Directory submissions help when the directory is curated, indexed and visited, and hurt as link-scheme footprints. How to tell them apart, per Google.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·8 min read
Directory submissions are worth it only for directories that are curated, indexed and actually visited; submissions to low-quality directories are exactly what Google's link spam policy lists as an example of link spam. The useful listings are a handful of reviewed pages that buyers browse, and the useless ones are hundreds of automated listings on sites nobody reads.
This guide separates the two using Google's own policy text, then shows how to check a directory in five minutes and what a nofollow listing is still good for.
What is directory submission?
Directory submission means adding your website to a web directory: a site that lists other sites by category, usually with a name, a short description and a link. For a software product, the directories that still matter are launch platforms, software review sites such as G2 and Capterra, and curated tool directories for a niche such as AI or developer tools.
Directories come in two kinds. Some still do the job of helping people find sites in a category, with a review before anything is listed. Others exist mainly to hand out links, which is why Google names low-quality directories in its spam policies. The question for any directory is which kind it is.
What does Google's spam policy say about directory links?
Google's spam policies define link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings," and list "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links" among the examples. The same list includes "Using automated programs or services to create links to your site" and "Excessive link exchanges."
Other examples on that list touch directory practices directly:
Buying links for ranking purposes, including "Exchanging money for links."
"Requiring a link as part of a Terms of Service, contract, or similar arrangement without allowing a third-party content owner the choice of qualifying the outbound link," which is worth reading before you accept a badge-for-link deal.
"Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites."
The policy also draws the line that makes paid placements fine: Google "does understand that buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes," and such links don't violate the policy as long as they are qualified with a or attribute. A paid directory listing marked that way is advertising, not a link scheme.
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
What is directory submission?
Directory submission is adding your website, with a name, description and category, to a web directory: a site that lists other sites by topic. For software, the directories that matter today are launch platforms, software review sites and curated tool directories.
A useful listing sits on an indexed page, on a directory that reviews what it lists, in a category real buyers browse. Those three signals separate a listing that brings visitors and describes you from a footprint that only exists to add a link. Check all three before you submit anywhere.
Signal
Useful listing
Link-scheme footprint
Indexed
The listing page appears in Google for its own URL
Listing pages don't show up with site:
Editorial check
The directory reviews submissions and rejects some
Anything that pays or links back is listed
Real traffic
The directory shows recent launches and activity in your category
No recent activity, or thousands of unrelated listings
Link terms
A clear policy: followed on merit, or qualified as sponsored or nofollow
Followed links sold for money, or required in exchange for yours
Content
Your listing has a real description, category and screenshots
A name, a URL and a keyword-stuffed line
Submission method
You submit it yourself, or a person does it with your details
An automated tool posts to hundreds of sites at once
Some directories say plainly how selective they are. Future Tools says it doesn't approve over 75% of submissions, and SaaSCity's pricing page says directory listings, its own included, "send modest referral traffic," treating the link as the product and the traffic as a bonus. That kind of candor is a good sign in itself.
Which kinds of directories are worth it for a software product?
Directories for software fall into a few kinds, and they differ more by kind than by name. Launch platforms and review sites are built around a category and a review step; general web directories and bookmark sites list anything. The table gives the verdict for each kind, so you can sort a list of candidates before checking any one of them.
Kind of directory
Examples
Worth it?
Why
Launch platforms
Product Hunt, Uneed, BetaList, SaaSCity
Yes, one or two
A dated audience that tries new products, and a permanent listing
Software review sites
G2, Capterra, TrustRadius
Yes, if you qualify
Buyers compare there before paying; links are rarely followed
Curated niche directories
Tool directories for AI or developer products that reject submissions
Yes, selectively
A category audience and an editorial check
Alternatives directories
SaaSHub, AlternativeTo
Yes, where buyers search your competitor's name
They catch people ready to switch
General web directories
Sites that list any website in any category
Rarely
Google's policy names low-quality directories as link spam
Bookmark and link-drop sites
Social bookmarking and link lists
No
Named alongside directories in the same policy example
Most of the value sits in the first four rows. Bulk submission packages rarely name the directories they use, so you can't tell which rows you're buying.
