Which directories actually
give you a link?
We submitted ShubHQ to 18 directories. 9 published a listing, 6 of those gave a link, and Google has counted 2.
A listing going live and a listing giving you a link are two different events, and most trackers record neither. Directory Tracker records both, on every submission you make.
9
listings published
6
gave a link
2
counted by Google
Product tour
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What Directory Tracker is, stated without adjectives.
Six sentences a person or a model can quote without taking our word for anything. The persuasion is further down the page.
- What it is
- Directory Tracker is a page inside ShubHQ that records every directory you submit your product to.
- Who it is for
- Founders who submit their own product to directories and lose track of what happened after they pressed send.
- What it records
- Three dates on every record: the day you added it, the day you submitted to the directory, and the day the listing went live.
- What it checks
- Whether a published listing gives a dofollow link, a nofollow link, or no link at all. Confirmed links are handed to your backlink tracking.
- What it does not do
- It does not submit your product to directories, it does not buy or sell links, and it does not promise that any listing will be published.
- Price
- Free for every account, with no submission limit and no plan requirement.
20 directories, and what each one actually did.
These are our own records, kept in this tool. Dates come from the submission record, the link type from opening the published listing, and the Search Console column from the Links report. One site, one submission each, so read it as a worked example rather than a survey.
18
Submitted
9
Published a listing
6
Gave a link
2
Counted by Google
| # | Directory | DR | Cost | Status | Timing | Link | Search Console | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | G2 g2.com The only listing here that went live fast, gave a dofollow link, and was counted by Google. | 88 | Free | Live | 13 days | Dofollow | Counted | 10 /10 |
| 02 | Startupfa.me startupfa.me The strongest free directory here after G2, and it publishes. The link is nofollow, so the listing is worth more for the mention than for the link. | 83 | Free | Live | Live, date not recorded | Nofollow | Not yet | 8 /10 |
| 03 | Startupbuffer startupbuffer.com Took 47 days to publish, then showed up in Search Console within weeks. | 63 | Free | Live | 47 days | Dofollow | Counted | 8 /10 |
| 04 | TinyLaunch tinylaunch.com The listing page exists and shows a launch date 11 days out, so the queue is visible instead of silent. That alone puts it above every other pending submission here. See our listing | 73 | Free | Waiting | 18 days, waiting | 8 /10 | ||
| 05 | Pitchwall pitchwall.co Dofollow link, live for 16 days, not counted by Google yet. | 48 | Free | Live | 33 days | Dofollow | Not yet | 8 /10 |
| 06 | Viberank viberank.dev Published the same day with a dofollow link. Live for 4 days, too early to judge. See our listing | 47 | Free | Live | Same day | Dofollow | Not yet | 8 /10 |
| 07 | Saasboard saasboard.app Same day publication, but the link is nofollow, so it may never be counted. | 16 | Free | Live | Same day | Nofollow | Not yet | 6 /10 |
| 08 | SideProjectors sideprojectors.com A strong directory, but 20 days in it is still marked under review with no date attached. | 79 | Free | Waiting | 20 days, waiting | 6 /10 | ||
| 09 | Launchingnext launchingnext.com Submitted 18 days ago, nothing published and no date given. | 54 | Free | Waiting | 18 days, waiting | 4 /10 | ||
| 10 | Launchnest launchnest.io Gave a publication date roughly two weeks out at submission. Nothing live yet. | 50 | Free | Waiting | 4 days, waiting | 4 /10 |
10 more directories are on the free list.
The list changes as waiting submissions resolve and as Google catches up with the links. Create a free account to see the maintained version and to track your own submissions the same way, with your own dates.
Last updated September 3, 2026. Search Console checked September 2, 2026. Google can take weeks to discover a new link, so a recent listing marked Not yet is not a verdict.
Paid directories are listed too, with the price attached.
Most of this list is free to submit to. A few are not, and the price is the point: one publishes your product page for free and charges 39 dollars for the link itself, another only lists paid products at all.
We do not buy placement before we know what it gives, so those rows sit at not submitted with a price and no score. When one is bought, the result goes into the same table as everything else.
One number for the question you are actually asking: is this worth your afternoon?
- A dofollow link that Google has counted scores highest.
- A dofollow link not counted yet scores just below it, a nofollow link below that.
- A live listing that links nowhere scores low no matter how strong the directory is.
- A submission still waiting is scored on what it is likely to be worth: directory strength first, then how long it has been silent.
- A listing that was published and then removed scores zero.
- A directory we have not submitted to yet carries no score.
Search Console status stays out of the arithmetic. A link that is four days old has not had time to be counted, and scoring it now would be wrong in two weeks.
The table above is one row of what the tracker keeps for you.
Every submission you make gets the same treatment: three dates, a waiting counter, a link check, and a place to write down what the directory is waiting on from you.
Three dates, not one
The day you added the record, the day you submitted, and the day the listing went live. A single date tries to stand for all three and ends up telling you none of them.
Waiting time on every row
For a pending submission, how many days you have been waiting. For a live listing, how many days it took. Rows waiting a long time are colour coded, so a stalled submission stops being invisible.
A flag for listings that link nowhere
Mark a directory as giving no link at all and the row turns red, with the directory authority shown de-emphasised. That is a fact about the directory, not about one listing.
Work that is waiting on you
Write a short blocker label on any record, such as a fee or a missing image. The label shows in red, the row moves to the top, and the summary bar counts how many records are waiting on you.
The text you paste into forms
One place for the name, tagline, descriptions and feature list you submit everywhere, with a character counter on each field. Directory forms truncate long text silently, so the counter is the point.
Confirmed listings become backlinks
Confirm that a listing gave you a link and it is added to My Backlinks in one step, tagged with the directory it came from. An existing manual record is recognised instead of duplicated.
What Directory Tracker does not do.
Directory submission is manual work. A tool can make the queue visible and tell you which entries were worth the time, which is what this one does. The submitting stays yours.
It does not submit your product to directories for you.
It does not buy, sell or exchange links.
It does not promise that a submission will be published, or published quickly.
It does not tell you whether a paid listing is worth it until we have bought one.
The questions founders ask before they trust a directory.
Answered from the table above, not from a general idea of how directories behave.
Does a directory listing always give you a backlink?
No. Of the 18 directories we submitted to, 9 published a listing and 3 of those published listings link nowhere at all. Capterra has a domain rating of 87 and its listing of our product carries no link to our site.
How long does a directory submission take to go live?
In our own submissions it ranged from the same day to 47 days, and two submissions were still unpublished after 70 days with no rejection and no message. Directory Tracker shows the waiting time on every row so a stalled submission is visible instead of forgotten.
Why does a listing not show up in Google Search Console?
Either the listing carries no link, or the link is nofollow, or Google has not discovered it yet. Discovery takes weeks, so a recent listing that is missing from the Links report is not evidence of anything. Directory Tracker keeps the live date so you know how long a link has actually had.
Are paid directories worth it?
We cannot tell you yet. Our list marks what each directory costs, including one that publishes your product page for free and charges 39 dollars for the link itself. We do not buy placement before we know what it gives, so those rows carry a price and no score.
Does ShubHQ submit my product to directories for me?
No. Directory Tracker records submissions you make yourself. It stores the text you paste into directory forms so every listing describes your product the same way, and it counts characters against each field limit, but you fill in the forms.
What does Directory Tracker cost?
Nothing. It is free for every account, with no submission limit and no plan requirement.
Stop guessing which submissions were worth it.
Track every directory you submit to, see how long each one has been waiting, and find out which listings actually give you a link. Free, with no submission limit.