Couple more SE questions.

[Lucky Bastard]

Re: directories passing on the PR and keyword rich (ie.anchor text) links .

If a directory (free or pay doesn't matter), for example let's call the directory joeblowsbestdirectory.com, has a link to your site that sells widgets say :
"The Best Widgets In town" was the anchor text. The link behind the anchor text pointed to :
www.joeblowsbestdirectory.com/?linkid=1093 (or some number to refer to your entry in the DB). That link then redirects to your widget shop's URL.

Firstly : would the directory in question pass on its page rank (so to speak) like a directory that had a direct link to yoru website? or are they trying to scam PR hungry webmasters to either pay, recip for a listing?

Secondly would such a listing help with keyword link popularity? Like in a normal directory that links directly, it is believed that such a DIRECT link say with the keywords "Widgets" would help somewhat (small or large doesn't matter and isn't the question) the site in question for the term Widgets in say Google or whatever.

Hope this makes sense.

[thebassman]

no and no. because of the linkid, it's not going to help in the serps at all... the only good it will do it use the 5 hits you'll get from joebloesbestdirectory.com/year.

[Ledfish]

You can see an example of a directory listing that is good for you by looking at the listings in Bluefind or Sevenseek, notice the url is unmasked, it shows something like http://www.yoursite.com. I believe this is also sometimes referred to as a hardlink.

Much to your frustration, you will find a lot of people who use the masking url on their sites under the premise of tracking counters,. Some indeed are, many are just trying to hord PR.