Hi, It was the directories that had no or very little editorial process, Just accepting links in exchange for £££ regardless that got mostly penalized, Still some good directories around, Do some research and you will find them. All the best
Before you submit a listing to a directory, do a Google search of the directory name and see if it turns up. If it doesn't, it means that it has been penalized and therefore should be avoided. Putting your link there will give you a bad backlink, which will affect your ranking negatively on search engine results.
I think they are. The best directories you can do a google search and pull up instantly. There should be about 50 to 100 high page ranked directories you can post and participate in. This will get you a lot of exposure for your website. It will take time to register to each one but it is worth it.
Directories has a little or worst no impact at all and this is due to emerging popular medium websites that are usually used by the people worldwide.
Directories might have lost some of their importance, but having a link to your website on high authority directories would not do harm. When people see that you are listed on a reputable directory they will get the impression that you run a "real" business.
directories never come up in my searches, and the only people that would see your listed site would be those that are on the directory, and I bet they are not there to search, but to list their own sites, however, if it is a good directory, then you may get some link juice, and do not over use directories, as you may not get the benefit you are hoping for; at the end of the day, directories maybe good for link diversity, otherwise, not very useful.
Yep even DMOZ never sent much traffic. Since the inception of search engines, directories essentially became redundant. Local directories still serve a purpose, though.