Why is someone adding my listing to directories

[Milo]

This is strange. I had about 30 confirmation emails on Friday for directory submissions ie. your listing has been added, pending, please confirm, etc. All the directories were real, although not much value for me BUT I had no part in this. Basically someone is adding my listing to directories without my consent or knowledge.
I'm confident that this practice will do nothing for or against my rankings, but I'm very curious as to why someone would do this and what their motive is. It only happened on Friday for a few hours and did not continue.

Anyone else ever have this happen to them?

[james113]

Sounds to me like someone used an auto submitter if there were 30 listings in one day. I myself have never seen an auto submission tool that only submitted to 30 directories. I would guess that someone accidentally entered your domain name into the auto submitter and discovered their error after 30 submissions. If I were you I would not confirm the listings unless they are high PR directories that pertain to your site in some way.

[earnest]

It's weird why they would use your e-mail address, though. Suspicious, really. Why would anyone want to do a random submission, but using the correct contact information.

[bama1965]

Obviously not a mistake since they are using your website AND email address and it happened 30 times???

Very strange indeed.

Keep us posted as to how this turns out.

Ken

[Dubbya]

Buy any links lately?

This is a common result of buying a listing in an affiliate directory network.

Basically, you enter your URL, email, site name, description, whatever and you pay via PayPal or credit card.

The webmaster adds your link to their directory then submits your site to 30 or so free directories. It used to work but not any more.

Don't worry about it, Google filters all these out anyway. Even if you do see some movement in the SERPs, things will return to normal shortly.

.02

[Milo]

definately not an auto submitter as the listings had slightly different descriptions and titles. I Also have never purchased a link before. Strangely it cannot be malicious as the descriptions are close to what I would use if adding a listing and even though the directories are crap, they are proper directories. All I can think of is someone will contact me soon to say they have done this on my behalf and ask if they want me to PAY them to keep doing this. Of course there is no way in hell I would, so they have invested time into absolutely nothing, but jees, i'm curious as to the motif here

[ron angel]

Originally Posted by Milo

This is strange. I had about 30 confirmation emails on Friday for directory submissions ie. your listing has been added, pending, please confirm, etc. All the directories were real, although not much value for me BUT I had no part in this. Basically someone is adding my listing to directories without my consent or knowledge.
I'm confident that this practice will do nothing for or against my rankings, but I'm very curious as to why someone would do this and what their motive is. It only happened on Friday for a few hours and did not continue.

Anyone else ever have this happen to them?

There could be a sinister side to this....
maybe somebody who does not like you, or the opposition. has spammed lots of directory's using your url and email address in the hope of lowering your ratings or even getting you banned fro certain directory. It is not a good idea to send directory & other submissions without at least 30 days between submissions so they may be trying to cause you problems. some submission reply's give the IP address of the sender in the confirmation email so if so check these out.

[Milo]

Originally Posted by ron angel

There could be a sinister side to this....
maybe somebody who does not like you, or the opposition. has spammed lots of directory's using your url and email address in the hope of lowering your ratings or even getting you banned fro certain directory. It is not a good idea to send directory & other submissions without at least 30 days between submissions so they may be trying to cause you problems. some submission reply's give the IP address of the sender in the confirmation email so if so check these out.

Thanks Ron, but no IP's recorded in their emails. Also, don't think its a competitor as I've received no more listing submission emails since or before this happened and don't think the number submitted could possibly do any harm. Google would also surely be onto this, otherwise we could get rid of the competition in one easy move. I also don't think a competitor would bother changing the descriptions and titles.

[Niche]

I Know that some of the hosting services offer you a bunch of directory submissions at a low price. You sign up for it once and they submit to a ton of directories each of which emails you for confirmation

The fact that they are using your email seems to imply that it is something you signed up to at some stage

[Milo]

Hey Niche,
I run my own dedicated server and would know if I signed up for something like this or similar (I never would sign up). I do my own SEO for this website and have complete control over the website management, so know absolutely everything that gets done voluntarily for this site.

I must be some sort of scam, but I'm waiting patiently for the person to come forward with their "proposal".

[Niche]

Hi Milo. That makes this very strange indeed. I wouldn't confirm any of the emails then if you are certain you did not set this up. It really is strange

If you land DMOZ though, you should probably confirm that

[anetics]

Attack from your competitors? May be he thought he can take your site down to few pages in this way? lol

[Fitz]

Any FFA's / Link farms in that list? If so, that would suggest a malicious intent.

[coreperformance]

There is a chance it's not malicious. Maybe you just have a fan who thinks they're doing you a favor?

It could happen...

