I heard from several places that if you pay for links that google will penalize you. My question is if I wanted to be added to a internet directory and have to pay for it - will that be bad with google?
I think that some SEO companies do this. They charge you 1000 a month, spend 200 on directory listings and pocket the other 800...or am I being overcynical?
There are a lot of ways to get free one way links search about " list of free web directories " on google then see the result.
I know that you can register yourself to those free (and paid ) ones. But the question is, if google will "blacklist" you if you get kind of paid links. Is linking yourself to those internet directories also considered a no no?
why would google give pr to sites which it doesn't want you to use...BOTW is PR6 for example? This has always been my way of thinking but then again, who knows what goes on in Google's "brain"?
this question has been asked many times and Matt Cutts also addressed this question on one YouTube video. yes it is true that google penalized sites for paid links but not all the paid directory links are penalized. for example, Yahoo directory is paid and google counts Yahoo directory links as a good inbound links. it just depends on where you get the paid links form. if the paid directories accept just about any sites submitted, then yes its a paid link. but if the paid directory has strict moderation and only accepts sites that are of good standards, then google dont count them as paid links. how google come to a conclusion as to which one accepts all and which one has high editorial guideline is the question
This is how I understand it: if you pay for links to the extent where you bring too much attention to yourself and you get caught, Google may penalise you (probably by devaluing the links to your site). People pay for links all the time. Google knows this. Provided you stay under the radar you should be fine. Paying for links from directories is fine if you stick to the good quality ones.
It all depends on the directory you're considering submitting your site to. Here is an article with a list of some of the top quality directories that can only boost your site's credibility. Good luck!