by Michael Dorausch, DC

This is a quick post from the front row at PubCon 2007 in Las Vegas. Matt Cutts just took a question from a person in the audience who asked about directories being hit in the index back in September.

When Matt is researching directories owned by an individual (or group) he will go through those sites and confirm who owns them. If the directory owner says yes, I own these other domains, Matt will look at those as well. He will also ask about any expired domain, to get an idea of what other domains the directory owner has.

His suggestion is that as an SEO, one needs to assess the quality of the site (the directory). He follows that up by saying there are directories out there that are well maintained, but one has to use their Spidey Sense as an SEO to get a better understanding as to quality.

Things Matt mentions are not good include stuff like if a directory requires a reciprocal link. Value adds that people can be looking for are directories that will include sites without requiring payment.

He finishes by saying there is a difference between high quality vs low quality directories and with some research one can find best resources.

Matt answered a number of other questions earlier in the session. Tamar Weinberg live blogged the Keynote with Matt Cutts so she has more info on the directories question at the end of her post (she types much faster than I do).

I’ll be adding some related resources here as I locate them, as I believe the session was live blogged by others.