Can't seem to get an answer on this one, when a webmaster pays for a sponsored / featured (call it what you will) directory submission - is this classed as a paid link?? I am well aware of yahoo calling their little $299 fee a review fee but come on - surely this is as paid as they come. Its not really the yahoo one i am asking about its all the other 'top directories' Can someone get 'Google-smacked' for them?
I just switched my directory to paid. The links will be carefully inspected before approval and that takes time. I do not mind if people consider it a paid link or not. I don't. It's just a little compensation for my effort. Sure i wont be rich with a directory. I was just drowning in an ocean of spam and was taking 3 hours to get rid of the BS everyday. All thet time was taken from other activities, such as promoting the directory, SEO, and keeping the approval time in a reasonable way. I can now approve links within 12 hours. With the fee, I've got a result: 90% of crap is gone. On a second time, I can invest the money in promotion. What's the purpose of a free directory like Dmoz, if they don't approve links in a year? I submitte my sites on several free dirs. So far I got approved on about 20% of them in 6 month. What a waste of time. If you search this forums you will find that you wont get smacked by google for buying a featured/paid listing. Google may penalize the seller by dropping their PR. Do pagerank still means something? Only google knows, and I cant care less.