These tips will improve your chances of having your free directory submission approved.

What's a web directory?

A web directory operates as a search engine facilitator. Search engines use directories to find matches. The directories are extremely efficient, categorized, and most importantly for website owners, they're content based, not keyword based. That drastically improves relevance for searches and avoids ''keyword spam'' and tagging issues which produce a lot of clutter in searches.

Types of directory

There are two basic types of web directory: free and paid.

A paid directory is usually used by website owners as part of the hosting service paid for by site fees, like Yahoo's web hosting. The directory provides information for search engines based on category, site content, etc.

A free directory is a DIY link to categories, useful, and providing a very similar service.

Directories as business tools

Directories can be extremely useful in terms of providing assistance with search listings. They're like the Yellow Pages, a natural set of categories which finds your business, location, and other useful information for customers.

Say your business is selling widgets in Queens, New York.  Someone searches Widgets + Queens. The search process is Shopping > business> directory> New York> Queens> Widgets, and there you'll be. The directory is the obvious search reference, and from there on it's pure logic. Without the directory, you'd have a good chance of finding every widget and queen on Earth. Directories are major forces in making the searches function properly.

Directory submission services

These are paid services, with professionals doing the submission work for you. This is a middleman service, and although it makes sense for major corporations running thousands of products, it's not for everyone.

For individual site owners, it's usually more trouble than it's worth, unless you're a professional or academic site which needs a very broad range of exposure in a niche market. Even then, you can do the submissions you particularly want yourself. Shopping directories and things like that aren't difficult.