I found an interesting blog post today that detailed the 10 most important things to look for in a directory (when it comes to Google).  The post contains a number of good tips and concludes with the important advice to emphasize quality directories over submitting to a large number of directories.

I think that the most important 2 points in that post are:

2. Is the page you are submitting to indexed?
3. Is the indexed result supplemental?

These are good points because pagerank is becoming more and more irrelevant – cache date is the new pagerank.  You can tell if Google values a directory by seeing how often it caches the directory pages.  An infrequently cached directory probably does not hold much weight in Google.

One thing I would add to the tips provided is to look for directories that allow you to get several links to your website on one submission.  That way you can promote several of the important pages on your website, rather than just the home page.

Update:  The article has disappeared.  Here it is reproduced (originally posted at https://www.eplanit.biz/blog/?p=238):

When starting a directory submission campaign, just don’t assume all directories are created equal.  For those that are new to dir submissions, or (good reminders for you) old timers, I have compiled a list of what I believe are the 10 most important things to look for when submitting to a directory (at least as far as Google is concerned)

  1. What is the age of the directory?
  2. Is the page you are submitting to indexed?
  3. Is the indexed result supplemental?
  4. How many outbound links does the page you are submitting to have on it?  (It is ideal with less then 20)
  5. Is the link a “nofollow” link?  (in other words can it help by not passing rank)
  6. Is there a ton of pharmacy or casino sites in the listings? (If yes, stay away)
  7. Does the directory really have a relevant cat/sub-category? (or option to create new sub-cat)
  8. Does the submission have a review process? (or can anyone get in)
  9. Does the site allow anchor text to deep pages (sub pages)?
  10. Can you actually get traffic from the site?

If you can take your focus away from trying to build up “many” links as you can through directory submission, and focus more on the quality of the directory you are getting in, and what that listing can do for your website, then you have won the battle.  There are some people that cringe at the thought of paying 299$/year for a listing in the Yahoo! Directory, yet a listing in that directory can take your site to a whole new level that you never knew.

For 2007 make it your directory submission goal to focus on “quality of directories” rather then “quantity of directories.”