Traffic in means traffic out and there are several different ways that a quality paid directory will work to create traffic.
I think that because they are getting profit out of it, so free submission is being given less priority. This is business, you know.
Yes... I am getting at least 100 UV per month from my 500 submitted directories. But all of them are useful backlinks...
Like everyone else here, I've gotten little traffic from directories. The problem is that there are so very many sites on each directory.
I get absolutely nothing from directories. The only reason I like directories is for the backlinks bonus to my domain, which increases the value of the domain and the site.
Historically, about the only directory I have gotten measurable traffic from is 2yi.net. And last month that was only 51 unique visitors out of 60,000. I still submit to directories, but much less aggressively than even a year ago. I appreciate the backlinks, but only as one aspect of a broad SEO strategy. Traffic-wise, directories have been almost no factor for me.
I think directories are better for gaining a pagerank and getting a strong backlink. There's an awesome article by SEO book. If you search "seo directories" and click on their article they explain why it's so important to submit to one of these high quality directories. It will help elevate your search terms significantly.
I have a site that I myself submitted to around 250 directories, It's been accepted to over 100 but I have never got any real traffic from it. And not many links from directories show up in my google webmaster tools
Depends what kind of directories. I do get traffic from the directories that are specifically focused on my topic.
The traffic from directory to my site is less then 1%. I just try to get some PR juice from them, do not expect traffic