Link Farm or Directory?

How do you tell?

[threecrans]

I've seen several posts in the forum archives about www.selfpromotion.com and, more specifically, a list of directories on this site to submit your site to. This list starts out with the major ones (G, ODP, and others) and things are looking promising. Initially, I find a lot of directories that my site is not listed in, some of which have a pretty decent PR.

As I continue down the list, they begin to get more obscure (the "Magic Woman Petticoat Directory"????) and the "directories" get less and less categorized as I go down, getting to the point where they are basically a list of categories on the home page, click on these and you get a list of links...no subcategories. So, is there any way to tell the difference between a link farm/FFA, and a directory? Is it possible that some of these are link farms that just haven't been caught yet?

[Robert]

IMHO if the search/directory looks like a place you'd try a search, try one for your site name/topic or category and see what the listings look like. If they are full of links with affiliate code, porn links, repeating links for the same page, or it looks like no one weeds the garden, don't bother to submit your site it's a bad neighborhood.

[nym_fan]

I agree with Robert-check out any directory before submitting.

I have used Selfpromotion and it is a good site with a lot of info and direction.

Also note that many directories are simply using the ODP database to build their site so if you can get into ODP, there should not be a need to submit to those directories.

Any of the major search engine info sites like SEW, Searchenginewatch, etc can give you plenty of places to submit to.