Google lists low-quality directory links as link spam. A ten-site sample test, with a worked example, shows what share of a bulk directory package is worth it.
Before you pay for a bulk directory submission package, test a sample of its list. The headline number tells you how many sites the vendor will submit to, not how many of them are worth being on. Google treats low-quality directory links as link spam, and when asked in 2022 about reputable local listing sites, a Google Search team member said not to treat them as a way to improve your SEO. A short sample test shows you what share of a package is worth having.
Our own disclosure first: we run a backlink directory at SerpCrest, so we have a view on what a good one looks like. The test below works on any list, including ours.
What Google says about directory links
Google's spam policies list "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as an example of link spam, along with "Using automated programs or services to create links to your site". The policy does not say every directory is spam. It names the low-quality ones and automated link creation. Ask the vendor whether submissions are made by a person or by software.
Even reputable listings are better treated as a traffic source than an SEO play. Asked in Google's November 2022 office hours whether local businesses benefit from listing in many free or paid listing sites, Alan Kent answered: "Don't look at adding your site to reputable local listing sites as a way to improve your SEO. Use them as a possible way to get more traffic, unrelated to Search."
So judge a directory by the test Kent gave for local listing sites: would people find you there? A package of listings nobody browses fails that test however many of them there are.
The sample test
Ask the vendor for the full list of directories before you pay. If they will not share it, that is your answer. Then:
- Pick ten entries at random. Not the ones the vendor puts on the sales page.
- Check that each one is indexed. Search Google for
site:followed by the domain. A directory with almost no pages in Google is unlikely to send anyone your way. - Open it and look for an editor. Real categories, listings that match them, and a submission page that says listings are reviewed. A bare template with unsorted links and casino ads is unlikely to be a directory anyone uses.
- Find where your listing would sit. A category page for your field is worth having. A page deep inside a general list is not.
- Check how links are marked. Ask for live listing URLs from a past client report and run them through our Bulk DoFollow / NoFollow Checker, which checks a list of URLs for live, dofollow and indexed status. Listings that have already disappeared are a hint about how long yours might last.
- Score the sample. Count the entries that pass the indexing, editor and category checks, and divide by ten.
A worked example
Say a vendor sells a few hundred submissions for a flat fee, and your random sample of ten comes back like this:
| Result | Count |
|---|---|
| Barely indexed or not in Google | four |
| Indexed but no editor, unsorted links | three |
| Indexed, reviewed, with a category for your field | three |
Three out of ten pass, so expect roughly a third of the package to be worth having, and the other two thirds to be listings you would not choose on your own. Some of those can match the low-quality directory example in Google's policy. At that point you are better off submitting by hand to the few that pass, which also keeps you away from the automated submission Google lists as link spam.
The numbers here are an illustration, not survey data. Run the test on the real list and use your own count.
What a listing is worth having for
A good directory listing helps people find you: a local customer browsing a city guide, a buyer comparing tools in a software category, or a reader of an industry resource page. Choose listings for that reason and you will end up with a short list, not hundreds.
If you want a list of sites that were reviewed by hand, our backlink directory lists sites that were reviewed before being listed and are checked again every week, with each listing's health shown; searching the full directory needs an account. It does not guarantee a site will accept you or keep your link, so you still make the call on each one.
For how to tell a reviewed directory from a link farm in more depth, see our guide to safe backlink directories. The same thinking applied to a single paid placement is in our checklist for vetting a backlink before paying.
