Everyone knows that inbound links to a law firm website or blog help with search engine visibility. But are all inbound links created equal? How about inbound links from directories set up for the express purpose of selling inbound links to websites? In an enlightening video, Matt Cutts says that directories that create entries for every Tom, Dick and Harry that applies and is willing to pay the listing fee, are considered low quality, and will generally not help your rankings (and may even hurt if the directory is considered spammy).
Instead, Google favors directories that exercise editorial oversight, and will reject applications from websites that do not fit within the directory's guidelines. For law firms, this means that the best directories to join (in terms of the quality of inbound links from Google's perspective) will be those that focus on law-related websites, and will thus reject applications from companies that pitch unrelated stuff. By the same token, as per Cutts' advice, inbound links from directories that exercise editorial oversight across multiple categories, like Yahoo's directory, can also provide value.
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