Free vs. Paid Web Directories

Hi,

So far, I get the feeling that submitting sites to free-listing directories does more damage than good (not including DMOZ - waiting for their approval).

Anybody agree ?
What about the paid/sponsored directories ? Are they worth the $$ spend ?

Tnx.

 

if paid are high page rank & category u are submitting is having pr 2+ then i think it is worth to pay for

 

I use free directories only to get a few links behind new sites I launch, then its up to the site + link exchanges etc to get more "good" links.

I don't really see the point in paying for links on link directories, if you pay $50 for a link...will you actually see a return on that? Sure you may get a small slice of PR off that page, but probably no traffic

 

First check the PR of the link where u will be listed in paid/sponsored directories.
If is 1,2 dont waste your money. Spend your money up to PR3. PR5.... a dream !

 

if you spend money on directory, your need get pr3+ page , otherwise no deffrent with free directory

 

free links WONT hurt your ranking the slightest.

They can do only good.

Do not fear the submission reaper!!!!

 

both of them (free and paid directories) will help you to get better page rank and serp but i think paid will help you more

 

unless the paid one is a low in pagerank as the free one in which case its wroth going the free one.

 

I think its better to mix the submission to free and paid directories.

 

I would suggest getting mostly free links because they are free and most paid directories aren't worth it. BOTW(Best of The Web) is probably the only paid directory that is worth it. A deep page for my topic is PR6 and only has about 10-15 links on it.

 

What is this I hear about google not favoring sites that pay for directory submissions. Can anyone clear this up?

 

All the people saying it needs PR2+, PR3+ etc, need to do some more reading on this forum, you still do not understand the basic elements of SEO.

PR means nothing unless you are selling links to ignorant people who care about PR. I have PR0/1 websites which outrank 9 year old PR6 websites. Number of OBL(s), Relevance, Anchor Text, Title containing your anchor text keyword, all effect SERP(s) a lot more than some number assigned to them.

For example, if you had a choice between a PR4 Link in the shopping category, or a PR0 Link in the Hunting Category, and you sold say Hunting Rifles, you would be a fool for picking the shopping category. Hunting being in your anchor text, and in the page title, gives a huge boost to that link juice. You don't need links on high PR sites for them to pass a lot of power to your website.

I'm getting way off track, It just surprised me so many people still don't understand these simple concepts and I start rambling.

 

I guess that is good if you are selling links. Which one ranks better in the SERP(s)? I don't sell links, so PR is about as useful to me as visitors who don't buy anything. My potential customers don't come to my site and say "Man... This guy has PR1, I am not buying from him... lets go to a PR5 site instead and give them our money"

 

Submitting to free directories will not hurt you at all, submit away

 

paid directories are worth more if u get listings in top categories

 

I disagree, I would take PR0 Relevant links over irrelevant PR10 links.

And the proof is in my pudding, I have a 5 month old PR2 website which out-rank manufacturer's PR7 9 year old website. There is a lot more to SEO'ing besides getting links from pages with high PR.

 

Hmm, do you have a source to back that up? Because as far as I can tell, all of this SERP talk is just speculation...

 

My source is 4 years of personal experience in this business.