Google has urged in writing that web sites submit to directories, especially DMOZ & Yahoo, for years. At least until a week or 2 ago.<\/p>\n
Their webmaster guide, followed closely by the SEO community, has always been important, especially since the search engine race is\u00a0 owned by Google.<\/p>\n
The deletion of that suggestion immediately caused many to say that it meant that directories were no longer important. That Google might be moving back to content as a bigger deciding factor in ranking. In other words, something closer to what Yahoo and MSN have been.<\/p>\n
It might be, but probably not to the degree that those SEOs believe. It’s been well known for some time that a DMOZ link is not nearly as valuable for ranking as it once was. That development, which is at least 2 or 3 years old, was met with a sigh of relief from people like this writer. DMOZ was well known for its questionable practices about who got a link and who didn’t.<\/p>\n
As for directory links at large, Google is saying that they’re just choosing not to highlight it in the webmaster guidelines. That sounds like Orwell speak, but it might be true. I believe that directories are still a good start for a link campaign, even if their value has dropped a little. Whether that drop has actually taken place isn’t at all clear, though.<\/p>\n
What this means for good, effective SEO is that you should continue to do what you’ve always done – write & created targeted, solid content and continue your link campaigns, including directories. No reason to panic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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