They are not nearly as popular as they were a few years ago. One reason is the explosion of low quality, low value directories.

I would avoid mass submissions to hundreds or thousands of free directories. Look for high quailty directories like BOTW, DMOZ, Yahoo, and a handful of others.

Here is one list of better quality directories:
Top Web Directory List - Directories Rated by Inbound Link Quality - ILQ

Disclosure: My directory (CannyLink) is on this list.

As to results- there is no way to know for sure. I do see sites listed in Yahoo directory ranking higher.

I haven't really found any benefits to posting my link across dozens of spammy directories. I would agree with hotftuna's comment above that they only have an impact if the directory is solid, high PR.

You can get a software like Directory Bot and submit your site to a handful of directories and see the impact on your rankings...

Directories I've stayed away from. I've done a few niche directories in the past - but all they're good for is referral traffic...and usually that isn't that much.

Id stay away from them. I agree with what hotftuna said above.

I used to submit like mad to these, see a small jump in traffic only to see it drop. The other thing with directories is that most do not allow you to submit deep links so it kind of beats the object of trying to rank a keyword for a specific page.

Directory submissions are no longer part of my srtategy other than DMOZ and Yahoo. would focus that time on article marketing or social bookmarking. SB is not as effecgive as it was before but am still seeing results after a few months.

Hoep that helps and good luck

Zaheer

I think manual submission to some of the more popular and high quality directories is good. But mass automatic submission to a ton of them probably won't do anything for you.

Hi,

I would prefer to go with couple of good local business directories. Those will help you to drive good traffic too.

directory submission is not that popular like before but still helpful..just do it manually

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just go with DMOZ and Yahoo

Try to put relevant your niche. you need to check good forum where your niche will simillar

Some people try to submit their articles to 100s of directories. How far they are successful is a question. Few directories are popular and they also contain a lot of articles. Many people spin their articles.There are some quality sites and directories which ask for paid subscriptions to submit the articles. they may be effective.

In my point of view, Directory submission is waste of time and I am sure most of the guys are not using that method to gather backlinks nowadays. The reason is, there are many directories which do not approve the listing and most of those are required a backlink to the directory itself. As well as, it is hard to get a backlink form less outbound links on directory submission method

Instead of spending time in directory submission I will prefer to get backlinks from a high pr blog through commenting. I have submitted to directories but did not get any result.