Signing up for Directories

Is there any risk in signing up

[ffctas]

From reading many of the posts it seems as if links to my site,especially from directories, have a large bearing on its ranking.
In my business there are many directories offering free links for my URL. I am not sure how they make money (maybe from paid preferred inclusion or advertising). Does Google recognize these sites as legitimate links. Should I add my site and is there any risk in doing so.
thanks
tom

[MHes]

Hi

No risk from other sites linking to you, only risk is who you link to.

Many directories do not have 'direct' links to your site, but go through a cgibin or something like that. These will not carry pr across. So make sure when you hover your mouse over a link it is a 'hard' link to your site.

Many of these directories ask for a link back. 99.9% of the time this is fine and no risk. I suspect if a directory looks professional and is listed in Google it is fine to link to it, and the benefits from traffic and pr is worth it.

P.S. I have a vested interest here, we do a couple of niche directories that give hard links for free and I know that people do very well from our pr (6) and good traffic!

[rogerd]

Paid inclusion, preferred placement, and paid ads are all ways some directories make money. Some work mostly for links, i.e., they request reciprocal links, though not always as an absolute condition for listing.