Paid directory links

[WallerD]

Just going through my competitors back links, and discovered a couple of directories who charge a small fee for a listing (£20) (one way link) or a free listing (with a reciprocal link) they both have PR of 50 so I was wondering are these type of links still worth it?

Best wishes.

David.

[GPainter]

Couple of things, firstly NO! don't do it, seconds PR is not updates so ignore that metric (it also only goes to 10). Unless the directory is going to be used by real people looking for your site don't bother it will just end up getting you some form of penalty.

[WallerD]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the response. I should have said it is a DA by MOZ from open site explorer. What about reciprocal links from other photographers? I am a member of an american site Photographers seo and there are other photographers who are happy to swap links. Are they worth the time?

[GPainter]

Hi David,

It violates the Google guidelines - https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en whilst it may be fine or one or two links that you really feel benefit people seeing on each site e..g. a printing site that compliments your photography etc. for the most part it will lead you to a penalty.

Hope that helps.

[WallerD]

Thanks Chris!

[ALYR_SEO]

How do you tell if specific directory listing will do the harm to my site or not. How G knows if a listing created to bring traffic or for SEO purposes only.I have the same dilemma. I found good directory with very high MozRank and I assume it get's good amount of traffic. How should I know if by adding my site to that directory will get me penalized of will get me extra traffic?

Thanks in advance

Alex

[GPainter]

Hi Alex,

Take the Moz rank (in fact any rank) factor away, would you still list there? if you answer no you can probably cope without it, if you answer yes go for it.

E.g. if i could even get a no-follow link on bbc.co.uk I'd jump head over heals which for me is much better than a follow link on a lower quality site. Not the best example but hope it somewhat gets the point across.

The other thing is I don't want to scare you off directories look at it as a percentage of your site if only a couple percent of your site (as a whole from links) is made up of directories i wouldn't worry but if 50% of your total site links are from directories you are in trouble. Not all directories are bad e.g. Dmoz, yahoo etc. can be good but its a matter of using some judgment.

Hope that helps you a bit better.

[ALYR_SEO]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the response, I agree with your point about overdoing something and I'm talking about cheesy , low quality directories, but what about decent directories  but not from Dmoz rank, where is the red line and what criterias would you use to evaluate directory?

Thanks

Alex

[GPainter]

Hi Alex,

Most of the time it's up to each SEOer on what they think and down to some judgment. I stay away from cheesy directories. I do sometimes submit to niche directories that I think people may be using to look for very niche sites etc. You can also consider the big boys like yahoo etc. but I never think you get a return on the cost to submit (I've also a feeling the yahoo directory is closing soon!)

Sorry I can't say this is good this is bad its just a call you've got to way up.  is it worth the risk for the return?