How do you check a directory before submitting?
Open two existing listings like yours and run five checks: whether they're indexed, how their links are marked, whether the directory rejected anything recently, whether it has launches this week, and what it asks from you. It takes about five minutes and rules out most directories that would waste your time.
Search Google for site: plus the full URL of an existing listing. Google's documentation warns that site: "doesn't necessarily return all the URLs that are indexed," so test two or three.
View the listing's source. Look for <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> and read the rel attribute on the link to the product.
Read the submission terms for an editorial review, a rejection or refund policy, and any badge or link-back requirement.
Check the homepage for listings added this week and categories that match your product.
Look at the listings around yours. If they're unrelated to the category or nearly empty, the directory isn't curating what it lists.
Google also clusters duplicate pages and serves one of them, so write a distinct description for each directory. The startup directories list applies these checks to the main launch directories.
Are nofollow directory listings worth it?
Often, yes. Since 2019 Google has said that "all the link attributes, sponsored, ugc, and nofollow, are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search." A nofollow listing on a visited directory still sends people to your site, and it is one more page that describes your product in words other than your own.
That second point matters for AI answers. Yext's analysis of 6.8 million citations from July and August 2025 found that 48.73% of OpenAI's citations came from listings, mostly local business listings such as Google's, for queries in finance, food, healthcare and retail. Profound's study of citations from August 2024 to June 2025 lists G2, a software review site, among Perplexity's top 10 cited sources. Neither measured software directories directly, but both show answer engines leaning on third-party pages that describe a business.
So judge a listing on three things, not one: does it send visitors, does it describe you accurately on an indexed page, and is the link followed. The first two don't depend on the link attribute. The guides on nofollow vs dofollow and why AI cites third-party sites go deeper on each.
Should you buy a bulk directory submission package?
Rarely. Packages that promise 100 or more directory submissions deliver many listings in days, mostly on sites that fail the checks above, and "using automated programs or services to create links to your site" is on Google's list of link spam. If you buy one, ask for the list of directories first and check a sample yourself.
The questions to ask any seller are simple: which directories exactly, are their listing pages indexed, what link type does each give, and is each submission made by a person with your details. The guide to directory submission services covers what those packages deliver and what off-page work to buy instead.
How many directories should you submit to?
A handful that pass the checks, spaced over a few weeks. One or two launch platforms, the review sites your buyers use, and one or two curated directories in your niche cover most of the value. Past that, each extra listing on a weak directory adds more risk than visitors.
Keep a sheet of every listing with its URL, submission date, whether it's indexed and its link type, and recheck the indexed column a month later. Drop from next year's plan any directory whose listing never made it into Google.
Check your site before you list it anywhere
Directories judge the site you send them, and so do the people who click through. Run the free scan on LaunchScaler with your URL and no account: it runs 156 checks across 6 of its 7 categories at no cost, from noindex and robots.txt rules to broken internal links, forms that can't submit and slow responses. LaunchScaler's own directory works on the same principle this guide recommends: it scans a site before listing it, and a listing earns its 1 dofollow link only when the site passes. Fix what the scan flags first, and every listing you create afterward points at a site that holds up.
A few are. A listing on a curated directory whose pages Google indexes, and which real buyers browse, can bring visitors and a page that describes you. Google's link spam policy names low-quality directory and bookmark links as an example of link spam, so mass submissions to weak directories don't help.
03
Does Google penalize directory links?
Google's spam policies list low-quality directory links, automated link creation and excessive link exchanges among the forms of link spam. A listing on a curated directory with an editorial check, or a link marked nofollow or sponsored, is not what those examples describe.
04
Are nofollow directory listings worth it?
Often, yes. Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict exclusion, and a nofollow listing still sends visitors and gives search and AI engines another page describing your product.
05
How many directories should I submit to?
A handful that pass three checks: listing pages indexed in Google, an editorial review before listing, and real traffic in your category. Dozens of submissions to directories that fail those checks add risk without adding visitors.
Launch on Product Hunt at 12:01 am Pacific, the start of its 24-hour day. Weekdays took about 509 upvotes to win in September 2026, weekends about 313.
