>>> Matt Cutts Talked on Directory and Paid Links <<<

I am not sure if I should believe what he said ...With all the crap that shows up in Google search

 

How is that a scam? You got the service you paid for, which is a site review. It may or may not get listed. If not listed, you still got the service you paid for. You agree to them not refunding the money if not listed when you submit. How can it be a scam if you agree to it? The site must really be crap if BOTW reject it!

 

The most important thing is not quality or relevance - its spam in the directory. Spam and directory becoming a link farm is the biggest problems faced directory owners!

i still think a small fee for reviews, would keep the spam out of question.

 

seems to be very intresting ..huh?

 

It's not "technically" a scam but it is wrong. They are clearly providing more services than a site review. If that's the only service they are providing nobody would submit a site.

Plus if you claim a site review costs $99.95 why is none of the $299.95 submission fee for a permanent listing refundable? If they are interested in being fair they should refund $200 back ($299.95 - the $99.95 site review fee).

It's pretty clear they are in a position of power and are taking advantage of it. Only way to change things is for everybody to quit sending them money.

 

thanks man,
for such a nice video...

 

botw charges the review fee but not listing fee,
so at this concept you would not get any refund even the submission is rejected.
anyway it's not reasonable.

 

What Matt Cutts said is common sense from the perspective of a search engine like Google. Is there editorial discretion exercised, not only in determining which sites are accepted or rejected, but also in the description and the link text.

Think of it in terms of the user. If the directory is a useful tool for a user, perhaps because of its organization, completeness, and elimination of low quality or spammy sites, then Google will consider that directory to carry some weight.

There are many professional directories that fall into that category. There are several legal directories that have been published in print editions for nearly 100 years. While they charge for expanding listings (read: links), they clearly provide a value-added aspect that most link directories do not do.

 

Lets be honest though, who nowadays uses directories to find sites? Their almost sole purpose is to make money by selling links and calling them 'reviews'. I could review a site for quality in about 1 minute. For $299 I would like a full detailed report about my site, written by a team of various web specialists, that takes several man hours of work. I bet the 'review' is closer to the former.

 

niche directories especially are a great resource and make it easy to find usually hard to find sites in one place
these directories can also provide related information such as articles, guides etc on the niche

you are paying as much as $299 for yahoo because it is such a large company/brand
if this is value for money depends on how competitive your niche is.
you will find that if you are in a competitive niche you will take any opportunity to get good quality backlinks (and if your competitors are already listed there it makes sense to be there also)