"interesting" business directory

I recently saw an "interesting" business directory. This business directory is very comprehensive and well-categorized.
Some listings (likely paid) have backlinks in the categories, but in each category, there is a different anchor text and a link to a different subpage.
To the categories leads backlinks.

is it blackhat seo or not?
Do you think it can help the SEO?


example

W1G said:

Some listings (likely paid) have backlinks in the categories, but in each category, there is a different anchor text and a link to a different subpage.

Click to expand...

that's how directories work (they link to different sites / pages with different anchors), so....

W1G said:

is it blackhat seo or not?

Click to expand...

... no, they're not black hat

W1G said:

Do you think it can help the SEO?

Click to expand...

if the directory is good (it has high DR and a lot of traffic) then yes, it can help with SEO, but not too much. Directories don't have a lot of SEO value, especially if the links are nofollow (which a lot of sites use nowadays)... But it can boost a few long tail keywords for sure if you do everything right (get a DF link with exact match anchor to a page that targets a non-competitive long tail keyword, for example)

interesting - shame i cant read it