Directory submissions is one of the best ways to get inbound links to your website. But what makes a good directory. The following list applies to web submission directories, article directories, e-zine directories, and blog directories.

• Reciprocal Links – Does the directory require a reciprocal link? If so then what they really care about is getting inbound links from you. These directories are not as valuable as directories that don’t require reciprocal links.
• Pay for Submission – If you have to pay to be included in a directory then you are buying a link. That’s something the search engines don’t like and may penalize you for. They will certainly penalize the directory then your link won’t be as valuable any more.
• High Traffic - How much traffic does the directory get? Ideally, you want your site, articles, e-zines, or blogs to be listed in high traffic directories. You do want additional traffic, don’t you?
• Content Quality – Does the directory have a good list of quality articles, e-zines, blogs, or websites? If the quality of submissions is poor then you’ll be in bad company.
• Advertising-based – Is the directory based on advertising? If so then your listing may not be as important to the directory as the advertising.
• Crawl depth – Are the index page and category pages the only pages getting indexed by the search engines? If so then it’s a very poor directory. You want to have your individual page in the directory crawled and indexed. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time.
• Specific Niche – Look for directories in your niche before going to general directories. General directories are not bad, but you’ll benefit a lot more from the niche directories.

You should check the quality of a directory against other site owners. Ask around. If you hear too much negative information about a specific directory then leave it alone. If it’s just one or two bad reports then be suspicious, but always consider the above points about any directory you are considering submitting to.