Not sure about reputable direcotries like Yahoo

[VinceWicks]

Hey guys,

Here's the deal.

I know that Google is fighting private blog netowrks and directories. That said, does it also mean that it does not make any sense to buy listings on directories like dir.yahoo.com ?

Thanks in advance.

[FedeEinhorn]

Hi,

Yahoo directory is a paid link service, although "curated", still paid. I am sure you are not going to be penalized from a link there, however, don't expect any benefit from them other than the organic traffic they may generate. But, who uses directories nowadays?

[WhiteboardCreations]

Vince,

I agree with Federico on this one. Yahoo is a paid link directory, so they may provide some traffic and help your site out in their search engine, however, directories are and have been for a while a problem in ranking sites. Because many of them are designed and built poorly it ruins any value the good, reputable ones may offer, unfortunately. We could start a new directory site tomorrow in WordPress site with a WordPress plugin and scraping other directories for content to pump in. It's just too easy and there's no value.

Here's another thread from Mar 2011 (2 years ago) which may help you decide
http://moz.com/community/q/yahoo-directory-listing-still-relevant

Hope I was helpful! - Patrick

[KeriMorgret]

One of the things that makes Yahoo different is that they do not accept every single link that is submitted -- there is human review, which does help in Google's eyes.

[MarieHaynes]

There was a Google plus post a while back from someone who was given a dmoz.org link as an example of a bad link from Google after a failed reconsideration request.  It stirred up quite a bit of controversy because dmoz.org, just like Yahoo directory is human edited and generally considered to be of good quality.  John Mueller (Google employee) admitted that this was likely given as an example link by mistake.

I believe that it is possible for a link from dmoz and yahoo to be considered unnatural if somehow you managed to get a link published that had your keyword as anchor text.  It doesn't happen often, but I have seen dmoz editors who can be bribed.  If that were to happen then you would likely need to remove/disavow not only your dmoz or yahoo directory listing but also all of the scraper sites that copy these.

Personally, I think that dmoz and yahoo directory are almost always valid in the eyes of Google.

[VinceWicks]

Thanks for all your assistance, guys. I totally get it now

[VinceWicks]

I have a follow-up question, guys. Still trying to figure out which directories to use and which not to.

So, is it safe to say that it's still ok to place (or keep) links on directories with the following features in place:

1. human editied

2. paid

3. no keyword as anchor text.

Please tell me what you think about it based on your real-life experience. Thanks.

[Cyrus-Shepard]

To be honest, the only way I judge directories today is by how much referral traffic they might bring. In the past 2 years we've seen Google get tighter and tighter on link directories, and if you're going after a link purely for the "juice" than I would consider that highly suspect in Google's eyes.

On the other hand, standards are different for local and niche specific directories, as they might more endorsement and local citations are considered the #1 local ranking factor.

At the end of the day I doubt very much a link from the Yahoo directory will hurt, but I would also be equally surprised if it helped much.