I had a chance to pick the brains of the great Greg Boser on the issue of directories and decided to write an article on directories based around the discussion. The quotation marked words used are mainly Greg’s definitions to best define the topics and directories. Of course I expanded on the subject a little bit more. This should make a great reading for any beginner SEO student.

In the eyes of Google there are mainly two types of directories:

“Real” directories vs “Seo” spam directories.

So how does a search engine define as criterias to seperate the good apples from the bad apples and devalue the links coming from these “SEO” directories.? Based on past actions and experiences, we can identify some (not all) of the criterias.

Reciprocal links: A “real” directory would never ask for a reciprocal link back to be published in the directory. That clearly is a flag to google that says, the directory owner is only doing this directory to increase the website PR. By also giving link to this kind of a directory, the published website also decreases its trust rank in the eyes of Google.

Also if you are looking at it only from a PR point like most other beginner SEOs, most directories demand a home page link from their directory in return for a link back from a page two or three clicks away from their website which is mingled in with probably 50 other links. Do you really think it is a fair trade? It is simply a math calculation of losing PR rather than gaining it. Your internal webpages will thank you for avoiding the action.

Anchor text titles: “Real” Directories do not have tables that allow you to submit “generic search phrases” as the anchor text or within the description. The description in a real directory should be accurate and defining (not an optimized meaningless sentence) and the link to your side will have an anchor text that includes either your name and/or your company’s name.

“Common Footprints”:

a) website designed by “insert-company-name-here” seems to be shared by many sites in a directory

b) Same C-block IP adresses: Do many of the listed sites share the same C-Block IP numbers

c) Do you recognize the names listed in your geographical area or industry?

The existence of authority sites as a part of the directory seems to be a good indication of the legitimacy of the directory.

d) Does the directory have structural similarities and the same websites listed as many other directory sites on the web?

Google looks upon structural and content similarities in recognizing an seo directory. Open Directory Project clone sites or off the shelf directory scripts that look like many other directories seem to hit a trigger with google.

e) Does the site have many empty category pages standing??

A directory should not simply create 100s of categories with an empty page or with duplicate content. That is a clear flag for Google.

The above criterias should give a good insight to any webmaster who wants to invest time and money on directories.