Are paid directory listings worth it?

15 years ago

Google doesn't see the high quality ones as 'paid links' even though that is essentially what they are. Matt Cutt's has come out and said that basically the high quality directories do hold some value since they can and do deny your inclusion to the directory based on a human-edited review and guidelines.

Directories that "guarantee" your inclusion generally aren't worth much. Same thing for those that require reciprocal links.

Yahoo, Business.com and BOTW are the three you should consider.

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hotftuna

15 years ago

"Yahoo, Business.com and BOTW are the three you should consider."

And dmoz, romow (no Audi, I do not own or work for romow!)

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FredJones 15 years ago

Agree - people talk a lot about including yourself in Yahoo directory - but this is something that I have never tried although I have climbed to #1 for many keywords. But still, I guess I shall try it once sometime in future with a new site just to test the effect.
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Audi

15 years ago

Originally Posted by hotftuna

"Yahoo, Business.com and BOTW are the three you should consider."

And dmoz, romow (no Audi, I do not own or work for romow!)

Romow is horrible and will negatively affect your rankings. Romow is the worst directory I have ever seen. Romow is a complete waste of time and money. For anyone reading this who is considering romow.com as a directory - do not sign up. Google slaps anyone who is listed in Romow.

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Peter Gregory

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Audi

Romow is horrible and will negatively affect your rankings. Romow is the worst directory I have ever seen. Romow is a complete waste of time and money. For anyone reading this who is considering romow.com as a directory - do not sign up. Google slaps anyone who is listed in Romow.

First off I'll preface by saying that I have never used romow and probably never will as I am a firm believer that there are only a handful of directories (some of which mentioned earlier) worth the time and/or money to submit to, but how can you say it will negatively affect your rankings? So are you saying that we can submit our competitors and watch them fall?

The links from there may not be effective in helping your rankings, but they surely couldn't hurt you as you suggest.

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Dellco

15 years ago

Paid directory listings are still worth it because I see many of my competitors sitting pretty at the top and a quick check on their links shows up many paid and expensive directories in there....I know of one site that is number 1 for a very lucrative and big term, with a rather crappy site I must say, simply because he paid his way to the top - He probably spent thousands.

If Google has devalued directory links, his site should come down as it has only a few pages and sitting on top for years, but no, it's still there, largely because of his directory listings.

Google has devalued many directories, but it hasnt devalued directory links.

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Crew Chief

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Audi

Romow is horrible and will negatively affect your rankings. Romow is the worst directory I have ever seen. Romow is a complete waste of time and money. For anyone reading this who is considering romow.com as a directory - do not sign up. Google slaps anyone who is listed in Romow.

That's prety amazing that you assert Google will slap any site listed with Romow... while at the same time they have a PR 5 on their home page and many of their top tier category pages have high PR.

Now that's the kinda stuff that will make one go: hmmmmmmmm...

SO if we test your theory, that means we can put CNN.com in the Romow directory and CNN.com will get Google slapped?

You did say, "Google slaps anyone who is listed in Romow." Right?

Giles, the Crew Chief

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Peter Gregory

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Crew Chief

That's prety amazing that you assert Google will slap any site listed with Romow... while at the same time they have a PR 5 on their home page and many of their top tier category pages have high PR.

Now that's the kinda stuff that will make one go: hmmmmmmmm...

SO if we test your theory, that means we can put CNN.com in the Romow directory and CNN.com will get Google slapped?

You did say, "Google slaps anyone who is listed in Romow." Right?

Giles, the Crew Chief

Exactly on target. While I know Giles and I have disagreed in the past as to how effective directories are in terms of links, we can definitely agree on the fact that these directories will not negatively affect rankings.

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Raptors

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Audi

Romow is horrible and will negatively affect your rankings. Romow is the worst directory I have ever seen. Romow is a complete waste of time and money. For anyone reading this who is considering romow.com as a directory - do not sign up. Google slaps anyone who is listed in Romow.

Really! This is wonderful, I'm going to submit all my competitors to them right now.

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darthtoon

15 years ago

In my experience paid links aren't worth the cost - might be different if you have a high return product and only need relatively few visitors to make it pay.

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seolbs

15 years ago

Only Yahoo worth it, and only the first year, then don't pay no more, most likely they won;t take your site off

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Jangamania

15 years ago

thanks everyone for your input, very interesting to learn that google dont see some paid directories as paid links.

I've already applied for DMOZ - this is a given. Yahoo though worries me as its so expensive compared to the rest - but then maybe thats why its better. Its still only one link though I guess and yahoo have begun indexing my pages already.

I think lots of competitors registered for these directories when they were free, now they're a barrier to entry...

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frqhuss

15 years ago

I think yahoo is best to get good results on our hard earned money you should try it....

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SledgeHammer 15 years ago

Nowadays directories have lost it's sheen. It's not necessary to get listed to rank higher.
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- jusin 15 years ago
  
  Paid directory listings are not that worth but, listing through B2B sites are worth and helpful in even getting good exposure of people and even worth in getting links.
  
  I believe, that once you get listed in directories, you need to maintain it and should prefer the list of directories that are B2B and specific.
  
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pettforest

15 years ago

I am doing directory submissions and there are directory that needs payment, I also ask to myself if I will pay for it, is it right?

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Jangamania

15 years ago

Well thaks for all the input people.

I guess the general consensus is that directory listings are old hat (thats a very bad SEO joke).

But lots of people think that the Yahoo directory is worth the money, and although there's no evidence to say it makes a difference I've noticed loads of SEO tools and website evaluation sites have Yahoo registration as a field - right up there with DMOZ registration - so i guess the industry believes its important.

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Jordan Kovats

15 years ago

Every site I have added to dir.yahoo, it has given those sites a noticeable bump. Whether it be from page 3 to 2, or page 2 to 1...I recommend yahoo directory. Usually an 8 spot jump.

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jhonsean

15 years ago

I think paid links is not recommended to SEO, It is not worth it for me i would rather do it manually to track my progress when it comes to page rankings.

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craigcdz

15 years ago

Well, paid directories have an advantage that site is listed quickly on these directories whereas free take time to get the site listed. I think one should only use paid directories if one has enough extra money that he/she can spend on paid directories otherwise there are huge lists of free web directories available which can also give good results...Depends on how much you can spend and the time you can wait for the results....I usually use the free directories....

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Seleyna

15 years ago

There are many high PR directories out there that are free, consider listing your website to local directories aside from the High PR Branded ones.

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Are paid directory listings worth it?

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