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With a 301 all those links will follow over to the new site.

Start over on a new domain with the same content.

It's easier to get GOOD links updated to point to your new domain, than it is to get BAD ones removed.

Go to do your Webmaster Tools and do a "Fetch as Google" on the page.  Also check for any errors while you're there.

Is it possible that you had a noindex tag on the page at least temporarily in the past?

Ok.

1.  It's a little bit of both gut feeling and more evidence.  Sometimes you can look at a site and just know that it's not a place you want to be.  Just like you can look at a dark alley and know that's not where you should be at 1am in the night.

You gather the "evidence" by answering those questions I provided.

2.  I am sure (almost positive) that a single link from yahoo dir will be better than dozens from the types of directories you're describing.   There's a reason it costs $299.  If you truly do have a quality site, then you shouldn't be quite worried about inclusion.  They are strict, but not that strict.

My thoughts are you should avoid these types of directories (especially the ones that let you in only after you link to them).

Stick with the few general ones that are worth it: Yahoo, DMOZ, Business.com and maybe BOTW.

For the niche related ones you're looking at, have a set of criteria for them to meet in order for you to consider paying them for a link.  I go by:

• Does the directory rank for its homepage keywords and related keywords?
• What's the quality of sites already in the directory ?  Do they rank ?
• Does the directory list sites which you would expect to be listed?  For example, if the directory has a "Social Media Blogs" category, you would expect "Mashable" to be listed even though the owners of mashable may not have submitted their site to it.  In order words, Does the directory add sites on its own or do they just wait on submissions?
• If there is a fee, do they make it clear that the fee is for a review and that a listing is not guaranteed?
• What types of incoming links does the directory itself have?  If they are all spammy, you should avoid it.
• There's a few others, but i forget.

Blocking it in robots.txt will work to hide it from search engines.

If you want to hide it from users or people to who type in the url, you can simply drop a blank "index.html" in the /pdf folder.

As I understand it, the link equity is still spent evenly to all 10 links even if 9 of them are nofollow.

The 1 dofollow will receive its share, while the 9 nofollow will be sent it, but they won't receive the credit.

No reason not to.  It's still a legitimate way of getting links to your site.  I'd only be careful of the anchor text you suggest in your embed.  You don't want to make it too obvious or  spammy.

Don't worry about it too much.  When you guest post on the popular sites (not article directories), they are often scrapped by dozens of other sites along with your URL.

I'd only be concerned if a large percentage of your backlink profile is made up of links like that.

From following all the talk, I'm pretty sure they are working on points 2, 3 & 4.

While all that is good, I personally feel they should concentrate on updating more often first, then move towards giving those extra features.  The two month stretch between updates has been a real pain in the ass.  But I'm sure they know that.

When something is +1'd, it usualy gets listed on the users public profile page - which is indexable.  Buying 50 1+'s in effect created 50 backlinks ..albeit from the same domain.

Why isn't a 301 possible?  If the host doesn't have ISAPI_Rewrite, then a custom 404 that contains a 301 will work.

There would be a big impact on rankings otherwise.

Those are mini-site links.

No one will be able to tell you when you'll get the big ones.  But from the looks of it, it'll very soon for you.  I'm seeing you at positions 1 - 4 for that keyword.  I would try to acquire more links and social mentions for each those four URLs.

Edit: Very nice site btw.  Sending to my nieces

Try Ahrefs.com as well.

Very nice site.  Congrats.

Only problem is noticed with the categories is that there are duplicate titles on the numbered pages.