A quality directory can also be good for traffic in a couple ways. First a listing in a quality directory can help to improve your search engine positioning. Second good directories can also send direct traffic to sites. Some of my details pages get nice traffic from search engines which in turn sends the visitor on to the listed site. I would say the primary traffic you would see though would come from improved search engine results.
Most directories today are only good for backlinks but some quality directories like DMOZ can get you loads of traffic.
I would say that the vast majority of general directories are only good for links. Niche and regional directories could provide useful traffic.
I have found that direct traffic from directories is, at least for my website, a miniscule percentage of my total traffic. Probably less than 1%. Yes, as noted above, listings in good directories sometimes do show up fairly high in search engine results. However, in such cases, I typically find my actual page higher in the SERPs than the directory listing for that page. So traffic-wise, I'm finding that even the combination of direct traffic from directories plus clicked-on search traffic from directories is a very, very small percentage of my total visitors. That said, I still believe in directories for link building.
I see it like this: Web Directory > backlinks > serps increase for various keyword phrases > as this happens it can lead to good search engine traffic. Now if you're running adsense for example, for safety reasons you are going to want your traffic to come from natural searches, like the above. So yes they can generate traffic as above.
The major benefit from directories is for their help in raising your site in the SERPs. However, I've found that niche directories give more traffic than general directories. Some of that traffic turns into repeat visitors and some of it turns into natural links from people who found my site in the directory then gave me a link. All of which increases the traffic to my site...either from the referrals or the boost in the SERPs. Long story short, a directory is simply another way to advertise your site. The more advertising you do the more visitors you'll get to your site.
yeah but is it a bad thing? I mean sure there are some that drives traffic. My site (linkoroo.com) is actually a directory but I don't want it to be it's main feature. I want it to be website promotion. That way when people submit a site in my directory, they'll come back for the information I'm providing and other features.
I would have to agree with this. The problem is that submitters tend to be lazy and write horrible descriptions. Then it falls into the directory owner's hands to fix. And if all a person is doing is submitting to free directories, chances are the description is the same one submitted to hundreds of other sites and the directory owners of free directories have too little time to write adequate descriptions that are not duplicated hundreds of times over.
I do agree with you that's a fact submitter just rustle up submitting cause they focus on the back-link as for directories traffic I really believe directories are an old-fashioned way to start off surfing nobody goes to them excep directories which are giving other services like chat,matches, news ....etc ~yoozy
I think that most of the general directories are good for backlinks, however you might get a click or two from someone browsing.....
I am just checking here... did you mean to add a " " or " " somewhere in there? Maybe it was just a typo on your part...
A quality directory can also be good for traffic in a couple ways. quality directories = links and targeted traffic. general directories = links.
I have a directory at (411article.com) and it is good for backlinks. I built it primarily because I'm an artilce writer and an active member of hubpages.com and saw a need for hubbers to be able to get backlinks for specific articles. Not every writer there is looking to promote something some are just poets and fiction writers and use the high PR of HP to get them noticed. But every bit helps. The directory benefits too because when a publisher takes an article for use on their site, a link to the directory is also taken. Publishers get content, authors get backlinks, the directory gets exposure. It's win-win-win.
From my experience, submitting links to directories do not help your website that much with Google. With Yahoo you might see a bump but it'll be slight. But that was a long time ago and things may have changed by now.