Googles bombshell on Paid Directories

[la cala]

Hi after google dropped a bomb on the paid drectories i was just wondering what weight paid directories still carry, is it still worth submitting to paid directories or not?

[MrCat]

We have a link directory as well but I won't worry that much. Matt Cutts mentioned in his blog several guidelines on which directory to submit to. As mentioned here :

"Q: Hey, as long as we’re talking about directories, can you talk about the role of directories, some of whom charge for a reviewer to evaluate them?
A: I’ll try to give a few rules of thumb to think about when looking at a directory. When considering submitting to a directory, I’d ask questions like:
- Does the directory reject urls? If every url passes a review, the directory gets closer to just a list of links or a free-for-all link site.
- What is the quality of urls in the directory? Suppose a site rejects 25% of submissions, but the urls that are accepted/listed are still quite low-quality or spammy. That doesn’t speak well to the quality of the directory.
- If there is a fee, what’s the purpose of the fee? For a high-quality directory, the fee is primarily for the time/effort for someone to do a genuine evaluation of a url or site."

"..there’s absolutely no problem with selling links for traffic (as opposed to PageRank). At http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/hidden-links/ I mention a couple ways to sell links that Google would have no problem with..." (quoted from http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/ )

If submitting to paid directories were a real waste of time and money, he would have just readily mentioned it. It is always quality that matters

[Birdie]

Where is the quality here:
http://submit.mixcat.com/healthnfitness/
Of what use to the web surfer is that category?
Why would Google (or any other search engine) want to give any weight to the link from your directory? It does not even list the key health and medical sites (eg NIH etc).

A bidding directory is nothing more than a 'get rich quick' scam for the owner and does nothing to enhance the www for the surfer.

If you really want to build a directory, why accept submissions, yet alone bidding for them - why not just use Google to find the key sites to add in each category. If you are not doing that then the only reason you are doing what you are doing is to make a fast buck.

[la cala]

So are we saying that we should still buy paid links to improve a higher rank but be more choosey with the ones we list our sites on?

[Birdie]

If you are buying links to do nothing more than increase the rank of your site, then assume search egines will eventually (if they are not already) to devalue the effect of that link.

[MrCat]

Originally Posted by Birdie

Where is the quality here:
http://submit.mixcat.com/healthnfitness/
Of what use to the web surfer is that category?
Why would Google (or any other search engine) want to give any weight to the link from your directory? It does not even list the key health and medical sites (eg NIH etc).

A bidding directory is nothing more than a 'get rich quick' scam for the owner and does nothing to enhance the www for the surfer.

If you really want to build a directory, why accept submissions, yet alone bidding for them - why not just use Google to find the key sites to add in each category. If you are not doing that then the only reason you are doing what you are doing is to make a fast buck.

So what are you trying to point out? The sites are listed aptly in that category. We only list the ones that want to be listed. And they decide where they want to be listed - thus the term "bidding directory".

We review each submission so as to make sure that thay are submitted in the right category and also check on the site to see whether they are relevant to such category. We do reject some sites that does not fit in the proper category or those that are porn related, immoral sites, hate sites, etc.

What we provide is quality listings to those who want to be listed. We average 100,000++ unique visitors monthly on our directory alone - this is what we also offer to the sites that opts to be listed. Take notice that we have listings of sites with high PR's (as high as PR6). Now why would they have their site listed in a "get rich quick" scam as you are claiming our directory to be?

Now this is the one that really cracks me up, lols :
If you really want to build a directory, why accept submissions, yet alone bidding for them - why not just use Google to find the key sites to add in each category. If you are not doing that then the only reason you are doing what you are doing is to make a fast buck.

Why accept submissions? why not just use Google to find the key sites to add in each category? LOLS! Then why don't you try to build a directory yourself and see how long you can maintain it.

[Birdie]

You can try and rationalize it anyway you like....bidding directories are a scam attempt at a get rich quick scam. Off course Google will be bending over backwards to devalue links from them.

[digiweb]

No, not a scam. Like all legitimate businesses, true, some link directories are scams. The concept of a link directory is not a scam. It is, however, a bad risk. If the paid directory does NOT use nofollow then the buyer will be penalized.

[Birdie]

The sole purpose of a bidding directory is to get more money off those sites who want a link to get better ranking in search engines. That is exactly the sort of directory Google has said they are targeting. In my books, that makes the bidding directory owners as scammers. They are just trying to get money of the unsuspecting.

[sums123]

Google do not punish paid directory Links.

Before submitting it to any paid directory make sure that it has a high PR and contain quality of websites.

[digiweb]

Originally Posted by sums123

Google do not punish paid directory Links.

Before submitting it to any paid directory make sure that it has a high PR and contain quality of websites.

You might want to Google "Matt Cutts" and "paid links."

[Birdie]

Originally Posted by sums123

Google do not punish paid directory Links.

Before submitting it to any paid directory make sure that it has a high PR and contain quality of websites.

So why have many of them had their PR reduced to 0?

[Natural Elements]

Originally Posted by Birdie

So why have many of them had their PR reduced to 0?

I have a question for you, what is the most important PR or SERPS?

For me it is SERPS, to help my site ranking, now PR doesn't mean anything to me. I 've had nice articles for more than 2 years that started out at PR 4, the same articles are PR2 now, so if there is fluctuation in PR for the same article, I don't take PR seriously and I tend to think PR is a joke that Google needs to remove.

The important thing is that my articles are in the top page on the main search engines as high as possible.

The same theory applies to all my site.

So my point is whatever low PR directories are, it doesn't matter if they can pass the SERPS.

[talis]

Before submitting it to any paid directory make sure that it has a high PR and contain quality of websites.

Good Point

So my point is whatever low PR directories are, it doesn't matter if they can pass the SERPS.

So true. That's why you should submit but don't pay for the crappy ones. Who knows, a customer might actually find you there.

[Natural Elements]

Originally Posted by talis

Good Point
So true. That's why you should submit but don't pay for the crappy ones. Who knows, a customer might actually find you there.

So if I understood correctly, low PR directories are the crappy ones.

You should tell that to all directories owner hit recently by Google.

[talis]

I didn't say that right. Sorry. Not low PR but low quality that you see all the time and you know which ones I am talking about. I submit to low PR all the time if they have quality to them. Paying for any of them except for a select few seems to be an issue nowadays. Agreed on that PR tool bar and it really doesn't make that huge of a difference. How many sites rank high with a low PR? Tons of them because they have good content and are relevant.

[Natural Elements]

I agree with you.

[MrCat]

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

So my point is whatever low PR directories are, it doesn't matter if they can pass the SERPS.

Good point!

Don't be obsessed with getting PR from submission to directories but rather on some other benefits it could help you with - that being a boost in SERP's and targeted traffic.

[Jason890gbn]

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

So my point is whatever low PR directories are, it doesn't matter if they can pass the SERPS.

I also fully agree on this.

I'm myself looking also more at my Alexa rank,
than for my Google PR. The most important thing for me, is the quantity of visitors.

Anyway, we will see what comes with the next Google PR update.

Jason

[mangome]

Most of directories lost of their values.