Thread: Why is Google not showing directory backlinks?

I bought some paid links on a number of directories recently and when I search my domain on Google, it shows link from those directories but when I try to check back links 'link:mysitename.com', I can see my link from those directories.

Will it take some time or I just wasted couple hundred bucks ?

Be patient! It will take a little long. Also 'link' feature do not show the exact or even closer back links you have. So, Sign up for Google Webmaster Tool if you have not already and check there. You will find a slight higher back links.

Originally Posted by JimmyK

I bought some paid links on a number of directories recently and when I search my domain on Google, it shows link from those directories but when I try to check back links 'link:mysitename.com', I can see my link from those directories.

Will it take some time or I just wasted couple hundred bucks ?

When did you buy them?

The unfortunate reality is that Google started discounting the value of directory links well over a year ago. That is why almost all directory pages have the PR gray-barred. That means the PR is less than zero and there isn't any PR to pass. You are not likely to see backlinks show up for those pages, although some do show up sometimes in Webmaster Tools.

I had thousands of backlinks from directories that disappeared after Google initiated their policy of punishing sites that sell links. They hit my own directory, as well.

Here is what Matt Cutts most recently said about directories:

Q: Hey, as long as we’re talking about directories, can you talk about the role of directories, some of whom charge for a reviewer to evaluate them?
A: I’ll try to give a few rules of thumb to think about when looking at a directory. When considering submitting to a directory, I’d ask questions like:
- Does the directory reject urls? If every url passes a review, the directory gets closer to just a list of links or a free-for-all link site.
- What is the quality of urls in the directory? Suppose a site rejects 25% of submissions, but the urls that are accepted/listed are still quite low-quality or spammy. That doesn’t speak well to the quality of the directory.
- If there is a fee, what’s the purpose of the fee? For a high-quality directory, the fee is primarily for the time/effort for someone to do a genuine evaluation of a url or site.

Matt Cutts is the leading spam fighter on google's search team, and clearly directory listings are okay. They do get indexed, but not all of them. It is very unlikely that a directory listing will hurt you, but certainly some links in directories will help more than others.

Google's whole algorithm is based on links. It is central.

You can get high quality and low quality links from a variety of sources including directories, forums, blogs, static websites, news sites, press release sites, and much more. Focusing on just one method too heavily is probably not too good, and of course you should avoid sites that are obviously low quality. When you can find a quality source for obtaining a link, great! But if you want to grow, you do need a strategy for getting more links.

Keep in mind that some or most directories ask you to link back to them, and this can be risky.
Directories link out to all kinds of sites, they have to do. Although a good directory will carefully check these sites, these sites can change ownership. If the new owner is black hat, this reflects on the directory, and because you are linking to the directory, it can reflect on you.

Originally Posted by dvduval

Matt Cutts is the leading spam fighter on google's search team, and clearly directory listings are okay. They do get indexed, but not all of them. It is very unlikely that a directory listing will hurt you, but certainly some links in directories will help more than others.

Hi David

I agree with you, but I think it is also clear that Google actively discourages the use of directories by the way they dropped the home page PR for many directories and gray-barred all of the inner pages. This discourages people from the practice of buying links on high PR pages. They have also dropped most backlinks from directories. This is perfectly aligned with their policy of penalizing sites that sell links.

Google appears to be penalizing the source of the links, rather than the recipient.

BTW, I used phpLinkDirectory, and I still think it is the best and most well-supported directory software out there. I also went to extreme lengths to assure that all of the links in my directory were to good sites (more than two-thirds of the free submissions were rejected), but it did not prevent Google from dropping my home page PR from 4 to 0 and gray-barring all of the inner pages.

I do get traffic from directories, but it is mostly from the large, high quality paid directories. When you buy a link from a directory, IMHO the decision should be based upon the ability of the directory to drive traffic, not PR.

Originally Posted by keynes

Keep in mind that some or most directories ask you to link back to them, and this can be risky.
Directories link out to all kinds of sites, they have to do. Although a good directory will carefully check these sites, these sites can change ownership. If the new owner is black hat, this reflects on the directory, and because you are linking to the directory, it can reflect on you.

Agree, Just submit to the directory website and don't link back to them. Reciprocal link is risk. As TopDogger said,

Google appears to be penalizing the source of the links, rather than the recipient.