I think the number one factor for me when determining whether I pay to submit to a directory is the AuthorityRank. It's a John Scott Original, which I am kind enough to share with you all for the paltry sum of $100. (PayPal me the $100 after reading the post.)
Web directories, like any of pages, are subject to evaluation by Google's automated algorithms, and if a web directory wants to keep its link juice passing power, it has to pass certain tests. Linking to crap including high levels of duplicate content are good ways of losing link juice passing power.
PageRank of the web directory page is not necessary to pass link juice. I have tested this and gotten a web page ranked for a keyword that did not appear on the linked-to page,
solely on the basis of a link from a PR0 web directory page.
Conversely, a web directory page with high
PR, such as PR5 or PR6, that has lost it's link juice passing power cannot help improve the rankings of a linked-to web page at all.
PageRank is not the determining factor in the value of a link. Link juice is. Trust is.
In order to forecast how a page will fare in Google, I do two things. First, check the descriptions. If a lot of the descriptions are duplicate content, then the web directory probably does not have editorial integrity and Google most likely knows it.
Sample search.
The other thing to check for is the
average outbound PR.
Average
PR of Outbound Links can be seen by going to a category, and checking the
PR of all links on that page. For example, this page:
http://directory.v7n.com/Top/Shopping/
Contains the following outbound links, with the following
PR:
http://www.bizrate.com/ - PR8
http://www.edealsuk.com/ - PR4
http://www.pricegrabber.com/ - PR8
http://wwww.shopping.com/ - PR8
http://www.uksave.net/ - PR5
As you can see, this particular category has a average
PR that is fairly high. V7N Directory probably has the highest average outbound
PR of any web directory, because we edit the directory with quality in mind. We list authority sites which tend to have high
PR.
But if a web directory has an average outbound
PR less than of PR3, you might want to not submit.
Just my
on the topic.