I have been looking into improving my site's page rank and there are a lot of companies offering a massive amount of back links from directories for very little money, relative to how long it would take me to do. But I wonder whether directories actually have any value? Should i bother?
From my experience links from directories are of very little value, less than article directories and web 2.0 sites
the worst thing about the directories (and that is even in the eyes of search engines) that they have almost no content, just links, links and links. And to this some companies make up lots of directory websites and what do you need to do actually, just copy paste the code and a directory structure is ready for use. that ways you can get an offer of any rate to get listed as much. prefer quality, they are long term.PlaceOnTop.com
No doubt that directories are really a great way to gain backlinks and PR juice....provided that you know what you are doing.
I conducted an experiment a couple of years ago on a new website about Chicago Graffiti Artists. I limited myself to directory links and on-page SEO only. After about 6 months of non-stop link building, my website barely broke through to the first page. I tried the same marketing campaign in New York, also about graffiti, and this time I focused on blogs, articles, and videos only. As you can imagine, the NY market was a lot competitive, but my marketing efforts yielded much greater results. In fact, time and time again I've discovered that directories have a lot return on your time investment.
This. I've found that many directories are just meant for links and more links without any real relevant content. Esp. after the Panda update you're gonna see a lot of these kind of sites start to lose rankings. I woulnd't bother at all.