Promoting your directory in signature links

There's a history to this for those new to this forum. Last year many directory owners active here (including myself) were blatantly gaming Google by buying and selling PR, many directories were penalised and it seemed highly likely that this forum was being monitored and selected directories were made an example of.

Some directory owners now don't promote their site in their sig, some do, and some do and use tinyurl or similar. My feelings are 'once bitten twice shy' and I don't but am open to reconsidering.

So I'd just like to ask others what they do and more importantly the reasons they do that.

 

I’m proud of what I do and how I do it and have nothing to fear from Google.

 

If its already been affected then may aswell leave a directory url in place in a sig, but if its not been a victim yet then obviously do at your own risk.

Even if you dont put it in a sig, it may be penalised some other way, through pm'ing it to someone, or being in a directory list.

Theres other directories in sigs here that have never been affected, so i dont quite "get it" it may be worth noting that with it being a webmaster forum and the sheer amount of hysterical directory threads in place that it may lessen the potential for submissions.

 

Google can kiss my big, hairy white ass. I ran an online business before Page and Brin ever dreamed up Google.

That said, if you're cheating, don't advertise it here. This website is home to many a scumbag, including competitors who will attempt to damage you in multiple ways.

But I agree with Stoner...running a directory is hardly something to be ashamed of. Yahoo was a directory when they started.

Oh, and just so you know, I occasionally do click on a sig link every now and BUY.

 

That's a good answer stoner you have aged and respected directories and should have nothing to fear. However I remember Joeant was penalised, but reinstated when it was taken up by an advocate.

 

I like your spirit man! awesome!!

 

I've never been penalized for any link building tactics I've used
I still put my directories in my sig, might not when you read this post, but it will be back in within a few weeks I'm sure.

 

I promote my directories in the appropriate forum regardless of what google think. I also don't care what's my directory PR and will not bother to contact Google about it. If Google wants to spread some love then it's welcome, but I have not done anything illegal. It would be nice if Google could provide a reason why they have penalized a certain site instead of just going randomly selecting some directories.

I have seen hundreds of directories that have bought links to manipulate pr and ranking, yet they enjoyed Google's approval. I could provide at least 25 "authoritative"directories right now without much thinking that should be penalized without question, but instead Google chooses to look the other way.

If Google wants to treat everybody the same way, the answer is simple:

Penalized all directories SELLING LINKS (or that charges a review fee)

So, if you have paid directory then you're guilty of the crime. You can have many reason, but there is no way to escape or avoid this simple fact.

.
.

 

Truer words have never been spoken!

This forums thrives on envy(not just stupidity and thievery but that's another story ), and when someone has something that others want, but cannot have, they get all pissy and start falsely reporting and go on these antagonistic rages within the forum. It's the reason why any current project that is directory related goes unheard of on my end and will continue to stay that way.

 

For me I am gun shy, I was banned for 3 months for allegedly having a duplicate account of which I never at no stage had. No amount of emails or Pm's to mods was able to fix this error and they did not care.

I had spent 1K on my logo a further $500 on a proper registered design and placed it into my avatar this along with building up as many good reps as posts and genuinely trying to help people while building a honest and reputable profile.

I then get banned slapped across all of my work, and this in some way implied to all and sundry that i had broken some rules and also placed all of my hard work down the toilet.

From that point i really never bother about sharing much here any more nor will run the risk of publicizing anything to do with my work.

Like Stoner above I have nothing to hide but will not be subject again to unfair accusations on my account.

I have asked admin to remove or reverse the infractions placed on y account that were wrongly placed and to date this has not been done, and until this happens i have no faith in a fair and openly run system here.

 

Where did you read that?

I thought it was because of the too many dead links we had. After we cleaned up a lot of those, the PR was set back to 6 (coming from 5!).

However we don't care about PR, the cleaning up was still neccesairy.

Tip for the directory owners who want to have a good PR. Check the links regularly, and remove the bad ones.

Hugo

 

If you wish to advertise your links, then so be it. All this misconceptions about Google this and that are mostly false, there are this paranoia going on and everyone should ease up a little and if one is not sure then do it naturally.

 

I was once and likely still an editor in training but my writing skills suck so spent a lot of time suggesting dead/bad link removal and then had health issues, got busy and... Glad to hear things got cleaned up.

 

Wow I find that hard to believe, can we see it?

 

well i did as i had it redisigned several times until i was happy, and yes they charged like wounded bulls

will pm a link

 

All I can say is wow...the logo is ok but I have seen much better in the contest forums here and sitepoint for $100 or less.

Don't mean to slam you because you seem like a good guy but I am shocked.

Back to the topic at hand...I think it might be risky to adertise your directories in your sigs here but I am advertising one of mine. Gooogle penalties seem to be done with very little consitence, so you never really know what will set them off. I still see directories ranking high with tons of site-wides that are followed, etc...

 

Mike i sent you a pm, regardless in short not intersted in what it costs or pm's etc or a debate on it ( My web guys charge 187 per hour and it took several runs to get right and is now a fully registered and protected so cant be copied ) yes all the stories could have done it would have done it cheaper etc but not the issue here

back on track regardless of $2 0r 2K the principles were being wrongly slammed for not doing anything and still no recouse here hence no lovin or intent to get to deep into things here /rant