The online paid directory sharks are beginning to circle closer and closer. Here are some questions to keep in mind if you are contacted. Are paid directory listings useful for SEO?
I have received calls recently, 2 in the last week, from three different online directories offering advertising and listing packages for a client of mine. All of them were throwing in buzzwords like 'SEO' and 'rankings' to entice people to sign up for their services. In each case I pressed them for info but they all use different types of statistics (perhaps on purpose?) so it makes it hard to compare. Still I have compiled a table below which I will add to over time and below that a list of questions to ask if you get called by one of these, or similar, companies.
| Directory | Cost/month | Minimum | Related Searches (per month) | Expected Listing Views (per month) | Expected Leads (per month) |
| Yellow Pages | $80 | 12 months | n/a | 20 (views & leads combined) | <--- |
| Womow | $59 | 1 month | 227 | 54-108 | 18-36 |
| Kidspot | $147 | 12 months | 8500 | n/a | n/a |
Questions to ask paid directories
These questioned are centred around numbers of expected leads. They will want to tell you all about what you get in your listing, how many pictures, the 'keywords' you can include etc etc, but all this stuff doesn't mean anything if its not going to deliver leads and sales.
- How much does it cost? Over what time period? Whats the minimum contract?
- How many members do you have in Adelaide?
- How many searches related to my business do you have in Adelaide each month? (ask them to look at a comparable business listing)
- How many views could I expect my listing to receive each month? (ask them to look at a comparable business listing)
- How many leads (website click throughs, phone number requests, email requests) could I expect my listing to generate each month? (ask them to look at a comparable business listing)
- How many competitors are there in my category/s?
- What does a listing include?
- Do you have a free listing option? How does it differ to the paid listing?
If the directory has good search engine rankings for keywords that you want to rank for then this might be relevant. You will have to investigate this yourself for your industry. In most cases, I wouldn't expect a paid directory listing to rank well compared to you website for instance so you should focus more on the number of leads it can deliver from within the directory.
Maybe some of the SEO readers can add their comments on this?
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