[crankydave]

It's quite likely it's a semi-auto submitter. Also likely that someone will contact you about it. Basically, costs them nothing. I suspect a link submission service. They throw a handfull of links your way, using proper titles and descriptions, then say "Hey, look what we can do for you..."

Dave

[loosapphire]

Juse another wild guess. It might one of your friends try to help you a little bit.Try to think the bright side, why not just put it aside since it do no harm to you.It would turn out over time though.

[Milo]

Originally Posted by crankydave

It's quite likely it's a semi-auto submitter. Also likely that someone will contact you about it. Basically, costs them nothing. I suspect a link submission service. They throw a handfull of links your way, using proper titles and descriptions, then say "Hey, look what we can do for you..."

Dave

This is my hunch as well, will let you all know if there is any outcome. Thanks for the responces guys.

[nickoran]

lol, where are my friends who want to site there submitting to directories for free?

[Clint1]

Milo, at this point I don't think their M.O. is a big deal (although I can understand the curiosity of it). It could be nefarious, or someone trying to "help", or neither. Your problem now is the email address they used will soon be useless. Nothing good comes out of these types of submissions. Your link(s) will rotate off in matter of days, maybe even hours. Even if they did not, very few actually go to these places and look at the links for potential sellers of their interest. What you do get, is your email address attacked by every parasite in existence.

Over a decade ago, I used to submit my sites using these methods. A year later I was still getting useless irrelevant BS from every cyber-terrorist and "blue pill" selling parasite on the planet. I had to delete the email address and create a new one.

And don't think G is "onto" anything. Your competitors can very easily ruin you in G using these methods, (and other SE's as well), and G couldn't care less.

[Terry Van Horne]

I agree to some extent with Clint1... if these are paid/link back or have either of those options as well as free then... start by letting G know you didn't submit them! As usual CrankyDave also makes a good point. I have been swamped with spam from semi auto-submitters for directories and blog comments. Perhaps someone figured out how to make a business out of it! Most of it comes from formerly paid directories I recently submitted to for a new project.

[deepsand]

There's no cause for concern re. any "nefarious" intent.

Even if they are "bad" links (paid links, links farms, etc.), and Google should identify them as such, they'll simply be discounted or ignored; i.e., they'll neither help nor harm.

[Terry Van Horne]

Originally Posted by deepsand

There's no cause for concern re. any "nefarious" intent.

Even if they are "bad" links (paid links, links farms, etc.), and Google should identify them as such, they'll simply be discounted or ignored; i.e., they'll neither help nor harm.

LOL
Posts the smart guy with 3 links in his sig that all go to the same site. How many directories do you own?

[nickoran]

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

LOL
Posts the smart guy with 3 links in his sig that all go to the same site. How many directories do you own?

Hehe, nice picture!

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by nickoran

Hehe, nice picture!

I'm sure that Steve will take take as a compliment.

BTW, the purpose of that photo is to build both trust & brand recognition. Steve attends every PSU football home game, and many away games, such that people are accustomed to seeing him at Beaver Stadium and/or on TV. Thus, many new visitors to his site recognize the picture there. Knowing that they "know" him, and that he will be physically available on site on game day should the need arise, makes them much more comfortable buying on-line from his site than from one they know nothing of.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

LOL
Posts the smart guy with 3 links in his sig that all go to the same site.

Your point?

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

How many directories do you own?

Your guess?

[Terry Van Horne]

Originally Posted by deepsand

Your point?

That you don't really have a clue

Originally Posted by deepsand

Your guess?

Enough that you propagate misleading info to make people comfortable again submitting to directories selling "reviews". If I'm incorrect then my apology. IME, when people and a Biz continue propagating false info generally it is to benefit them, directory ownership makes the most sense. Once again my apology if this is not true.

[deepsand]

The issue of what constitutes a "paid" directory has already been well addressed and settled.

If any fee paid guarantees no more than a review of a submission, with listing being contingent on its passing editorial review, then that directory is not a "paid" one; if listing is guaranteed, then it is a "paid" directory.

The practical difficulty lies in determining which of those directories publicly portraying themselves as the former do, in practice, act as the latter. With respect to Google, their publicly stated position is that, in such cases, the percentage of submissions approved for listing, taken together with the quality of the listings, serves as a guide toward resolving such issue.

For the record, I neither own nor have a material interest in any directory.

[Terry Van Horne]

deepsand, my point was it is a possibility. Someone says I have a problem to which there are many possible reasons for this occuring. If you take "paid links" off the table by saying it can neither harm nor help... someone may dismiss it as not a possibility. Others will read this also and this may be a legitimate consideration for them.

