Link-Building: Submitting to PAD-enabled download sites
One method of building links to your site is by submitting to PAD-enabled software directories or shareware/ freeware download sites. There are hundreds of these sites around the web. Unlike the usual web directories where you submit a short description of your website together with a link and a nicely worded anchor text, when you submit to a PAD site you are submitting a software package for listing. The details of the software package and its download URL need to be specified in a PAD file.
If you don’t develop software packages, what can you submit to the PAD sites? The temptation is to create and submit is a screensaver. You should easily be able to create a screensaver and PAD file, host them on your site then submit to 600 or so PAD sites and get some links.
Are these links worth it?
The benefits of the kinds of link you get from PAD sites are very variable.
If your site sells software then the links are very worthwhile. Both your site and the PAD site will have a similar topic/ theme and the links will help you in SERPs. The link juice you get from submitting fades away over a few weeks as the links to your site get buried deeper and deeper by newer submissions. You’ll need to top up the link juice by submitting updated versions of your software package every 3 or 4 weeks.
If you don’t sell software, you might find the benefits of the links are marginal at best. You’ll have made a few hundred spammy submissions for no gain. One reason that the links won’t benefit you much is that the PAD site is less likely than other directories to use your company name/ keywords as anchor text in the link back to your site. Most PAD sites simply show your domain’s URL. It could be argued that if you have a keyword rich domain name then you’ll see a greater benefit.
Unless you really do sell software, another reason why you may not see much benefit is that 99% of PAD sites are on the lookout for spammy submissions. Screensavers, toolbars, PDFs and ebooks are automatically red-flagged as spam. These kinds of items are increasingly likely to be rejected. Usually, if you get rejected the PAD site will automatically blacklist the submitting domain and reject any further submissions.
As with all directories, spam is an increasing problem. More and more of the PAD sites are switching to nofollow links and a growing number don’t even provide a nofollow link back to the submitting site.
Sometimes you’ll see SEO companies offering a PAD site submission service. Think before using such a service, as you could well be wasting your money.
For more information, read Link-Building Tips and Choosing Keywords for SEO Purposes.