I am confused since long and now finally i have start a thread.. Whats the difference between submitting a listing on niche directory and relevant category on a general web directory ? Suppose, I have health site -- I submit to health directory and health category of a general directory. Whats the difference in terms of SEO ??
It could be that Google looks at the website theme as a whole. So if the whole site has the same theme as yours, the link would be more relevant than if only one category has the same theme. But too bad only Google knows this for sure...
ultimately, we will never know how exactly G looks at and weighs relevancy when a link is placed on a web page. But in general, G can recognize synonyms and related words. On a directory category page, its usually the title and URL that match to your site niche, so I would try to find the best match for my link if I were you.
Using Health as an example: I would prefer to be listed in a health specific directory as opposed to a health category for a few general reasons: The inbound links to the health site are more focused on topic, and would likely come from a larger variety of web sites than a subcategory of a general directory. In my opinion the overall theme of the niche directory would be stronger than a general directory subcategory. A niche directory is likely to attract links of greater importance and authority over the long term; general directory subcategories are less likely to attract the same attention. These are just generalizations and I'm sure it's easy to argue the opposite.
Great post, Well i think you have it all covered, the final picture really depends on the directory, for example Ask has several quality related deep links to the health section so if you join this with the effect of all the links to the directory, you probably get a similar or better result than a “standard†niche directory.