Are directories necessary for SEO?

Most likely no. Directory links are mostly low quality - it might be worth submitting to some of the higher quality directories in your niche if there are any. For affilliate money making sites and google traffic secrets I'd guess that there aren't any.

Last fall there was a big push at google to devalue low quality directory links. They don't want to count them unless they are legitimate, audience focussed, highly editoriallly driven sites. I'd expect that they will be doing more of this in the future.

Some people will surely come along and tell you that directories are a great way to get linkbacks. The key is that these are mainly low quality and aren't going to get you very far. Same goes for other quantity not quality links like forum signatures. They're only necessary if you can't be bothered to go for quality.

See this related thread:

Do Directories work for SEO? (note that many of the people who said "yes" either own directories or are proponents of the quantity approach).

The thing about directory submission is selection whether it be for the free or paid ones - on which directories to submit to and the right category you should opt for inclusion. Done poperly, this would help in your SERP in ranking for your keywords. Avoid the ones that require reciprocal links or link farms that poses to be directories as this will hurt you SEO wise. Be the better judge and see for yourself if you are submitting to a quality directory.

I am not being biased just because we happen to have our own directory.

One fundamental backbone of SEO is link building. Directory inclusion (to quality ones) gives you targeted backlinks, especially if you have a NEW site.

Traffic wise, they provide minimal traffic but they are very targeted. If you have 100 directory inclusions and each send about 4 to 5 visitors a week, it sums up - you do the math.

directory submission for me is still necessary because among other link build strategy, directory is consider as simplest and proven way in link building campaign.

It is a simple way to gain backlinks but it is not necessary if you are using other methods.

Directories can help with anchor text and to rank certain key phrases and also provide backlinks. Directory submission is more beneficial for new sites that have no backlinks yet and pages that are trying to rank well for long tail keywords.
The reason why directory links worth so little is mainly because directories themselves have little value. If you are looking for traffic from directories then stick to niche directories on popular websites. Those ones may deliver traffic for you.

Its necessary to submit links to directories but of course being in a quality directories are surely a big plus in terms of SEO. So it does helps to build up your ranking in SE's.

Directory submissions are an important aspect of SEO.But what direcotry owners do is to tempt people with promotional offers ,i.e paid subscription on a yearly/monthly basis,so that your website is featured in the front page and gets traffic.Later when Google updates PR and backlinks you get an extra inbound link that enables you to increase your PR.
What Google did after it conducted an Update for PR and Backlinks in the month of October was that it made it mandatory to use the Google Adsense account whether you purchase or sell a link.People purchasing a link from a directory without the use of the Adsense account will not have it counted as a backlink when Google updates it and directory owners who sold links without the adsense account would have their ISP'S banned from Google.

Now for those who are going in for free submissions.It makes no sense to do bulk submissions when you know that it would take up indefinite amount of time to get the reviewal of a moderator and then get the approval.What one should do is to opt for a category that one relates too and has the minimum amount of submissions.Say you have 10 keywords and you relate well to them ,but you prefer 2 amongst them.So even if the prefered category has a greater number of submissions pending,it would be wise to skip the category and opt for another term that you relate too.This helps,since the category with lesser number of pending reviewals will have the submission reviewed quickly compared to a category that has a greater number of submission pending.
My personal opinion is for those who are into free submission opt for social bookmarking or networking sites.These sites have maximum traffic and in that case if your content/article whatever you post is appealing and is of quality your visitor/traffic rate will improve.

Thanks for the info. Since so many directories have lost value, does it also pay to only list with high ranking ones, PR4 plus?
Thanks

No its not needed but it help! All backlinnks help but how higher the pr how better it is.

Hi,
Directory Submission is necessary for Seo purpose.
You can easily indexed your site through directory submission.
Firstly, submit your site in serach engines(google,yahoo,msn)
There are various free directories(DMOZ,onemission.com) and paid diretories also,
Visist at :www.addurl.nu
directorycritic.com
Thanks
shally

Another thing to consider in the directories that you submit to is traffic. Alexa and quantcast.com are just some open resources you could use to verify the level of traffic those directories have.

Directory link is considered by me. It is helpful in back links. Like the article.The website easly and quick crawled.

I think that directories is part of the SEO. And I'm not directory owner.

The only directory you should look into the Yahoo directory. But that costs $300 per year.

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