Do link lists still list free sites as dofollow links?
 

This may already be taking place for all I know I have spent a few years away. Maybe I am just talking crazy but I was wondering if there was a change in the link list/free site model due to the changes in Google over the last few years and the devaluation of directories, link exchanges and reciprocal links. If there has not been a change maybe there should be?

Free sites are submitted to link lists to get listed so they can get traffic. The traffic in some cases is dropping off partly due to the link lists losing their value in Google’s eyes. If link lists started posting free sites as nofollow links then wouldn't the link lists rise in Google rankings thus sending more traffic to the free sites?

Search engines will still crawl the free sites, they will still get indexed in the search engines and they will still receive search engine traffic. They will just stop dragging down the link lists.

I have nofollow on my main page but not on my detail pages.

Nofollow just stops Google from passing on the PR from the page that it is linked from and diluting its PR but doesn't stop Google from following the link or indexing it.

I've seen some Link Lists do that, but none of them returned to their prior rankings in the SE's.

I use them as they are supposed to be used: so that the spiders don't bother with the affiliate links.

The pages not rising back to their former places might be their association with so many domains that have such low domain and link authority. (Some of the backlinks just look like link spam to Google) You can do a link audit and disavow some of the domains that are linking to your site so Google does not consider them when doing your page rank.

Link Audit
http://www.majesticseo.com/
http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

Disavow Link
https://support.google.com/webmaster...answer=2648487

I do not know if it will make any difference but it is worth researching.

I have been doing some mainstream stuff looking to get back in to adult sites. I have been reading about as much as possible trying to decide my strategy going in to avoid any penalties. It seems like doing any galleries or free sites could possibly limit a domain’s future ranking possibilities due to the number of outgoing links and reciprocal links.

And yet you can have both at the same. That is domains with high links outbound and other domains with low inbound of links. Somehow you need to get that traffic from ll's even when traffic from them is much lower than it was few years back.

Something to consider. Google says that doing anything that manipulates their search results is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Basically any link building or link profile sculpting fits this criteria. So it's quite possible that simply using their disavow tool is a clear signal to them that you're engaging in practices that make your site a target for being devalued or penalized.

In general, most adult sites have link profiles which prevent them from ranking well in the SERPs today. And trying to fix that is manipulating the search results. Catch-22.

:-|