I am tempted to purchase a listing on an industry specific website directory with high domain authority. Will that be frowned upon as buying links?

[SearchParty]

I am tempted to purchase a listing on an industry specific website directory (http://marketingresourcedirectory.ama.org/) with high domain authority.  Will that be frowned upon as buying links?

[Ron_McCabe]

If this link is relevant to what you do and is useful to your target customer base do it.  A baseline rule I have is that anything that helps users get the information they need or makes their internet experience better it is worth doing.  I can't see how this would hurt as it looks like a credible link.

On a side note pay attention to the description you put in.  If it makes sense include references to your area or the areas that you like to provide services.  This will help this listing show up where you want it to:).

[SamuelScott]

Whenever I ask myself if I want to pursue a such a specific link actively (paid or unpaid), I ask myself three questions:

1. Would I want this link if Google did not exist? (i.e., would the link send me valuable referred traffic anyway?)

2. Is this link curated by a human who is an expert in the field and who does not accept each and every submission?

3. If this link is being paid for, does it not pass PageRank (i.e., is it a no-follow link that adheres to Google's guidelines as such)?

If the answer is "yes" to all three questions, the link is usually safe.

Now, your situation is interesting. The American Marketing Association is a recognized, authoritative resource. But if they are accepting paid listings, then I see in the source code that they are not no-following the links -- which directly goes against Google's guidelines. So, I would play it safe and not buy a listing there. Plus, the fact that they put the paid directory on a subdomain makes me uneasy -- it seems like they did that as a safeguard so that if Google would ever penalize the subdomain, it would not affect the site as a whole. I'd also think that they'd know to no-follow paid links.

Instead, I'd see if you can somehow "earn" a link from that site at the root-domain level instead via content and PR and such.

[JaneCopland]

Samuel's three questions are really good and are exactly what you should be thinking about. I am not so sure that you're directly asking for trouble by getting this link in "followed" format, although a Google rep would say that those links should be nofollowed.

Definitely only do this if you believe you should be getting this link regardless of whether it passes authority. I say this due to it being a link on a directory - they're notoriously iffy for SEO, but obviously there are directories where you SHOULD be listed for marketing's sake. Because this is visibly paid and followed, beware of any alternate intent Google might assign to listed businesses.