Are the directories you submitted still alive after a year? I tracked the “survival rate” of 120 directories

You spent a week submitting 50 directories. A year later I took a look for you—11 of those directories’ sites are no longer reachable, 7 have stopped accepting new submissions, and 3 have been completely de‑valued by Google. More than 40% of the backlinks you painstakingly acquired are now “dead”.

📅 September 20, 2026 · ⏱️ Approx. 6‑minute read · 📂 SEO · Data · Long‑term maintenance

I discovered this while doing an SEO audit for a friend.

His website had been live for a year. A year ago he did a round of directory submissions, submitting a total of 48 directories. The results were good at the time—DR rose from 6 to 14.

A year later he asked me to look at his SEO data. I opened Ahrefs and saw his backlink count had dropped from 48 to 31.

17 backlinks disappeared.

I examined each reason individually:

In one year, he lost 35% of his backlinks.

This isn’t an isolated case. I decided to conduct a larger‑scale tracking.

Experiment Design

I randomly selected 120 directories from the BackLinkSubmit database, stratified by DR:

• DR 80+: 15
  
• DR 50‑79: 25
  
• DR 30‑49: 30
  
• DR 20‑29: 25
  
• DR < 20: 25
  

I tracked these directories’ status changes over 12 months. The metrics checked include:

• Whether the site is still reachable
  
• Whether it still accepts new submissions
  
• Whether new content has been indexed by Google in the past 3 months
  
• Whether DR has changed significantly
  

Results: Directory “Survival Rate” by DR Tier

Directories with DR 80+ have a 100% survival rate. Directories with DR < 20 have only a 44% survival rate.

That means: if you submit 25 directories with DR < 20, about 14 of them will “die” after a year—your backlinks will disappear.

Why Directories “Die”

I analyzed 34 “dead” directories and identified five ways they die:

Death Pattern 1: Domain Expiration (41%)
The most common cause. Directory owners stop renewing the domain; after expiration the domain is either snapped up by a squatter or simply disappears.
These directories typically have low DR, no business model, and are personal projects maintained by a single person. The owner loses interest and abandons them.

Death Pattern 2: Server Offline (24%)
The domain remains, but the site is unreachable. Possible reasons: hosting fees not renewed, server crash, or the owner shut the site down.

Death Pattern 3: Google De‑valuation (18%)
The site still exists, but Google no longer trusts it. DR plummets from 30+ to <10. This usually happens when Google classifies the directory as a “link farm” or “low‑quality directory”.
In this case, your backlink still exists but no longer passes any SEO value—and may even have a negative impact.

Death Pattern 4: Stopped Accepting New Content (12%)
The site is still up but no longer accepts new submissions or updates content. Google gradually stops crawling the site, and your listing page may disappear from Google’s index.

Death Pattern 5: Listing Deleted (5%)
A few directories periodically clean out old listings—either to maintain content quality or to make room for new listings.

How to Judge Whether a Directory Will “Die”

You can’t predict with 100% certainty, but some signals can help you judge:

High‑risk signals (possible death within 1 year):

• DR < 20
  
• Site design looks like 2010
  
• Last update was more than 6 months ago
  
• No clear business model (no fees, no ads, no sponsorship)
  
• Site load time > 5 seconds
  
• Personal blog/project, not company‑run
  

Low‑risk signals (likely to stay alive):

• DR 50+
  
• Active content updates (new content within the last 3 months)
  
• Business model (fees, ads, or parent company)
  
• Modern design, fast loading
  
• Presence on social media and active community
  
• Part of a well‑known company/product (e.g., G2, Crunchbase)
  

💡 Simple rule of thumb: If a directory looks like “a WordPress site built by one person that hasn’t been updated in 3 years”—it is very likely to disappear within 1‑2 years.

How to Deal with Backlink Loss

Now that you know directories can “die”, what should you do?

Strategy 1: Prioritize “longevity” directories
Focus your submission effort on directories with DR 50+. Their 12‑month survival rate is 96‑100%. The backlinks you acquire from them will almost never disappear.
Directories with DR < 20 have a 44% 12‑month survival rate. Submitting them may result in about half disappearing after a year. The ROI is low.

Strategy 2: Regularly audit your backlinks
Check your backlink profile every 3‑6 months to see if any backlinks have disappeared.

If you discover backlinks that vanished due to a directory’s death:

• If the directory has vanished completely → accept the loss and allocate time elsewhere
  
• If the directory still exists but your listing was removed → consider resubmitting
  
• If the directory was de‑valued by Google → consider using Google’s Disavow tool to reject the link
  

Strategy 3: Continuously add new backlinks
Don’t treat it as a one‑off task. Treat directory submissions and backlink building as an ongoing process.
Every 3 months, run a new round of directory submissions to replace backlinks lost due to directory deaths. This keeps your backlink count steadily growing rather than “spiking then slowly dropping”.

Strategy 4: Diversify your backlink sources
Don’t rely solely on directory submissions. Directory backlinks are a foundation, but you should also acquire backlinks through other means:

• Build in Public (passive acquisition)
  
• Guest posts (high‑quality backlinks)
  
• Community participation (brand signals)
  
• Content marketing (natural backlinks)
  

That way, even if some directory backlinks disappear, your overall backlink profile remains healthy.

Tracking Template

I recommend creating a simple tracking sheet and checking it every 3‑6 months:

Check frequency:

• DR 50+ directories: check every 6 months (high survival, no need for frequent checks)
  
• DR 30‑49 directories: check every 3 months
  
• DR < 30 directories: check every 3 months (low survival, need more frequent monitoring)

Final Thoughts

Directory submission isn’t a “submit‑and‑forget” activity.

Your backlinks have a “shelf life”. High‑DR directory backlinks have a long shelf life (almost permanent). Low‑DR directory backlinks may only last 6‑12 months.

This means two things:

First, prioritize high‑DR directories. Their backlinks almost never disappear; your investment is one‑time and permanent.

Second, maintain your backlink profile regularly. Check every 3‑6 months and replace any lost backlinks.

SEO is not a set‑and‑forget task. It’s a system that requires ongoing maintenance.

Directory submission is the same.

BackLinkSubmit Team — We help you select “longevity” directories (DR 50+ curated) and continuously track their indexing status. Learn more →