01
Low authority is not zero traction
The 47 sites below 40 still have median estimated traffic of 32.3K per month. Authority is a useful comparison, not an eligibility test.
350 directory websitesSnapshot Aug 28, 2026Aggregate data, free to cite
Directory SEO benchmarks from 350 established sites.
A transparent look at recorded authority and estimated monthly traffic—plus the limits that most benchmark reports leave out.
64
Median recorded authority
350/350 records
107.8K
Median monthly traffic
Third-party estimate
24.8K
Median monthly organic
Third-party estimate
0.71
Authority ↔ organic
Spearman correlation
The result in one sentence
Higher recorded authority is strongly associated with more estimated organic traffic in this sample, but it does not prove that authority caused the traffic.
The Spearman rank correlation is 0.71. This curated sample skews toward established directories, so use it to compare mature sites—not to forecast a new site's first year.
Authority distribution
Recorded 0–100 authority score
Under 205 · 1.4%
20–3942 · 12%
40–5990 · 25.7%
60–79162 · 46.3%
80+51 · 14.6%
Monthly traffic distribution
Estimated visits, not first-party analytics
Under 10K1 · 0.3%
10K–49.9K116 · 33.1%
50K–99.9K51 · 14.6%
100K–499.9K99 · 28.3%
500K–999.9K32 · 9.1%
1M+51 · 14.6%
Traffic changes sharply by authority band
Medians reduce the effect of giant outliers. They still describe association, not cause.
| Authority | Sites | Median monthly traffic | Median organic | Median organic share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 40 | 47 | 32.3K | 4K | 11.1% |
| 40–59 | 90 | 38.3K | 8.9K | 20.8% |
| 60–79 | 162 | 190.3K | 51.7K | 28.1% |
| 80+ | 51 | 1.8M | 241.8K | 15.9% |
02
The 60–79 band is the sample’s center
Nearly half the sample sits here: 162 sites, with 190.3K median monthly traffic and 51.7K median organic traffic.
03
Scale is not the same as SEO dependence
The 80+ group is much larger, yet its median organic share is 15.9% versus 28.1% for the 60–79 group.
What this dataset does not prove
- It does not measure profit, revenue, conversion rate, or owner income.
- Only 12 of 350 records have a usable monetization narrative, so no monetization ranking is published.
- Traffic and organic traffic are third-party estimates, not Google Analytics sessions.
- The sample is curated and survivor-biased; it is not a random census of all directory websites.
Method and reproducibility
- Population
- Published DirectoryGems directory records
- Sample
- 350 sites; complete authority and traffic coverage
- Observed
- May 12, 2025–Jul 11, 2026
- Statistics
- Medians, fixed distribution bands, and Spearman rank correlation
- Exclusion
- Organic-share analysis excludes 27 internally inconsistent source estimates (n=323)
Suggested citation
DirectoryGems. “Directory SEO Benchmarks 2026: a 350-site dataset.” Published Aug 28, 2026. https://directorygems.com/benchmarks
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