Link building using paid web directories

[Ron10]

This post is deleted!

[firstconversion]

You sure this is the only difference?

Otherwsie buy them, and let me know how it went

[Devin_Anderson]

Hi Ron,

Would need a little more info to know exactly why they are outranking you. It is unlikely to be solely because of those paid links (though they could obviously be a factor).

Long-term, paid links are a questionable investment. Like you said, Google can devalue them at any time. You are unlikely to be penalised for being linked to by these paid directories (just make sure you don't link back to them).

It's generally accepted that if you have an otherwise natural and positive link profile, a few paid links won't get you penalised. However, if your backlinks consist of mostly paid directories you can expect to be blacklisted sooner or later.

If you have the cash to spare it might be worth experimenting. But you also need to consider that their site may just be better optimised for those keywords. Take a look at their site layout and copy and compare the authority of your site to the page that's outranking you. It's also quite possible that they have more links than are showing up in OSE if it's been a while since their site was last crawled.

[AnthonyMangia]

Trustworthy paid directories are a small part of a linkbuilding campaign, but I wouldn't necessarily discourage them.  The more trusted ones, such as Yahoo, Business.com, Best of the Web, BBB OnLine, and JoeAnt, aren't bad links to have by any means.  If you have the budget to make it happen, go for it.  If not, don't fret - just keep building great quality links from authoritative domains, and you'll outrank your competitor eventually.

Also, definitely heed the advice of the other posters and make sure that your on-site SEO is up to par.  That can certainly be what's holding you back.

[Ron10]

Thanks everyone for your info.  Most of you seemed concerned about my onsite SEO and i had a professional SEO guy build my entire site from scratch using only html and no flash, etc.  The page is hand built and optimized for the key phrases far better than the competitor's page that is outranking me.  Here is my theory:  Google always gives you a boost about a month or so later after you build about 10 or 15 links to your site and then after a few months of no links you start falling again until you get new links. I think this flurry of new links has temporarily boosted my competitor and they will start falling again unless they start building new links.  I think Joe Ant and the other directories are well respected enough that Google will count these links but the pages in the directories are low enough page rank that they won't keep my competitor high in the rankings for very long.  Do any of you agree with me or have any opinnions based on your experience with this? I'd love to hear your experiences.  Thanks again for your input!

Ron