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Directory submissions, whether free or not, are essential for traffic, links and search engine rankings. Listings in DMOZ, especially, are particularly relevant to Google's search results since DMOZ is where Google gets most, if not all, of its information. Unfortunately, it may take up to two years to get your listing posting into DMOZ.

The Yahoo directory costs $299 and does not guarantee that your listing will even make it into their directory. For that kind of money, you might as well use it for Google Adwords and let Yahoo pick up your website with it's crawling robot.

The structure of the directory categories, and the category of your website listing, will determine where your site gets listed. The =main problems with web directories are where your listing will be placed, how long it takes to get listed, how much traffic will be delivered and how much link popularity gets passed on to your site.

It has been suggested that one solution would be to buy links from the various 'link farms' found on the internet today. While this is certainly quicker, and probably cheaper, than getting listed in the major directories, doing this could relegate your website to the search engine basement. All of your links...let me repeat that...ALL OF YOUR LINKS must be relevant to the theme of your particular website.

If you sell widgets, you want to link to websites that deal with widgets in some fashion whether it be selling, repairing, parts, service, or related products. You do not want to link to vacation sites, beauty sites, sex sites, etc. Google, especially, will discount these links as non-relevant thus lowering your website rating or banning it altogether. If your website is not in Google, you are not going to make it on the internet, it's as simple as that.

Important points to remember:

1. DMOZ is the most important directory on the internet today and also one of the slowest in placing new listings.

2. There are hundreds of directories on the internet which are completely free to submit your website. Simply do a search for 'free directories'. If they shwo up on the search engine results, they are probably stable and worth submitting to.

3. NO LINK FARMS! Do not take the chance of your website never being seen. Remember, stay focused, keep your links relevant, and you will see your website rise quickly in the search engine rankings. Just keep building those relevant links!