WordPress, Technorati and … Where’d All The Blog Directories Go?

Filed in Blogging, Directories by Matt McGee on January 5, 2012 17 Comments

wordpress-logoWhere’d all the good blog directories go?

I came to wonder about that via a somewhat winding path, so follow along with me if you would, please.

A couple nights ago, I was installing a new self-hosted WordPress blog. One of the many settings you’re asked to configure involves search engine (and web) spiders and whether you want them to be able to access your site. That’s a fair enough question, but it seemed really odd to me that, in 2012, WordPress is pairing these two sites when asking about spiders:

google-technorati

Technorati??? Really? It’s been years since I’ve heard anyone talk about wanting their blog to be visible at Technorati. (It’s kinda like blogging’s version of the yellow pages that way, isn’t it?)

And then I started thinking how, back in the day, you’d add your blog to Technorati, and BlogCatalog.com, and Blogged.com … and several other blog directories. I remember that Lee Odden’s gang at Top Rank had a great list of blog directories, which — as I just discovered — is still being kept up-to-date. (Nice work, Lee!)

So obviously blog directories are still around. Maybe the bigger question is this: Does anyone care anymore? In other words, if you’re launching a new blog in 2012, would you devote time to submitting it to any blog directories like Technorati or the others?

I’d love to get your thoughts on this!

Comments (17)

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  1. With the coming of WordPress.com and Tumblr.com, and having the ability to “follow” and “like” blogs and blog posts, blog directories became less and less relevant. A majority of them are just link farms now.

    I wouldn’t assume that not nearly as many people are gaining actual value from visiting blog directories as they used to be, because of the procurement that sites like WordPress.com offer, such as its “Freshly Pressed” section.

  2. Lisa says:

    If they have a community element like in bloggers or Just Say Too they do help some when you are starting out.

  3. Adam Sherk says:

    I looked at some blog directories last year (or maybe the year before) and you’re right, many had really gone down hill. You wouldn’t even want to submit to many of them for fear they are more of a spam directory than anything.

    • Matt McGee says:

      That’s true, Adam — I would think a lot have become ghost towns at this point, places you wouldn’t want to be associated with.

      Daniel – that’s the issue. These used to be quite popular both for traffic and SEO reasons. But that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

  4. I guess the question in my mind, is why should we care about being listed in Technorati or a majority of the blog directories? Everybody lives or dies via Google & Bing.

    Do people even know how to get to site directories like the Open Directory Project to research a subject, rather than submit a site for a sliver of Page Rank due to these sites’ age.

  5. Cody Baird says:

    I’m new to blogging, so my opinion is worth a nickel on a good day but it seems like Adam hit the nail on the head. I launched my blog less than 30 days ago and without submitting to any blog directories I have already had 300 + spam posts.

    Any ideas on a side note how to limit the spam head ache? It seems like all I do with comments is add people with amazing grammar to the black list….ug.

    • Linda Lee says:

      Cory, make sure you activated askimet, very important! You should not be getting that much spam.
      Next install a plugin called “bad behavior”. It works like a charm.
      You should not have to spend more than a few minutes a day or week in my case deleting spam. Also you can set your site in the discussion section so all comments have to be approved first.

  6. Mohan says:

    I accept, Blog directories are completely lost..and even submissions do not make much factor. just keep you blog fresh and you can see it ranking in google blog search…

  7. Sarah says:

    I have never really understood the big deal of blog directories, other that everyone told me when I started blogging that I had to list/link in them, and that was important for seo. I’m thinking now…probably not so much. The only people using the directories were other people like me that were told they needed to get their blog on the blog directories. What’s important is that good fresh content is still the king of it all.

  8. Warren says:

    I have to agree with the link farm comment. I went through the relatively long process of getting the blog authenticated just for the backlink. any traffic gained is a bonus.

  9. Jaina says:

    I think the days of blog directories is kinda over. With the ability to easily share your blog/blog post on so many different social media platforms, there’s almost no need for a directory. Though sometimes I do think it’d be nice to have a good up to date directory where you can just say “I want to look for TV themed blogs” and get a quality list of those.

  10. I’ve only been blogging about nine months, so I have a feeling I started after directories’ usage; though I imagine some people might use them, eh? I actually came here because I wondered whether I should get myself on more of them. I seem to receive the majority of my traffic (which is not huge yet) through feeds, and from searches for specific subjects. I imagine Google, Bing and Yahoo drive most my visitors my way.

    I have an answer for Cody, however. I use two WordPress plug-ins (my blog is through WordPress.org): Askimet and WangGuard. They both reduce my spam by maybe 80 to 90%, though Askimet seems to block the majority of spammers.

  11. Sandra says:

    @Cody Baird,

    Adding your blog to blog directories still helps your SEO a bit and for newbies I would still suggest it to help even the smallest traffic wave. Also, you can buy traffic at stumbleupon to get visitors. As long as you write compelling content people will comeback and over time you will build a successful blog.

    As for the spam, if you are using WordPress, the best spam plugin is “spam free wordpress” by Todd Lahman. That plugin does the job.

    Also, if you go to your wordpress admin and go to settings, then discussion, about halfway down there is a box to enter in a comment blacklist of keywords. just start popping in the keywords of the spam topic you are getting and WordPress will block for you next time automatically. Also, you can find a comment blacklist online that is already made for you with those popular spam keywords and phrases and just copy and paste it in.

  12. I recently setup a blog directory to test the theory. $20 piece of software and off you go. The one thing I noticed though is that a lot of the blog directories are still ranking very high in Alexa, etc, so you have to presume that they are still pushing through quit e a bit of traffic.

  13. Linda Lee says:

    I agree. I was cleaning up an old site and laughed when I saw my old blog catalog badge. I google to see if they are even still around. I do not know anyone who is an active WordPress user who is using any of these anymore

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