How good are website/forum directories

[Teejay23]

Hi all!

Im increasing my SEO for my forum and i have heard that website/forum directories online is a good way to go. Now i have also heard that they also bring alot of spam and unwanted things to your forum aswell - is that true and should i stay away from them then?

Also i have seen members selling services that can place your website/directory to top directory sites and backlink sites - are those trusted or worth doing? Wouldnt Google penalize you in some way if your site pops up everywhere randomly?

My SEO knowledge is lacking unfortunately, and its one of the most important aspects of running a site. Im fine with all the other things, just SEO.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NBK*Twitch]

Back in the 90's directories were huge. Nowadays though they are not as useful. Do not get me wrong they still get your link out there,but do not depend on them bringing alot of traffic.

 

[David]

You need to consider what directories are for. Like how a street directory is for finding streets, a web directory is for finding your website. I don't believe many people use directories anymore to search others' websites anymore (that's where the humble search engine comes in), but there is a chance that someone will use a directory to search up a website.

Common misconceptions of directories are that it's for link building and SEO purposes. I think that's a great marketing trick which web directories play on novice users of the net. They won't greatly help you there in SEO unless you use DMOZ and Yahoo (they have generally good web presence) but even then, I'd rather spend $200 on other things which will improve my site. Things such as content are rather important, pertinent to Google.

Then you need to watch out for link farms and spam sites. They can really harm your site, so you should only submit to quality directories, although these are hard to come by.

Overall, I'd rather spend my time making good content, quality discussion or information, ready for Google to index and hopefully rank you highly.