A common question asked in all the forums is:  “What are the best directories to pay to submit my website to?”

If you ask this, you’ll get lots of responses.  But generally, the responses tend to list the directories that are most popular or that are owned by the person answering the question or his or her buddies.

There really is a lack of objective evidence as to which directories are truly good.  This list attempts to address this and provide objective directory rankings.

The good folks over at Seomoz have developed a page strength tool.  It takes a wholistic view of websites, and is fairly representative of how Google views websites (and directories).  According to Seomoz, the page strength tool is a better metric to quickly assess a site / page’s relative importance and visibility.

Aviva Directory has applied the Page Strength tool to all of the general web directories to give you an objective list of the best web directories.  Below is a ranking of all general web directories with a minimum page strength of 5, along with their submission prices.

Updated: Seomoz has since replaced their page strength tool with a Trifecta tool.  You can find a listing of directories sorted by their Trifecta score here.

Note: Prices are in the format ($first / $second).  The first price is for a basic submission and the second price is for an express or featured submission.  Note that several of these directories also have free submissions if you’re willing to wait many months for review.

Without further ado, below are the strongest directories:

Page Strength 10
http://www.dmoz.org/ (free)
http://dir.yahoo.com ($299 per year) (Directory subdomain has page strength of 10 as well)

Page Strength 9.5
http://www.business.com/ ($299 per year)

Page Strength 8.5
http://www.botw.org/ ($99.95 per year or $239.95)
http://bubl.ac.uk/ (free)

Page Strength 7.5
http://www.ezilon.com/ (free / $69)
http://Directory.v7n.com ($50)

Page Strength 7
http://www.avivadirectory.com/ ($49.95 / $74.95 per year)
http://www.familyfriendlysites.com/ ($19.95 / $59.95 per year)
http://www.goguides.com/ ($69.95)
http://www.romow.com/ ($45 / $90)

Page Strength 6.5
http://www.2yi.net/ ($15.95 / $64.95)
http://www.bloggeries.com ($47.99 per year or $27.99)
http://www.dirjournal.com/ ($59.95 / $99.95)
http://www.elib.org/ (60 Euro / 150 Euro)
http://www.gimpsy.com/ ($49)
http://www.index-it.net/ ($25)
http://www.joeant.com/ ($39.99)
http://www.mygreencorner.com/ (free / $25 per year)
http://www.relmaxtop.com/ (unknown)
http://www.skaffe.com/ ($49.99)
http://www.tygo.com/dir ($39.99) (directory folder has page strength 5.5)
http://www.webworldindex.com/ ($25)

Page Strength 6
http://www.allinfodir.com/ ($26.95 / $89.95)
http://www.allydirectory.com/ ($12.95 / $59.95)
http://www.busybits.com/ (unknown)
http://blogannounce.info/ ($19.95 / $39.95)
http://www.browse8.com/ ($35)
http://www.cascandra.com/ ($11.95 / $29.95 per year)
http://www.citystar.com/ ($19 / $29)
http://www.domaining.in/ (free / $25 per year)
http://www.ebjuris.com/ ($10 / $20)
http://www.gii.in/ ($25 / $200)
http://www.incrawler.com/ ($24.95 / $49.95)
http://www.kahuki.com/ ($19.95 / $49.95 per year)
http://www.onlinewide.com/ ($34.95 / $69.95 per year)
http://www.prolinkdirectory.com/ (free / $9 for 3 months)
http://www.rakcha.com/ ($29)
http://www.sevenseek.com/ ($40 / $99.95)
http://www.site-sift.com/ ($29.95 / $99.95 per year)
http://www.szab.net/ ($16.95 / $39.95)
http://www.top5jamaica.com/ (free)
http://www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk/ (49.99 pounds / 99.99 pounds)
http://www.uncoverthenet.com/ ($59 / $199 per year)
http://www.ventedoy.com/ (bid for placement; min $5)
http://www.webahead.net/ ($20 / $50)
http://www.wowdirectory.com/ ($43 / $65 per year)

Page Strength 5.5
http://9ug.com/ ($5.99 / $19.99)
http://www.abilogic.com/ ($9.95 / $39.95 per year)
http://www.anthonyparsons.com/ ($10 / $30)
http://www.apahcinc.org/ ($34.95 / $69.95)
http://ask-dir.com/ ($47 / $69 per year)
http://www.authoritydirectory.com ($4.95 / $19.95 per year)
http://www.blazemp.com/dir/ (bid for placement; min $49.95)
http://blogaboutmysite.com/directory ($14.95 / $55.99) (directory folder is pagestrength 5)
http://blogtagstic.com/ ($9.97 / $29.97)
http://www.cannylink.com/ ($19.95)
http://www.dirwizard.com/ ($25.95 / $69.95)
http://www.ebusiness-directory.com/ ($19.99 / $69.99 per year)
http://www.emillie.net/ ($24.99 / $39.99 per year)
http://www.enquira.com/ ($29)
http://www.e-topic.com/directory/ ($19.95 / $34.95) (directory folder has pagestrength of 4.5)
http://www.global-weblinks.com/ (free / $59.90 per year)
http://www.idk.in/ ($14.95 / $49.95 per year)
http://www.kwikgoblin.com/ ($24.95 / $59.95)
http://www.linkopedia.com/ ($9.99)
http://www.linksjuice.com/ ($24.97 / $49.97)
http://www.linkwith.us/ ($34.95 / $69.95 per year)
http://www.makeasearch.com/ ($9.95 / $34.95)
http://www.map100.com/ ($10.95 / $91.95 for 180 days)
http://www.nobledirectory.com/ ($20 / $40)
http://www.nzpages.co.nz/ (unknown)
http://www.pegasusdirectory.com/ (free / $69)
http://www.photarium.com/ ($7 / $19.97)
http://www.qango.com/ ($15 / $55)
http://www.seoma.net/ (unknown)
http://www.vxbox.com/ (3 Euro)
http://www.web1directory.com/ (free)
http://www.webotopia.org/ ($14.99 / $29.99)
http://www.zorg-directory.com/ ($19.95 / $49.95)

Page Strength 5
http://www.123kidzarea.com/ (free / $50 per year)
http://www.alikedirectory.com/ ($25.99 / $49.99)
http://www.alivedirectory.com/ ($49.95 / $99.95 per year)
http://www.bamdirectory.com/ ($49.95 per year / $19.95)
http://www.businessseek.biz/ ($12 / $20 per year)
http://www.ensuredirectory.com/ ($14.95 / $34.95)
http://www.ewebpages.org/ ($24.95 per year)
http://www.excellentguide.com/ ($24.99 / $79.99 per year)
http://www.fullofsearch.com/ ($34.99 / $44.99)
http://www.gbguide.com/ (15 pounds)
http://www.homesalez.com/directory/ ($49.95 per year) (directory folder has pagestrength of 4.5)
http://www.linkcentre.com/ (49.95 Euro per year)
http://www.linkspub.com/ ($15 / $40 per year)
http://www.massivelinks.com/ ($29.99 / $69.99 per year)
http://www.postdotcom.com/ ($11.95 / $39.95 per year)
http://www.qoobe.org/ ($9 / $25 per year)
http://www.umdum.com/ ($40 / $100)
http://www.web10.ws/ ($24.95 / $59.95)