OK --Tell me again why to submit to Directories.

[Phil from Loreau]

About a year ago, I became fascinated with directories. The task of finding, submitting and being approved to ***Quality Directories*** was almost intriguing. Heck I even started a couple myself.
Now, I must admit, I find the whole directory thing a pain-in-the-butt.
I have submitted to well over a hundred directories, and been approved by at least half of them, most of them high PR.
But when I do a back link search not a one of them shows up, not even DMOZ. The traffic is next to nothing. Other than from a couple of niche directories, I get no traffic from any of them.
There's actually lots other questions and ponderings I'd like to bring up about the whole state of directory-dom, what for now I think it would suffice to just ask --
"Why Bother??"

[hooperman]

"Why Bother??"

I don't! Ideally it shouldn't be you that drives the linking, it should be the people who find your site and think that it's so good it's worth linking to.

I'm not even sure how valuable those directory links are if they're not sending you any traffic. I've got along without directory submissions and I know other people have too.

[centime]

How, exactly, are you checking your backlinks ?

[rcj662]

Try searching in yahoo to see backlinks. Google only lists some links not all.

[Phil from Loreau]

How, exactly, are you checking your backlinks ?

I've used a few different tools, but the latest has just been putting link:http://www.nosaintshistory.com in Google.
Last count was 54 backlinks. So I'm trying hard to increase this number. I was [mistakenly] under the impression that directories would help.
Is there a tool that is more accurate?

Try searching in yahoo to see backlinks. Google only lists some links not all.

Now yes, that shows a gazillion links, but does that have any effect on Google Page Rank?
I'm concerned about my pagerank in google. I realize that page rank isn't everything but the ticket companies that buy advertising on my site sure put alot of stock into it.

[dvduval]

Even in the last couple of months submitting to directories using good anchor text has allowed me to rank two new sites that did not rank well before. It does help with SEO. That does not mean it is the only way to get your site noticed, or even required, but it does still help a lot of people.

[hooperman]

I've used a few different tools, but the latest has just been putting link:http://www.nosaintshistory.com in Google.
Last count was 54 backlinks. So I'm trying hard to increase this number. I was [mistakenly] under the impression that directories would help.
Is there a tool that is more accurate?

The link operator is notoriously inaccurate. Google Webmaster Tools gives a better picture, though it is still only a sample.

[Phil from Loreau]

Even in the last couple of months submitting to directories using good anchor text has allowed me to rank two new sites that did not rank well before. It does help with SEO. That does not mean it is the only way to get your site noticed, or even required, but it does still help a lot of people.

I take it your referring to SEO optimizing 2 different sites.
Anything special about the directories you submitted to?
And you mentioned "anchor text". I'm assumming this is different than the description that is required at most directories. How did you manage that?

[dman_2007]

If you were submitting your site to directories in order get direct traffic then you were always in for a big disappointment, most of the directories don't send any traffic directly to the website, even dmoz sends very little to no traffic to most of the site it has in its listings. Even hoping for pagerank from directory links is a bit misguided, at best you might be able to get PR 1 or 2, considering the number other links which are present in a single page. But if you choose a set of keywords wisely and use them as title while submitting your to site to directories you can postively influence your site's ranking in SERP, how much that depends on what keyword you decide to target.

[centime]

Tell you a closely guarded secret

100 submissions is,,, minimal

Consider, if each directory sends you 1 visitor per month for 1 year, thats 12 per annum yes,

but what if you where listed in 1,000 directories , that would 12,000 per annum more than you would otherwise get,

plus, the SEs all love sites the see often in the same category in multiple locations, it kinda assures them that you site has been reviewed multiple times by several people an found to be worthy.

You might see that earning the trust of search engines is useful

Finally, you must get a google webmaster account, the link checker in the account is the most accurate that google will give you

[Phil from Loreau]

Finally, you must get a google webmaster account, the link checker in the account is the most accurate that google will give you

I do, I did and your right.
Has a whole lot more links. But still not a tremendous amount of directories are listed...... but they're quite a few.

[felgall]

Getting listed in a directory or two might be a good way to help the search engines to find your site and get you started on some incoming links.

[jvr]

Because you can have a one way link through directories...just always remember to find a topic that is related to your site.

[Rebirth Studios]

From the Search Engine FAQ

• Submit your site to all free directories
  • DMOZ (also powers Google Directory)
  • JoeAnt
• Submit your site to relevant directories
  • Find more at ISEDB

• Submit your site to pay directories
  • Yahoo
  • GoGuides

Adding the above is the standard recommendation, should you feel the need to add more (everyone is different), do it incrementally

a.) so it's natural
b.) so you don't burn out

[jhnrang]

Directories are helpful specially for Start-ups. Just submit your new site in 10 quality directories and wait for the result! It will quickly get indexed.

Regarding backlinks from directories- would you mind 30 seconds and click on the link to see if you have backlinks from directories?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...om&btnG=Search

[salele]

Submitting to directories for page rank or top ranking is same as doing link exchange and submitting articles to article directories. You have to do these on a massive scale to really build page rank and top rankings.

However, if you want to quickly build page rank or rank top, provide a free unique useful tool or service . This way you get one way incoming links for free without any effort .