Angies List and Judy's Book and other sites

[runnerkik]

How much SEO weight do sites like Judy's Book or even Angie's List have.  I do see the links in the linking reports but I am not sure if I should classify them as paid directories for inclusion.  Also a second part of the question is do most of you still recommend the use of paid directories for link building?  Yahoo Directory, BBB and so on?

[GuestBlogPoster.com]

Definitely +1 on that last sentence!

Kevin Phelps

[Andropenis_Australia]

Obviously there is a fine line and double standards when it comes to paid directory listings, however as long as you stick to the approved ones and to be sure only submit to free directory sites that might keep you out of trouble. The bottom line is you can NOT only rely on google for traffic and sales, to do so is only putting yourself into a corner.

[Francisco_Meza]

I use the BBB as a source of credibility. I have used Yahoo Directory, but I made zero sales. It helps if your site is new because it's a follow link. The BBB has made 1 sale for me so it paid for itself for the year.

I wouldn't waste any time for SEO purposes on Angie's List if it's behind a login. But I would look at it as a source of revenue. It's just like craigslist. I don't post on Craigslist for SEO purposes, I post on there to get business. Forget SEO rankings; it's about money in the bank.

[GuestBlogPoster.com]

Not sure Angies List is indexable as it's behind a login, so I don't think there is much SEO value there. Looks like Judy's Book puts their links in the business profile within an iframe. Not much SEO value there either. But don't not look into them, still could provide much needed value for leads.

I know Matt Cutts covered BOTW and the Yahoo directory here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pu1YWcIh04&feature=player_embedded

I think the number one reason why I would submit to these directories is because Matt seems to find it okay and that it could be good if Google goes the way of treating citations as links. If Google goes that way, then yes, those paid inclusions could be great, even without a link.

For other paid directories, I would only recommend those specific to your industry that will also send some sort of traffic. For example, if you are a plastic surgeon, get accepted on plasticsurgery.org. I've done that and it's worked perfectly. Paying for general directories is a waste of money that could be spent on other forms of link building.

I would look into other citation sources that you can get from a UBL submission, a Whitespark campaign or a Localeze submission. They go through and add your local business to all the local directories. Seems to work pretty good for the local clients I've worked with.

Does that help?

Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps