Recently I posted about a manual directory submission service that I was trying out, and I promised that I would post the results. There was not a lot of communication on their end as far as who or what I was being submitted to (that was an extra fee), but almost immediately I started getting received submission e-mails from directory webmasters thanking me for submitting my link. Now, I am also getting a trickle of “your site has been approved” messages.

OK. So now I have a few back links (250 on this site last time I checked). So what? Some of my recent reading suggests that it will make a difference in MSN and Yahoo, but not necessarily in Google. It sounds like Google only REALLY counts on some of the heavy hitter directories that have been around a long time (most of which have a paid inclusion).

ODP (DMOZ)
Zeal (just found out last night that they are shutting down) Try their parent company LookSmart.
Joant
Yahoo!
Gimpsy
GoGuides
MSN Small Business Directory

I will slowly be submitting to these primary and secondary directories over time to see what kind of results I can get, and if it affects my Page Rank or not. Of course, I will keep you posted.

If you have any other directories that you have had success with, then feel free to comment. I am specifically looking for quality directories that have been around a long time (or niche directories). I have noticed on a few forums that there are directories starting every day. Whether or not their link carry any weight with any of the major search engines, that remains to be seen.