If you’re one of those SEOs who think about promoting his or her sites via submitting to CSS directories, think again. The point is that the idea of submiting sites to CSS directories sounds really good, because you just need to get a list of those directories (or just create it by searching in Google) and hit the submit button. Well, you also need to fill out all the forms and add your screenshot thumbnail, but anyway that’s not too much work compared to other methods. And that kinda sounds too good to be true. It looked like pure gold to me. But as they say, beauty is just skin-deep.
Real Life CSS Directory Submission Case Study
My opinion as for CSS directories is based on two case studies witih two different sites that have nothing in common. They are geared towards different audiences, they are of different age, etc. Long story short, there’s no similarity in their SEO metrics. That’s why I believe the experiment and the outcome I have to offer you is quite clear.
One of 200
So, I had a list of CSS directories to submit my sites to. The list consisted of up to 200 directories (one of them was even a paid one). I took the plunge and submitted my sites to all of them. I believe it took me a few work days. And now the interesting part. I got a backlink only in one directory out of 200! Basically, I wasted like a lot of time for something that did not pay back at all. Guess which CSS directory I got a backlink from? That’s right. The paid one. 🙂
My Best Guess Why It Happened
Supposably, CSS directory owners get too many requests and the designs that are submitted are not good enough. I assume it’s the reason, because the designs of the two sites that I submitted were not exactly out of the world. Most likely, if the web designs of those sites were really origninal and amazing, I’d get more than one link from the CSS directories I submitted to, but it’s just a guess.
The Bottom Line
That all boils down to the conclusion that it makes sense to submit your site to CSS directories only if you really invested in a breath-taking custom design. Otherwise you’ll most likely just waste your time trying to get links.
Let me know what you think about the situation and what I could have possibly done wrong? Did you happen to have a similar experience?
