Seems like the rumors that “Google will drop the authority of all web directories” were cleared up by Matt Cutts. He says that most of the directories simply have no value, but that certainly doesn’t mean that google treats authority directory sites somehow differently then other regular authority sites.
Here’s a part of the interview from SEOMoz
Question put to Matt Cutts: What is Google’s position on the value of generic web directories that market to webmasters as a way to boost link strength, PageRank and relevance? Would you largely agree or disagree with my assertions about the value of generic web directories on the subject?
A) While Google certainly feels that many directories are valuable, those that are built with SEO purposes in mind are generally viewed as somewhat manipulative and we make an effort to see that their value is limited. We’re generally in agreement with your post.
B) Google doesn’t treat SEO directory sites any differently than any other sites – if their PageRank is high and their content is relevant, we pass just as much link value and anchor text weight as any other similar link. So, we differ a bit in opinion with your post.
Answer by Matt Cutts:
C) Mostly A with a little B
We tend to look more at the quality of a directory than whether it is SEO-related. Of course, plenty of directories that are targeted only for SEO don’t add that much value in my experience. I talked about some of the factors that we use to assess the quality of a directory in an earlier post at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/
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“Q: Hey, as long as we’re talking about directories, can you talk about the role of directories, some of whom charge for a reviewer to evaluate them?
A: I’ll try to give a few rules of thumb to think about when looking at a directory. When considering submitting to a directory, I’d ask questions like:
- Does the directory reject urls? If every url passes a review, the directory gets closer to just a list of links or a free-for-all link site.
- What is the quality of urls in the directory? Suppose a site rejects 25% of submissions, but the urls that are accepted/listed are still quite low-quality or spammy. That doesn’t speak well to the quality of
the directory.
- If there is a fee, what’s the purpose of the fee? For a high-quality directory, the fee is primarily for the time/effort for someone to do a genuine evaluation of a url or site.
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Those are a few factors I’d consider. If you put on your user hat and ask “Does this seem like a high-quality directory to me?” you can usually get a pretty good sense as well, or ask a few friends for their take on a particular directory.”
