Search engine optimization can be divided in two segments
1. On page Optimization
2. Off page optimization
All of the off page optimization techniques are in essence merely link building methods. Though most experts like to turn down these link building techniques by labeling them as outdated or only-for-beginners, the fact of the matter is that simple link building techniques like free directory submission, article submission or blog commenting are far from being useless. They work wonders, especially for small business websites that have little or no marketing budget. All other search engine marketing techniques like “Pay Per Click” or contextual advertising techniques requires ample amount of research and time and they are not free to begin with.
But most of the links are “Nofollow”? You’d ask.
Good question, but links with nofollow attribute are not entirely ineffective. Nofollow doesn’t really mean that search engine will totally ignore the link and move on … it’s just that they don’t have much effect on your SERP or PR at Google, but still these links are indexed by the search engines and last but not the least, nofollow links can still send some traffic your way.
Most free directories have PR 0:
First, every website starts from 0 page rank and gradually grows into PR 5 or PR 6 website … even if Google has to start from today it will start from a 0 page rank (silly example though, if Google was starting today, we wouldn’t be having anything known as PR in the first place). Coming back to the point, PR 0 doesn’t mean that some site is doomed to be a failure; it can quite possibly grow into a PR 3 in the next update. You have nothing else to judge the worth of some back link other than the PR but rejecting a link altogether just because it comes from a PR 0 website is not a very wise idea at all.
Cons:
First, it is a little time consuming and because it’s mostly a copy pasting job and involves no real work, you’ll soon get tired of this repetitive task. Also, submitting your website to some free directories network hosted on the same IP can hurt your website rather than benefiting it.
What if I don’t submit into free directories?
Nothing, you just lose some traffic and as luck would have it, some free backlinks as well. In the end it all comes down to how much spare time or resources you have. If you have any of them, take my words and go for it.
