Its true that Ther's a trend among Seo experts to lower the importance of inbound links and reciprocal placement in web directories.
Ok, so content is the new king - there are more related content sites that have a web directory/sites index with "add url" / "add site" options , with specified categories. A link pointing to a site from an index like that, can be strong and in fact relevant and indexed.
The thing is if you have submitted your link to a directory in a site that deals with travel and tourism, but due to the fact that your site deals with beer related issues you have placed it under food & beverage categories (as you should have). but most likely these categories on a travel & tourism site have a low rate of visitors and search engines pick up on that, and give rank accordingly.
On the other hand there are designated web directories were all the categories Cary the same ranking weight - as long as you don't use the same link description in all the directories (Google panelized a number of high placed ranking sites drooping them down as far as six places - for that reason) it is still one of the most reliable methods of site promoting-if Google has panelized sites for doing it wrong-probably ranks for doing it right.
I have added some good directories in the list below
It will be great to get some comments on them and their efficiency.
I have spent some time checking them out and they seam to be relevant
http://www.4ukshopping.co.uk/ - Our shop is listed in 4 UK Shopping
http://www.anaximanderdirectory.com/ - Anaximander Directory
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http://www.dir4u.info/ - dir4U.info Web Directory
http://www.directoryspider.net/ - Directory Spider
http://www.000directory.com.ar/ - 000 Directory
http://www.0mg.us/ - 0MG! Web Directory :: SEO friendly web directory - hand selected for quality
http://www.123hitlinks.info/ - Web Directory Hit LInks
http://www.1abc.org/ - 1Abc Directory
http://www.1morelink.com/ - 1 More Link
http://www.2addlink.info/ - 2AddLink Web Link Directory
http://www.3windex.com/ - 3windex
http://www.4169.info/ - 4169 - Free Link Directory
http://474.sytes.net/ - Free Web Directory: Directory-474
http://www.4vpo.com/ - Vogue Premium Directory
http://www.5lbs.com/ - Cool Websites Directory
http://www.6686.org/ - 6686 links to your site!
http://www.777media.com/ - Seo friendly web directory
http://www.99kat.com/ - Web Directory 99kat
http://www.a1dir.com/ - A1dir
http://www.a2adir.info/ - SEO Friendly General Directory
http://www.a2zwebindex.com/ - a2z web index
http://www.accedeurl.info/ - Accede URL Directory
http://www.add2directories.com/ - Add 2 Directories
http://www.add-link-url.com/ - addlink- url.com
http://www.addmyurl.info/ - Featured Links $5 Get a Ton of BackLinks!!!! Page Rank 2 & UP To Submit Your Site.
http://www.addnewlink.net/ - Add New Link - Add A Link
http://www.addsite-submitfree.com/ - Add Your Site for Free
http://www.addyourlinkfree.com/ - Add Your Link Free
http://www.addyourlinkfree.com/ - Add Your Link Free
http://www.agilelist.com/" title="Agile List Web Directory - Agile List Web Directory
http://www.aleryn.net/ - Aleryn Web Directory
http://www.alistdirectory.com/ - A List Directory
http://www.allurls.info/ - AllURLs
http://www.allurls.info/ -
http://www.anaximanderdirectory.com/ - Anaximander Directory
http://www.appguides.com/ - AppGuides.com
http://www.arakne-links.com/ - Arakne-Links Directory
http://www.articleszones.com/directory - ArticlesZones Directory
http://www.askalink.com/ - Ask-A-Link Games: Play to win
http://www.awebdirectory.info/ - A Web Directory
http://www.az-links.info/ - AZ Links Directory
http://www.backlinkdir.com/ - Backlink Directory
http://www.backlink-directory.co.uk/ - Free & Paid Backlink Directory
http://www.bahiacar.com/ - Bahiacar.com
http://www.beedirectory.com/ - Web Directory
http://www.into-tech.co.uk/ - Are You INTO TECHnology?
http://www.into-tech.co.uk/ - Are You INTO TECHnology?
http://www.bigsurf.info/ - SEO Friendly Link & Article Directory
http://www.blackdhalia.com/ - Black Dhalia Internet Directory
http://www.blackdir.info/ - Blackdir Directory
http://www.blastooo.info/ - Blastooo - Web Directory
http://www.blin.biz/ - .blin.biz
http://www.blisswolff.com/resources - Blisswolff Resource Directory
"http://www.blisswolff.com/resources - Blisswolff Resource Directory
http://www.blpdirectory.info/ - BLP directory
http://www.bluedirectory.org/ - Blue Directory
http://www.bluedirectory.org/ - Blue Directory
http://www.bookwallet.org/ - BookWallet Free Web Directory
http://www.boomdirectory.com/ - Boomdirectory.com
http://www.boshuda.com/ - Boshuda Directory
http://www.broadbook.info/ - Broad Book Directory
http://www.businesswebdirectory.biz/" target="new - Business Web Directory .biz - Business Directory
http://www.bys.net/ - ByS.net-Internet Link Directory
http://www.cafioca.com/ - Cafioca Web Directory
http://www.categorizeddirectory.com/ - Categorized Directory - categorized human edited web site directory
http://www.ccsmex.com/ - CCSMEX Free Submission Web Directory
http://www.clarib.com/ - Clarib Web Directory
http://www.clickmybrick.com/ - Click my Brick Directory
http://www.cmepintl.com/ - CMEP Intl Directory
http://www.commiturl.info/ - Commit URL Directory
http://www.complyurl.info/ - Comply URL Directory
http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/webdirectory - CrazyLeaf FREE Web Directory
http://www.cresol.es/linkdirectory/ - Creative Solutions Link Directory
http://www.ctrldir.com/ - Ctrl Directory
