with all the general directories out there i have to wonder which ones are worth paying to get into. when looking for factors to determine what general directories warrant an entrance fee, i've been looking at

1. search engine readability -- i.e. direct link, no cgi redirect
2. allows customizable anchor text in link?
3. pagerank of directory

does anyone have anything to add/subtract to that list?

i've also seen a decent number of general directories that meet points 1 and 2 but have a page rank of zero and are charging $10+ to get in. doesn't seem worth it to me -- especially when there are many directories that can do the same without charging. can anyone explain why it would be worth it in such a case?

Something rather important you left out was the pages being cached by the major search engines. A submission is virtually worthless if the page submitted to is not cached. The PR really is not that important. I see lots of PR 0 pages that come up in the top three results in Google for keyword phrases.

with all the general directories out there i have to wonder which ones are worth paying to get into.
I dont think most of them are worth their fees if you look at them on an individual basis. I look at them more as getting links from a bunch of unique IP addresses.

when looking for factors to determine what general directories warrant an entrance fee, i've been looking at

1. search engine readability -- i.e. direct link, no cgi redirect
2. allows customizable anchor text in link?
3. pagerank of directory

does anyone have anything to add/subtract to that list?
whether or not the inner pages are indexed.
I also pay for links that do not allow customizable anchor text because they help keep the overall keyword density at a more natural looking level while allowing you to crank out good links at other locations. I don't usually worry a ton about pagerank so long as the links are being indexed.

a few more factors to consider are:
- does the site have shady sitewide pharmacy ads, etc.
- how shady are the sites in the directory
- does this directory look like its going to still be around in a few years
- am I promoting a site that is hard to get links into...how much is this link worth to my particular site / business model.

i've also seen a decent number of general directories that meet points 1 and 2 but have a page rank of zero and are charging $10+ to get in. doesn't seem worth it to me -- especially when there are many directories that can do the same without charging. can anyone explain why it would be worth it in such a case?
some of the newer directories have good pagerank but Google has not yet updated it.
-UncoverTheNet will probably come out at a PR8 next time the toolbar updates.
-WebAtlas will probably be a strong 6 or low 7.

as far as the issue of paying for low powered links...I think you should use all the free ones you can get and then still do more of the other ones...depending upon how competitive your market is.

There's a slew of new directories springing up now - everyone and their third cousin is making directories to sell links. It's often also a good way to build up the PR and get their own network of sites in without being obvious.

Depends on how much marketing money there is and what the purpose is. Some sites are very hard to get links for, so it's an opportunity for them, even though the actual value is debatable. Just because it's being called a directory doesn't mean all that much; they're not all created equal.

they're not all created equal
Sure they are! (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum17/1032.htm)

Joke aside, I agree with you Marcia. There are many traffic traps out there, directories, forums, made for adsense, etc, you name it. But who is to judge, after all everyone has the right to have a dream...

Generally I judge on four factors -

# of pages cached by Google
PR of home pages and category pages - it can be low, it just needs to be passing
linkdomain: command for url at Yahoo! - lots of links is good
Req's - $5-$15 is reasonable, anything over is too much unless they are a big player, I also won't do recips but love triangular directories

I've got a list of about 200 or so with this type of info at http://www.socengine.com/seo/guide/seo-list-of-directories.php

Last, seobook makes a great point about your fellow sites in the directory - are they all shady casinos and make $$ at home sites - I shy away from these...

There's a slew of new directories springing up now - everyone and their third cousin is making directories to sell links.
Some of us actually intend to offer something useful with our directories. :)

And those who do are the ones who will still have them running 2 years from now, when the ones built for text links have died.

But - as Aaron pointed, the quality of the directory is very important. Some are completely over-priced eg, dataspear, and others, such as Yeandi, are doing remarkably well for free submissions only.

In general, I agree with most posters. My list would also be:

1. # of pages cached by Search Engines - all the MAJOR ones
2. PR of home pages and category pages - it can be low, it just needs to be passing
3. Links TO the site, as seen in several search engines

A useful resource to check all this is http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php where you can click on each header to sort by that criterion - which is very handy.

Cheers!

>1. search engine readability -- i.e. direct link, no cgi redirect
A common misconception, misunderstood by many. Any SE worth it's salt, and many not, is capable of following redirects and crediting such backlinks.

>2. allows customizable anchor text in link?
Desirable, but not always achievable, take what you can get if the traffic would be worthwhile.

>3. pagerank of directory
Only if you are trying to influence Google. Directories are primarily about traffic.

Onya
Woz