The usefulness of the directory for SEO is fading. It's fading because its not longer as valued as it once was for rankings purposes. There is a thread on SEW that talks about caching problem with 2nd and 3rd tier internal pages in some directories. The poster talks about he is not seeing the internal pages appear to be cached in Google, and consequently they won't find his links. So he asks:
"Out of 25 shortlisted directories I am finding I can only submit to 1/2 now as pages are just not being read anymore. Anyone else finding similar problem? Anyway we can get round it?"I would agree this is definately an issue. We know Google has talked about pages dropping out of the index in the past. Some for explainable reasons, others for not. I talked to a well known link expert this week that told me about several good directories that are now useless because they were including hidden text at the bottom of their pages. Even though there was massive land rush to build directories the last couple of years, it remains. What places do you trust or still remain a good investment?
Good discussion to continue over at Search Engine Watch Forums
