Matt Cutt's comments on directories, can somebody plz clarify

Hi All.

I was reading Matt Cutts blog post on directories.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/page/2/

He talks about what a high quality directory is, and distinguishes it from a free for all links site.

Now does this mean that we should get rid of free directories? Or do free directories serve any purpose.

On linkspub, we have a free listing section and get spammed everyday with unwanted listings which we have to delete.

Anybody want to comment on what the future looks like for free directories?




thx

 

I do not see it so much as Matt differentiating between free and paid so much as differentiating between directories with editorial integrity and directories without editorial integrity.

 

its all about link popularity

 

http://blog.v7n.com/2007/05/13/matt-cutts-updates-paid-links-post-how-to-evaluate-directories/

 

Exactly, you spelled out my thoughts.

Now, to maintain editorial standards takes time, big time.


And I was just thinking that its gonna be real hard for those free directories, (including the free section on ours) to be able to provide that service without a fee.

Were not really getting rid of our free section, but throwing in an extra module real soon making our already tedious free submission process even longer.


But I'm just trying to see what it looks for free directories.


take care

 

Matt says that he like directories? its paid links, he cannot like them

 

that's spelt

h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y

directories can take money and review sites...but not other sites

 

People should understand that when you submit to a paid directory you are not buying the link and maybe a better position in that directory. Ofcourse this is available when those directories still have a "free" option. For those who are 100% paid, i have no explanation besides they might try to get rid of all the spam submits.

 

That's often exactly what is being bought. Getting a better position for the link is what the whole concept of a featured link is all about. These are undoubtably paid links, whether or not you are in theory paying for a review.

The question is, will Google seek to devalue these paid directory links? Given what Matt Cutts has said about the value of selective directories, I would say they're not Google's prime target. Whether or not the directory sector gets caught in the crossfire remains to be seen. Google tend to prefer to do things by algorithm rather than manually. So in future one of the questions for directory owners selling links is going to be, does the directory look like a paid link farm to the Googlebot?

 

I'm still somewhat skeptical of the bidding model.
While there is even a modded phpLD that allows for the bidding, I question if this might be something google will not like, because you are not really paying for a review, you are paying for position. If you were paying only for review, then the price would be consistent. This is not the case when bidding.

 

Well actually, Yahoo Directory, and alot of the other major directories allow a better position for a listing if you pay more.

Google directory lists sites by their respective Page Rank.

So the practice is pretty much legit.

And Matt Cutts emphasizes mainly on the quality, not position of urls which a directory lists and how the fee is mainly or logically.

But what I'm wondering if this will put an end to the so called FREE directories or directories, which don't really look at WHAT they are listing regardless of position.

 

Yes, directories that just accept anything may lose rankings or authority.

I think the main thing to watch out for is how the directories increased their pagerank. If you research back about discussions or a directory called BlueFind, it was once a pagerank 8. They later got banned, and now just have a low pagerank. It seems the main reason is they were buying links on internet.com and then turning around and selling the pagerank they acquired.

All I can say is be very careful where you are buying your links. I don't want to see people spending thousands of dollars on links and then find their site is banned or the site they spent a lot of money on links was banned.

This is not something limited to link bidding directories. People want to get the pagerank of their directory up higher so they can sell links for a higher price. It makes sense to want to do this, but I advise you be very careful. This is what BlueFind did, and you see what happened to them.

Be very careful!!!

 

Main reason was that it got PR8.

 

And no offense intended to you, John. At the same time, this was a very explosive issue previously, and there is reason to believe this could be repeated. Do you have any advice for people about avoiding a repeat?

 

Yes, avoid PR8. When you get to PR8, people start saying "pagerank" way too often, and you become a juicy target for Google to kick around.

 

dVDuval - I agree 100%.

John-Scott - So what about PR8. If a site grows links organically by providing value to its viewers than PR8 should be something a site looks forward to and embraces; not something it should fear.

Unfortunately I think most DIR's fear PR8 for the reasons mentioned above and its a shame.

 

PR8 scares the crap outta me, organic or paid.

 

Bidding is the placing of a bid on an item or service offered at auction and is considered a binding contractual agreement to purchase. If a buyer is not prepared to conclude a transaction, then no bid should be placed by that individual. How many people would 'bid' for a review? imo, only people who know the bid is for more than a review, when you bid say $400 you wouldn't pay that amount on the 'faint hope' your site got reviewed would you?

I'd be amazed if Google hasn't cottoned on to this and will surely come down hard on this sooner if not later, same with sussing out whe sells links for the sake of it, wise words John.

phpLynx powered directory on it's way.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head!

 

Are there any other examples of directories that had a high pagerank and then got demoted? It seems like when a directory gets a high pagerank, the chances of it coming under the google microscope are increased. So I guess as a directory owner, you have to ask yourself, what would they find if they looked? And as a submitter, you need to research the directory and see if they seem to be engaged in anything that might cause them to lose their pagerank, thereby reducing the value of your purchase.