Is it even worth it to use directories?

[Dwood]

When looking around the web you see people talk about poor links don't help your site and can even get it punished and so on.
I don't really believe that as you can't stop anyone from linking to you but the fact remains that a link directory is a site with a million outbound links to all kinds of dodgy sites. Meaning the links you get probably aren't worth that much.

The question is, are they worth anything?

[Dwood]

That is what I was thinking, thanks by the way for your fast respons.

[sck4784]

It depends on directory quality. If the directory has good PR then defiantly it is useful..

[iblbuilder]

handful of submissions to quality directories, like yahoo, BOTW, DMOZ is ok, but other than that, dont waste your precious life submitting to any other ones!

[TomBond]

Directory submissions are still useful, particularly if the make up a large part of your competitions backlinks.

It's 'natural' for search engines to see backlinks from directories, so you should definitely do some

[turbohips]

make sure the directories have some page rank to them. If they are not seen as important sites then they add zero link juice.

[bigcat1967]

personally, I don't use them. If I did - I would go for niche directories.

[Dwood]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Guess I'll have to try out and stick with the link directories for a little while longer

[gadget_man]

I think it's a waste of time. Having your link in lots of directories will make a difference, but the time it takes you would be better spend elsewhere. If you can find someone to do the submissions cheaply for you then this could be a good option.

[nettech]

I was just about to say this.

I've experimented on sites with ONLY directory submissions and used to find that it takes a few weeks to take effect. However, there used to be a slight increase in traffic but this used to drop. My opnion is that Directories can help only a little but the amount of work you have to put in is incredible so this should be towards the lower part of your priority levels.

Focus more on the usual artice marketing, social bookmarking and links from quality themed sites. I know its all cliche but its that for a reason.....it works!

I wouldn't discourage you to try it for yourself though.

Originally Posted by iblbuilder

handful of submissions to quality directories, like yahoo, BOTW, DMOZ is ok, but other than that, dont waste your precious life submitting to any other ones!