Featured Directory Links vs Regular Links, and Google?

[serenoo]

If I pay a directory to appear on top (they usually call it Featured links) could Google ignore my backlink cause "Featured links" are always payment listings?
Wouldn't be better to pay for regular listing? So Google cannot know that you payed to accelerate the listing process?

[tedster]

If the payment you make to a directory is for editorial acceptance - that is if the directory has the right of refusal and won't link to any old junk even though they have been paid - then that link is not considered a "paid link" in Google's terms.

[indusharma]

I suggest you should not pay for regular listing either you have go for free regular listing.

[lucy24]

I'm reading this as two different questions. You have to do something to get onto the directory, and something else to get bumped to the top.

If you have to be editorially approved to get onto the directory at all, but then-- optionally-- pay to be listed at the top, does the second part count against you?

[serenoo]

Yes Lucy24 I do not know if the second part count against me, that was my question.
Indusharma I do not want to go for free regular listing, because that requestes go in the queue that could last for one year too. I want to be listed right now.
Many directories have 3 options:
1) free regular listing
2) Regular link $x
3) Featured link $y

While 1) and 2) are the same except for the payment and Google cannot know if I payed or not the number 3 is always a payment. So I scare that google recognize the word featured and ignore the link because Google knows I payed to get it. Featured link is always a payment link for editorial or no editorial purposes.

[Fabt]

i hate to say this as i am against paid links:

if you expect to get qualified traffic from that directory then it won't matter. But according to my experience, by directory you are probably referring to a site that is pretty much made up of links, no original content, and no valuable traffic; so if you're going to PAY for a link, you might as well contact a trusted site/blog to ask for a link or pay for one-this type of link would probably give you a much higher boost in rankings that that link filled directory.

Don't recommend this in long term as the money you spend could be better invested in strategies that would automatically list you on such sites

[dvduval]

Most directories that have an active review process charge money for the review. That doesn't mean that all directories who charge have a good review process. The most common reason a directory would not charge is because they are no well established. There are directories large and small that charge for the review process, and there are still benefits to being listed in a well maintained directory. You just have to do the research or get referrals from people who have found good results.

[Planet13]

I looked at the directories which I think you are contemplating a while back and they generally offer these options:

1) Free listing: You have to wait to be approved, and it could take several moths to be approved.

2) Free Listing With Reciprocal Link: You get a free listing in a shorter period of time (say a week or two instead of waiting several months), but you need to provide a reciprocal link back.

3) Featured Listing: You pay a fee and you get a link right away, and it is generally placed above the other listings (i.e., the Free and Reciprocal link listings).

My opinion: Don't bother submitting to these directories at all. These are general SEO directories, and they are not going to influence your rankings. Worst case, they could hurt them. (See threads on over optimization penalties.)

The people who have these types of directories usually have 50 or 100 or a whole ton of other directories in all sorts of different niches. They spend almost no time curating these directories, and they are filled with links to bad sites (or link to sites that no longer exist).

Most directories that have an active review process charge money for the review.

dvduval is talking about a different type of directory; one that is run professionally. They might have some SEO benefit, but people still debate that as well. Most people agree that being listed in your local chamber of commerce directory is beneficial to SEO, and you have to pay to get in it - so there you have a "paid" link that isn't penalized by google.

Here's the bottom line: If you get a link that your competitor(s) can get just as easily (i.e., paying the same amount of money), how good of a link could it really be?

I think the links that matter are the ones that your competitors CAN'T get.