how badly they’ve been hit. Yet despite an onslaught from social media sites and link bait, everyone seems to agree that directories still have some life in them.
The Link-Building Battle: Directories Vs. Link Bait
The discussion began with a post from Lyndon Antcliff of CornwallSEO.com. Titled “Beaten to a pulp Social Voting beats Directories for Link Building,” the article contains the sentence, “Directories are Dead.”
Semi-random capitalization aside, Antcliff makes some good points. Search Engine Guide’s Jennifer Laycock, who responds to the piece, writes, “The interesting thing about Lyndon’s argument is that he comes at it from a different way than most social media proponents do. . . . Lyndon suggests that by submitting your link to many of the second and third tier social bookmarking sites, you gain the typical directory benefits of getting your site in front of search engine spiders.”
But Laycock goes on to recommend a more balanced approach; in doing so, she also contradicts Antcliff’s “Directories are Dead” proclamation, although Antcliff, to his credit, qualified that statement in the following sentences.
Still, Laycock asserts that “[d]irectories have real value. You should explore your options and pick at least a handful to submit your web site to.”
She then – balance is everything, here – adds, “Social news sites have real value. You should be aware of what they are and should submit qualified content to them.”
Last, and (correctly done) not least, “Link building…non-paid link building has amazing value and you should be building the relationships and content that help you score those links for your site.”
In this writer’s opinion, Laycock carries the day, if only for her superior grammar and punctuation.
