Those who disagree say the following:

• Search engines have essentially replaced directories



• Listing from general directories is poor link building through links only



• Niche directories help better in ranking well and with some free traffic



• Though some directories are good, most others are useless

Those who are in favor of directory submissions say directories are helpful to boost page rank and in generating unique website traffic, if:

• The submissions are done manually



• If directories are search engine friendly



• If directories have good page rank



• If submission is made to relevant category

They also say submitting to website directories takes only a few minutes, and can never really hurt anything.

Now if you take a closer look you can see that no hurt is caused from directory submissions. It's only time that you have to spend. In return you can expect what all webmasters are seeking: traffic and better search engine position in the rankings.

Not all free directories are bad. If you don't submit it won't hurt you, but you could miss a potential opportunity. On the other hand, if directories actually show up as results for the terms you are optimizing for, submitting to the directories is the same as submitting to the "niche directories".

So if you're considering submitting but time holds you back, you can outsource the directory submission job to a group of people or company somewhere else in the world where labor is lower.

If you do a quick search in Google, you can find a lot of directory submission service providers who do an excellent, efficient job. All you have to do pay a small amount and the job will usually be finished in a number of days.