I recently submitted my website to a directory for similar services. I then went to google and typed link: mywebsite.com and it does not show up as a back link and I assumed it was a nofollow listing. I downloaded the nodofollow add-on for Firefox and went to the directory listing and it is blue-showing that it is a dofollow listing not a nofollow listing. Do some links just not show up in google by using that tool? Are there better tools to keep track of your backlinks? Am I not looking at this correctly? I am fairly upset about this as a condition to listing your business for free in their directory was that you provide them with a backlink to their website from yours. Their website is a list of competitors so you can see why that might be a little hard to swallow. I buried it under the layers so it isn't visible on my page.
just because you have a dofollow link form a directory doesn't mean it will show up as a backlink. sometimes it takes google months to credit you for backlinks. you also have to consider the fact that Google will not find every single link you build. if you want higher ranking, don't just relax after building a few links. keep building backlinks and the result will come.
As mentioned, it'll take some time before it shows. Also, check with Yahoo Site Explorer and in your Google Webmaster Tools account. The link: feature on Google is very picky about showing backlinks.