Let’s be blunt. If you run a business website, you’ve probably been told to “get listed everywhere.” The old playbook suggests you should flood your URL into every directory, award site, and submission tool under the sun. It feels productive. It looks like work. But it’s mostly noise.
Here is the reality of the three main categories of services you’ll encounter, and why you should treat them with extreme skepticism.
Business Directories: Quantity Over Quality?
If your site is B2B or local, you’re expected to submit it to directories. Some charge. Most don’t. The list usually includes names like AllSearchEngines, b2bFreeNet, SuperPages, Biz Land, Business Search Engines, EZDirectory, and SmallBiz.
The logic is simple: more listings mean more visibility. Right?
Not necessarily. Google and Bing have largely devalued low-quality directory links. They don’t move the needle for rankings like they did in 2005. Yes, SuperPages might still have some local weight. But EZDirectory? Probably not. You’re trading time for backlinks that likely carry zero authority. It’s an exercise in futility unless you are targeting a very niche, specific local market where those directories still have traffic.
Award Sites: Ego Bait
Then there are the “award” sites. Cool Site of the Day, Seven Wonders of the Web, Web 100, Webby Awards, and Wow! Web Wonders.
What do they actually give you? Recognition. Maybe a badge. Maybe a featured spot for an hour or a day.
Why does this matter? It doesn’t. These sites are marketing machines for themselves, not for you. They sell the illusion of prestige. You register. They pick a winner (often randomly or via paid entry). You get a logo to paste on your footer. Does that logo help you rank? No. Does it bring customers? Barely. It’s digital vanity. Save your energy.
The “Submit to Hundreds of Engines” Scam
This is the biggest trap. Companies like Add Me!, SiteAdd, URL Submitter, 123 Add URL, Register, and Submit It promise to submit your site to hundreds of search engines for a fee.
Here is the hard truth: These services are doing nothing that you cannot do yourself.
You can register your site on search engines just as well as they can. In fact, better. Because you know your content. They are using automated scripts to blast your URL into databases. Most of these databases are dead. Or spammy. Or irrelevant.
The key insight? You are paying for convenience, not results. And that convenience is worthless if the result is irrelevant. You can find out how to submit manually. It takes ten minutes. Why pay $50 for a service that does exactly what you can do for free?
What Should You Do Instead?
Stop outsourcing your SEO basics. Focus on:
- Manual directory submissions only if they are highly relevant and niche.
- Ignoring award sites unless you are already famous.
- Avoiding bulk submission services entirely.