I felt it was a valid consideration because directories were mentioned and I have looked at this because of my work with SeoPros directory and my personal opinion that pandoras box was opened with the "paid link guideline". My apologies if I offended you.

Things to consider about the Google position:

A. Google has no way to know how many submissions are received by a directory
B. Google can't read my mind as I review a site
C. Google has no way to know what criteria and factors are used to determine quality by a directory

For instance at SeoPros once you get by the "proper address" and services provided that are listed on SeoPros are described on the Member's site, the rest of the review entails searching the SE indexes looking for activity we believe is "nefarious activity". That enatails not just Google guidelines but all SE guidelines.

Your explainantion seems to be saying we should review sites based on what Google deems to be quality (they are never transparent on this either). In that scenario Google is again telling webmasters how to conduct themselves and that should not even be a consideration. Googles own guideline indicates you shouldn't do anything just for SE's. We review based on what is in the best interest of the client users of SeoPros and we could care less what Google thinks... unless it is a guidelines issue that is not in the grey area. For instance keyword stuffing which is also a clear indication of the professionalism and experience of the applicant.

Buying links is a grey area because it is basically determining the intent of the buyer and seller. That is impossible to do fairly with out false positives. IMO, SE guidelines shouldn't dwell in these areas it is always a big problem when they do. I'd never buy links for SEO, that doesn't mean I don't buy links for advertising and the only way anyone knows that is if they ask me.

[stephen186]

It's really strange. Why would anybody want to submit your site to directories that too with different titles and description.

[nickseo]

Do you really think that submitting other peoples sites can damage thier rankings? surely google wouldnt allow this otherwise im sure there would be hoards of people submitting other peoples sites to get above them?

[Clint1]

Originally Posted by nickseo

Do you really think that submitting other peoples sites can damage thier rankings? surely google wouldnt allow this otherwise im sure there would be hoards of people submitting other peoples sites to get above them?

Not by just simply "submitting" your own valid URL's. But by submitting the same URL hundreds of times a day, or posting your URL in bad neighborhoods, and other methods, etc., etc., yes. Post #19 above. G doesn't care about anything related to that. It happens all the time.

[Milo]

Still no contact from whoever did the submissions, but also no other submissions since this all happened. No harm done or nothing gained

[Rick Glaser]

Unless you submitted to 1 sketchy place that has your email and is following you to add your listing to other directories.

The only other thing is it is someones mistake, and if thats the case........who cares

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

If you take "paid links" off the table by saying it can neither harm nor help... someone may dismiss it as not a possibility.

What I actually said was that one must make the fine distinction between "harm" and "not help." The minimum possible PR value is "zero;" there is no such thing as "negative PR." Therefore, an IBL that is, for whatever reason, discounted can be no worse than one that does not exist. I.e., it provides "no help," as opposed to doing "harm."

Note that this does not mean that a buyer of paid links is not economically disadvantaged by having such links devalued, and thus realizing no benefit from his expenditure; but, only that PR will not be punished by way of being reduced by "negative PR" from such links.

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

Things to consider about the Google position:

A. Google has no way to know how many submissions are received by a directory
B. Google can't read my mind as I review a site
C. Google has no way to know what criteria and factors are used to determine quality by a directory

Quite true, of course. However, they need not have the powers of either x-ray vision or telepathy, nor even a mole on the inside, in order to make a determination re. the relationship between listings submitted and those approved & listed.

Bear in mind that Google is not only an SE, but a Domain Registrar as well. Thus, it is a trivial matter for them to construct any number of test sites, ascribe to each such characteristics as they desire, make countless submissions to directories, observe the results, and deduce the degree to which submissions are adequately & properly vetted prior to being listed.

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

Your explainantion seems to be saying we should review sites based on what Google deems to be quality (they are never transparent on this either). In that scenario Google is again telling webmasters how to conduct themselves and that should not even be a consideration. Googles own guideline indicates you shouldn't do anything just for SE's. We review based on what is in the best interest of the client users of SeoPros and we could care less what Google thinks... unless it is a guidelines issue that is not in the grey area. For instance keyword stuffing which is also a clear indication of the professionalism and experience of the applicant.

I advocate no practice vis-a-vis Google's definition of "quality" beyond being aware of how such may affect the owner/operators of a site and/or its users.

[Feddy]

if someone is adding your website in directories then why are you worried?it is helpful for you.

[Clint1]

Originally Posted by Feddy

if someone is adding your website in directories then why are you worried?

That's already been answered/covered above.

it is helpful for you.

Rarely is it actually helpful. Also covered above.