More Free Directories Move to Duds

A little over 7 months ago, I submitted this website to AllTheWebSites and the idea for the Free Directory Listings reviews was born shortly thereafter. As I started to submit to free directories in the hopes of establishing some free links, I found that the available information on free directories was either quite outdated or very incomplete.

In the beginning, I was still trying to determine what type of content I would offer on my site and these reviews gave me the opportunity to link to directories in order to get listed, while creating some useful content (I didn't know much about free non-reciprocal links at the time). These reviews appear to provide useful, up to date information to webmasters, based on the number of emails I have received and the amount of repeat traffic those pages get.

I just completed a major house cleaning and update. I moved several free directories to my "Duds" category. Most of these had been delisted by Google back in July (and noted in the reviews updates at the time), but I wanted to give those directories time to see if this was another Google glitch or if this was here to stay. All but one continue to appear to be banned. I also moved a few directories that had not listed my site or client's sites in 6 months and do not show any evidence of recent submissions.

Here's some statistics: Of the original 15 directories I reviewed (page 1), 10 are still listed. 1 switched to a pay only model, 1 appears to not have been accepting submissions since 12/04, 1 went belly up and 2 were determined to not be SEO friendly because they utilize 302 redirects.

Of the next 15 (page 2), 9 are still listed. 4 switched to a pay only model and 2 were delisted by Google.

I think that gives you a good overview of what goes on with Free Directories. Most are good for listings, but you need to get in early, before they switch to pay only. Some are not so good and somehow get on the wrong side of Google. It is important to know which ones are which.

A quick commercial announcement: My web host of choice, Lunarpages, has just upgraded their hosting packages to give you more disk space, more bandwidth, additional free features and they will move your site from your old host for free. Plus they offer free domain name registration for as long as you host with them. They have the best support staff I have ever dealt with. If you are looking for a hosting company, these folks are the best. I currently host my site and 5 client sites with them (all on separate class C IP address blocks)!

As always, you may comment below or email me by clicking on my name.

martin